SEP IRAs are a retirement plan available to small businesses. SEP stands for Simplified Employee Pension. The term Simplified is in comparison to 401k type plans.SEP IRAs allow small business owners a way to contribute pre-tax money to thier employees retirement as well as to thier own retirement.Many people are aware that there is a limit to how much they may contribute to thier 401k but they may not be aware that there is another limit, the limit of what your employer may contribute. This limit states, in part, that the employee contribution plus employer contribution may not exceed $54,000 (2024).So if you are self employed and you are looking at options for pre-tax retirement savings you might mistakenly think you only have the traditional IRA with it's low limit of $5,500 (2024), not to mention the income restrictions. This is not the case. Self employed persons can open a SEP IRA for themselves and contribute up to $54,000 (2024).If you do have employees it's important to note that the IRS has many rules governing how you determine which employees are eligible to receive SEP IRA contributions.As always, you should use official IRS information sources [1] before making and important tax decisions. The information I've provided may be dated or inaccurate.In short, the SEP IRA is a relatively simple way for self employed people to get the same access to pre-tax retirement savings as traditionally employed folks.Footnotes[1] Simplified Employee Pension Plan SEP