Starting this month, Maine employers with five or more workers will receive notification from the state to register with the Maine Retirement Investment Trust. The program was created for roughly 200,000 employees in the state who have no retirement savings plan.
All Maine employers with five or more employees must register with the MERIT program and mark their company exempt if they offer a qualifying plan, or enroll in the program and enter employee data.
Employers must register by June and offer the program to their employees by the end of 2024.
MERIT is a state sponsored Roth IRA retirement program. The default contribution rate is 5%, but employees can change their contribution rate or opt out of the program. Contributions will be made through payroll deductions and can begin Jan. 1, 2024.
MERIT will provide investment options, maintain the investment accounts, and ensure that the retirement savings program can follow a worker from one job to the next.
Employers who fail to register or enroll by July 2025 will be charged a penalty.
State officials say Maine is partnering with Colorado to administer the new retirement savings program to allow the state to set up the program more quickly and bring down administration fees.
