dmertz
Level 15

Retirement tax questions

I'm not sure that EPCRS is necessary or that the excess cannot be corrected before the due date of your 2024 tax return:

 

https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/sep-plan-fix-it-guide-contributions-to-the-sep-ira-exceeded-the...

 

If the excess cannot be returned, filing 2024 Form 5330 and paying the 10% penalty would all you need to do for 2024.  For 2025 this excess will be applied as part of your 2025 contribution and whatever amount of excess you have for 2025 after adding the new SEP contributions you've made for 2025 will be an excess that needs to be reported on a 2025 Form 5330 and the 10% penalty paid.  This will continue each year until the excess is entirely absorbed.

 

Also, it's not clear how you know that you've already made the maximum SEP contribution for 2025 unless you already know your 2025 net profit from self-employment, which seems unlikely (but not impossible) this early in the year.  You could potentially do some other work that would increase your self-employment income during the remainder of the year and make enough it be able to absorb the excess.