3 Retirement Account Moves You Can Still Do for 2024

Monday, April 21, 2025

By Sarah Brenner, JD
Director of Retirement Education

The April 15 tax-filing deadline has come and gone. However, for some 2024 retirement account planning strategies, it’s not too late! There is still time beyond the April 15 deadline. Here are three retirement account moves for the 2024 tax year that are still available to make in 2025.

1. Correct a 2024 IRA Contribution

For IRA owners who are now discovering they have an excess IRA contribution for a 2024 IRA, there is still time to correct the contribution and avoid a 6% excess contribution penalty. This can be done by withdrawing or recharacterizing the 2024 contribution, plus net income (or loss) attributable, by October 15, 2025.

October 15 is also the deadline to remove or recharacterize 2024 IRA contributions that are not actually excess contributions but are, instead, simply unwanted. After October 15, 2025, this flexibility for 2024 IRA contributions goes away.

The October 15, 2025, deadline for correcting 2024 contributions applies to anyone who timely files their 2024 tax return. This is true even if you do not have an extension past the standard April 15 deadline.


2. Make a 2024 SEP Contribution

There is also additional time for those looking to establish and contribute to a SEP IRA plan for 2024. While contributions to a traditional or Roth IRA must be made by the tax-filing deadline, a SEP IRA plan can be established and funded at any time up to the business’s tax-filing deadline, including extensions.

The SEP limit for 2024 is 25% of up to $345,000 of compensation, limited to a maximum annual contribution of $69,000. (For 2025, these numbers increase to $350,000 of compensation, limited to a maximum contribution of $70,000.)

3. Make a 2024 Employer Contribution to a Plan

If a business has employees, any employee contributions to a retirement plan for 2024 must have already been made. Employee salary deferrals have strict deadlines that require deferrals to be deposited into the plan throughout the year soon after the contribution is withheld.

However, employer contributions for 2024 to retirement accounts have a later deadline. Employer contributions can still be made until the business’s tax-filing deadline, including extensions. This rule applies to employer contributions to both qualified plans, such as 401(k) plans, and SIMPLE IRA plans.



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