State-Run Retirement Plan Employer Deadline Nears

Employers with more than 100 employees have until June 30 to register with the state-run retirement plan or opt out of the program. 

The Connecticut Retirement Security Authority launched MyCTSavings after years of delays in May.

Connecticut employers with five or more employees—each paid a minimum of $5,000 in the calendar year—are required by law to join the program if they don’t offer employees a retirement plan.

Depending on the size of a company, covered employers must register with the state under three waves.

The first deadline for employers with 100 or more employees is June 30, 2022.

Employers with 26 to 99 employees have until Oct. 31, 2022, and employers with five to 25 employees have until March 30, 2022. 

Qualifications and Responsibilities

Employers that offer employees qualified retirement plans are exempt from participating, but still must certify that exemption.

Qualified employer-sponsored retirement plans include a those under Internal Revenue Code sections 401(a) (including a 401(k) plan); qualified annuity plan under section 403(a); tax-sheltered annuity plan under section 403(b); Simplified Employee Pension plan under section 408(k); a SIMPLE IRA plan under section 408(p); or governmental deferred compensation plan under section 457(b).

Qualified, employer-sponsored plans do not include payroll deduction IRAs.

Eligible employees will be automatically enrolled in the program. 

Once employees are enrolled, they can choose to opt out of the program. 

By default, employees who are enrolled will see a 3% deduction from their gross pay, but they can choose to manually adjust their contribution rate at any time.