Feasibility · Design · Implementation
A 412(e)(3) is engineered, not sold.
A 412(e)(3) is engineered and modeled for your specific situation, pressure-tested for compliance, and implemented after a detailed assessment.
Start The Conversation →From question to funded plan.
Five stages, each with a clear decision point. Nothing is filed until you have signed off on real numbers.
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Initial consultation
Our preference is to talk it through — age, entity structure, income consistency, and your employee census — to determine whether a 412(e)(3) is a viable structure for your retirement needs, or whether a cash balance or traditional defined-benefit plan is a better starting point. Prefer to start in writing? Complete a short questionnaire instead. Either way, there is no cost, no obligation, and no documents.
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Feasibility analysis — the real numbers
The deductible contribution and projected accumulation are modeled from your specific age, income, and entity structure, with a side-by-side comparison to traditional defined-benefit and cash balance designs. You see the deduction, the funding commitment, and the projected benefit before any commitment is made. This is the document most owners use to decide.
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Design & coordination — the team assembles
The plan is designed with a 412(e)(3) third-party administrator, who sets the retirement benefit and the level annual contribution that funds it. Funding is set conservatively and disclosures are written cleanly. Nothing is filed until it has been reviewed — the step that the abusive 412(i) promoters of the early 2000s skipped.
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Implementation — the plan first, then the contracts
Your business adopts the plan document and establishes the plan’s trust. Only then are the annuity and insurance contracts applied for, with the plan’s trust as owner and beneficiary, and the first deductible contribution is made for the tax year. The order matters: a policy you own personally is not a 412(e)(3), even one bought with a plan in mind, and it can’t simply be retitled to the plan later. The deduction is captured on your return, and the plan is reported and administered going forward.
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Stewardship & exit — planned from day one
412(e)(3) plans are typically funded heavily for a defined number of years, then frozen, terminated, or rolled into an IRA. Remain stays in the file alongside the administrator — carrier service, contribution updates, and the eventual wind-down — converting the accumulated, tax-favored value into ordinary retirement assets on a planned schedule rather than a scramble.
Who’s your team?
A 412(e)(3) takes three roles working together. Remain assembles and quarterbacks the team so the pieces actually fit together.
Remain.
Places and services the guaranteed annuity and insurance contracts that fund the plan, and coordinates the other two roles.
Compliance and filings.
A third-party administrator who writes 412(e)(3) plans drafts the documents, handles compliance, and manages the annual filing. This is the specialized capacity most general practices simply do not have.
The integrator.
Confirms the deduction fits your overall tax picture and captures it on the return. We work with your existing CPA — we do not replace them — so the strategy lands inside the plan they already know.
Start with a conversation.
A short, no-obligation conversation is the right first step. If 412(e)(3) fits, the next stage is a feasibility analysis with your real numbers. If it doesn’t, we will tell you that too — and point you to the structure that does.
Reach a Remain advisor by phone, text, or email — whichever works for you.