Benefits: Although profit-sharing retirement plans are a popular means of providing retirement income and a key factor in attracting and keeping high quality employees, they are subject to complicated regulations regarding who can participate and how much can be contributed. The sample plan in the attached file illustrates the essential elements of a profit-sharing plan. You can use it as a starting point in evaluating whether to offer such a plan and in familiarizing yourself with the issues, thus saving time and money when consulting an attorney or other professional regarding the creation and administration of a plan.

The plan is intended as a sample, and not as a document that can be used, without modification, as your plan document. The regulations governing profit-sharing plans are complex; it is essential that you consult with an appropriate professional when developing a plan.

File Description: The file contains a 23-page document in rich text format (RTF) that is suitable for use with most word processing programs used in the Windows environment.

Profit sharing retirement plan

For assistance on downloading a file, click here.

Special Features: The sample plan illustrates the essential elements of a profit-sharing plan, including complete sections on:

• purpose and definitions
• service credit and participation
• contributions by employer and members
• individual accounts and allocations, including allocation of employer's contributions, gains and losses, forfeitures, and notification to members
• retirement benefit
• death benefit
• disability benefit
• termination of employment and forfeitures
• distribution notices and methods of payment
• special governmental requirements
• administration
• establishment of trust fund
• right to amend
• withdrawal and termination, including transfers of plan assets and plan mergers, plan termination, suspension and discontinuance, and liquidation
• general provisions, including nonguarantee of employment, manner of payment, nonalienation of benefits, amounts returnable to the employer, and governing law

For background information and information on related topics, see retirement plans.