Minnesota Secure Choice Retirement Program Employers Overview

Employers with five or more total employees operating in Minnesota  employing workers receiving taxable Minnesota wages who do not offer a qualified retirement plan are required under state law to enroll in the Minnesota Secure Choice Retirement Program. Employers may exempt out of the program only if they already offer a qualified retirement savings plan to employees. 

Employers will be required to deduct contributions from their employees’ paychecks and remit those to the program through the service provider, Vestwell's, employer portal. Employers will be responsible for any administrative or operational cost associated with their payroll reporting. The Program offers over 200 integrations with various payroll software and payroll firms. The Minnesota Secure Choice Retirement Program does not assess any fees from employers. 

Employee contributions default to 5% upon enrollment with annual automatic escalation of 1% until contributions reach 8%. Employees can adjust their contribution rates at any time or opt out of the program. Employers cannot opt out of the program on behalf of employees. 

Employer contributions toward Program accounts are not permitted; the only contributions to the program will be wages withheld from employees’ paychecks. 

The employee’s payroll deduction contributions will be deposited into a default Roth IRA account. The program also offers the ability for the employee to recharacterize into a Traditional IRA which can be done by calling the Saver Assistance Line at 1-855-934-4369. The employer is not responsible for withholding on a pre-tax basis in these situations, the employee will report these contributions on their tax filings each year.