The October 1 SIMPLE IRA Deadline: A Retirement Plan Guide for Central PA Trades & Family Businesses

Tucker P. Nicholas

July 23, 2026

The October 1 Deadline: A Retirement Plan Guide for Central PA's Trades and Family Businesses

By Tucker P. Nicholas, Private Wealth Advisor at PAC Financial, Harrisburg, PA. July 24, 2026.

Key takeaways:

Businesses that want a SIMPLE IRA running for this year must establish it by October 1. After that, the next window is January 1.
For eligible Pennsylvania employers with 50 or fewer employees, SECURE 2.0 tax credits can cover 100% of plan startup costs, up to $5,000 per year for three years, claimed on IRS Form 8881.
The real reason owners are starting plans is not taxes. It is keeping their best people in the tightest labor market the trades have seen in decades.

If you run a shop, a crew, or a family business between Harrisburg, Carlisle, Mechanicsburg, and Hershey, and you do not have a retirement plan yet, this guide is for you. There is a real deadline coming, real federal money on the table, and a plain-English path through it. PAC Financial is a third-generation firm at 5291 Devonshire Road in Harrisburg. Call (717) 564-6400.

Why are so many small businesses starting retirement plans right now?

Talent. Surveys consistently find that about 94% of small business employers say a retirement plan matters for attracting and keeping employees, roughly 75% of workers now call one a must-have benefit, and employees with plan access are about a third less likely to leave in their first year. In the trades especially, the shortage is not abstract: your best foreman gets a call from a competitor every month. When two offers are close, the shop with the plan usually wins.

"Many owners I sit with tell me the same thing: finding good people is the hardest part of the business, and losing one hurts twice, once in the work and once in the training of the replacement. A retirement plan will not fix a bad culture, but between two good shops, it decides where the good ones stay," says Tucker P. Nicholas, Private Wealth Advisor at PAC Financial in Harrisburg.

What is a SIMPLE IRA, in plain English?

A SIMPLE IRA is the small business retirement plan built for companies with 100 or fewer employees. Your people contribute from their paychecks into accounts they own. As the employer, you choose one of two contribution formulas: match what employees put in up to 3% of pay, or contribute 2% of pay for everyone eligible. That is the whole design. Generally no annual federal filing, no compliance testing, and dramatically less administration than a 401(k), which is exactly why it fits a 15-person HVAC company better than a corporate plan ever will. Contribution amounts follow current IRS limits, which we walk through in the first meeting.

What does a SIMPLE IRA cost the business?

Less than most owners guess, and for many new plans the federal government covers most of the early cost. Per the IRS, eligible employers with 50 or fewer employees can claim 100% of plan startup and administration costs, up to $5,000 per year for three years. A separate credit covers up to $1,000 per employee earning $100,000 or less on money you contribute for them, at 100% in the first two years before phasing down. Both are claimed on IRS Form 8881. Eligibility rules apply, and your tax professional runs your exact numbers, but the direction is plain: Washington is paying small businesses to start plans. Run your own estimate with our SECURE 2.0 tax credit estimator.

What is the October 1 deadline?

A SIMPLE IRA that starts this calendar year must be established by October 1. Miss it, and the next start date is January 1. Here is the full calendar for Central PA owners:

Date	What it means	Who it applies to
October 1, 2026	Last day to establish a new SIMPLE IRA that runs for 2026	Businesses with no current plan
November 2, 2026	The 60-day employee notice window opens for plans starting January 1	New plans starting 2027, and 401(k) conversions
December 31, 2026	A 401(k) being replaced must terminate by year-end; a SIMPLE IRA cannot run alongside another plan in the same year	Businesses converting from a 401(k)
January 1, 2027	New plan year begins	Everyone who missed October 1

Dates reflect IRS rules for SIMPLE IRA establishment and notice requirements as of July 2026 and are subject to change. Consult a qualified tax professional regarding your circumstances.

Can a business switch from a 401(k) to a SIMPLE IRA?

Yes, and for many smaller companies it is worth a hard look, but the mechanics matter. A SIMPLE IRA must be your only plan for the calendar year, so the switch means ending the 401(k) effective December 31 and starting the SIMPLE January 1, with employee notices in between. One honest note other articles skip: the startup tax credits generally do not apply to a conversion, because the credits require that your employees were not covered by another plan in the prior three years. The conversion case stands on different legs: lower costs, no annual filing, no testing, and one advisor instead of a stack of vendors. If you already have a plan, bring your latest statement and we will benchmark what it actually costs you, no strings attached.

The benefit almost nobody offers yet: Trump Account contributions

Since July 4, employers can contribute up to $2,500 per year toward an employee's child's Trump Account through a formal workplace program, excluded from the employee's federal taxable income. Nobody is more motivated by benefits than a parent with a newborn, and almost no Central PA employer offers this yet. Paired with a SIMPLE IRA, it makes a 12-person shop's benefits package read like a company ten times its size. Details in our employer guide to Trump Accounts, including a Pennsylvania state tax wrinkle worth knowing before you set one up.

Do you need an advisor for this?

Not strictly. Fund companies open SIMPLE IRAs directly, and some payroll providers bundle basic plans. Where we earn a place: choosing the right contribution formula for your cash flow, documenting the credits with your tax professional, benchmarking costs, and being the one phone number your people call, the owner works with one advisor and nobody gets routed to a national call center. And if the simplest do-it-yourself option genuinely fits your situation, we will tell you that in the first meeting. It has happened, and those owners send us their friends.

"The October deadline is real, but the plan is not the finish line. A year from now the plan runs itself, your people see their balances growing, and the benefit does its quiet work every payday. Getting there takes one conversation and about two weeks of paperwork. That is the whole mountain," says Tucker P. Nicholas.

Get started before October 1

We are a third-generation independent firm at 5291 Devonshire Road in Harrisburg, serving business owners across Harrisburg, Mechanicsburg, Camp Hill, Carlisle, Hershey, Hummelstown, New Cumberland, and the surrounding towns, in person at your shop or ours, or by video. First conversation is about your business and your people, not a pitch.

Stephen A. Marrazzo
Private Wealth Advisor
T: (717) 564-6400 ext 104
E: smarrazzo@osaicwealth.com

Tucker P. Nicholas
Private Wealth Advisor
T: (717) 564-6400 ext 181
E: tnicholas@osaicwealth.com

About the author

Tucker P. Nicholas is a Private Wealth Advisor at PAC Financial, a third-generation independent advisory firm at 5291 Devonshire Road in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He works with families, state employees, and business owners across Central Pennsylvania on retirement plans, actively managed portfolios, and estate coordination. Verify his registration on FINRA BrokerCheck or connect on LinkedIn.