The Illinois Secure Choice Savings Program requires employers with at least 25 Illinois employees to set up a state-sponsored IRA based retirement program if they do not already have a retirement plan. Although the program is funded solely by payroll contributions from employees, subject employers must go through an online registration and enrollment process, forward payroll contributions to the program custodian and provide program information to employees.

Employers with 25 or more employees in Illinois will be subject to the Secure Choice Savings Program Act (the “Act”) if they do not already have an employer sponsored retirement arrangement like a 401(k) plan. For such employers with 500 or more Illinois employees that have been in business for at least two years, the compliance deadline is November 1, 2018. By that date, these employers must register at the Secure Choice website here and enroll their employees. Subject employers with fewer than 500 Illinois employees have compliance dates deferred until July 1, 2019 (100-499 employees) and November 1, 2019 (25-99 employees).

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has tied the hands of employers who would like to reimburse employees for the cost of their individual health insurance coverage. Under the ACA, tax-free reimbursement of employee health insurance costs was not permitted through a health reimbursement arrangement (HRA) unless it was “integrated” with an employer-provided group health plan. Stand-alone HRAs were prohibited even for small employers that were not subject to the ACA mandate to offer group health coverage.