Important Reminders: National Tax Filing Deadline & Maine Retirement Plan Mandate Deadline
Tax month has arrived! It’s been a busy couple of weeks for us at Brannen CPA Services and we know we’re not the only ones who are relieved to be in the home stretch of tax season! There are two important deadlines this month, one you’re probably already aware of, and one that may not have been on your radar. First, please note that if you are filing your tax return yourself, the IRS’s original deadline is April 15, 2024 and the Maine and Massachusetts filing deadline is April 17, 2024. The other important deadline impacts businesses. The State of Maine recently passed a mandated Auto-IRA retirement savings program which has a registration deadline of April 30, 2024. Our goal at Brannen CPA Services is to help individuals and small businesses thrive. Here is some more information if you need help preparing for these two deadlines.
National Tax Filing Deadline - April 15, 2024
Please note this important update: some Maine residents now qualify for tax relief with the filing deadline postponed to July 15, 2024. More information here.
For Maine residents who do not qualify for tax relief, the Maine as well as the Massachusetts filing deadline is April 17, 2024. If you have yet to share your individual tax information with our offices and would like our support in submitting your return, we will need to file for an extension. It takes time to prepare a tax return, and our office requires all individual tax information to be submitted to our offices one month prior to the IRS deadline (March 15th). No need to panic if you haven’t had a chance to reach out yet. Give our office a call and we’ll help you file for an extension and set up a time to properly go through your tax documents to submit a return.
Maine Retirement Plan Mandate - April 30, 2024
If you own a small business and employ others, you should have received a communication from the State of Maine in January of 2024 about a new mandated retirement savings program. Known as The Maine Retirement Plan Mandate, this program was put in place by the State of Maine to help address the growing retirement savings crisis. If your company has 15 or more “covered employees” (anyone age 18 or older working at least 120 days in Maine, who is considered full-time, part-time, or seasonal/temporary), you have until April 30th, 2024 to either:
Register for Maine's new Auto-IRA Retirement Program, known as Maine Retirement Investment Trust (MERIT). Here is a link to register:
OR
Register that your company is exempt because it already has a qualifying retirement plan in place (e.g. 401(k), 403(b), SIMPLE IRA, SEP IRA, etc.). Here is a link to register your exemption:
https://meritsaves.vestwell.com/register/employer
The State of Maine has indicated that they are 'auto-exempting' as many businesses as possible based on the publicly available Form 5500 information. However, it is advisable to either go through the exemption process (link above) or check to see if you've already been exempted. Here phone number you can call to check if you've already been exempted: 1-833-608-8811
If your company has 5-14 “covered employees,” you have until June 30th, 2024 to register. Please note, the final deadline to comply with this new program is December 31, 2024, with fines starting in 2025.
If you have questions about your tax return extension or The Maine Retirement Plan Mandate, or if you need to schedule an appointment with our team, please don’t hesitate to reach out. At Brannen CPA Services, we are dedicated to providing each and every client with the attention they deserve and the highest level of professional service. You can always give us a call at 207.271.9600. We’re here to help!