Program details for employers

All eligible Delaware employers are required by law to facilitate EARNS if they don’t offer a retirement plan for their employees.

REGISTRATION DEADLINE

October 15, 2024

EMPLOYERS WITH 5 OR MORE EMPLOYEES

How do I get started?

You’ll be notified by EARNS when it’s time for your business to register.

To begin, you’ll need:

  • Your Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN)

  • The EARNS Access Code from your notification

Don’t have your access code?

If you are unable to find the Access Code for your business, you can look it up online.

Look up Access code

Have questions? We’ve got answers in our FAQs.

A list of qualified retirement plans and other questions about eligibility can be found in our FAQ section.

Read the FAQs

Already offer a retirement plan?

Employers who provide a qualified retirement plan to their employees should certify their exemption from the program using their provided Access Code.

Certify your exemption

Your responsibilities as an employer

We know that running your business is your top priority. That’s why EARNS is easy to set up and requires only light account maintenance. We’ll take care of the rest, at no cost to you.

  1. 1 Register
  2. 2 Send contributions
  3. 3 Maintenance

Set up your ID and password, answer questions about your company and payroll process, complete payment setup, and then add your employees.

You can even invite a payroll representative to help you facilitate this process. Your payroll representative can be an admin, a teammate, or even your bookkeeper or payroll administrator.

Once you have added employees, we will communicate directly with them to explain their options during the 30 days they have to opt out or customize their account. At the end of the 30-day period, you will record their choices, begin payroll deductions, and submit contribution information and funding for the employees who choose to stay in the program. 

To stay in compliance, continue to send payroll contributions and maintain employee records, including updating contribution rate changes when needed, adding new employees, and marking former employees as terminated.

Onboard your company for EARNS

There are just a few steps you need to take to get started.

Delaware Earns Onboarding Video
https://embed-ssl.wistia.com/deliveries/9c267bc46f209198868f3c55d37c495f.jpg?image_crop_resized=960x540

Resources

Registration

Contributions

Maintenance

Things you will NOT be responsible for

As an employer, you’ll have a limited role in facilitating EARNS so you can stay focused on running your business.

You will not be responsible for:

  • Enrolling employees into their EARNS Roth IRA.

  • Answering questions about EARNS and its investment portfolios, or helping employees choose investments.

  • Processing distributions from employee investment accounts.

  • Managing EARNS investment options and processing employee investment change requests.

  • Managing employee investment account changes. Your employees will be responsible for maintaining their account information and settings if enrolled.