401K for W-2 job, plus "individual" 401K for 1099 income ?

Yes and no. The employEE salary deferral limit is the sum of those two. But each employER matching plan stands alone.

While you can't make any employEE contribution to your solo 401(k), you can still make the 20% max employER profit-sharing contribution to your solo 401(k).

-- Rich Carreiro snipped-for-privacy@rlcarr.com

Is it true that the net amoutn you can put into all your 401k and SEP's, employee and employer portions, must be less than 45k (or whatever the max limit for SEP IRA's is now)?

No. That limit is per plan, not per person. The $15,500 limit on salary deferrals is per person.

Thanks for all the discussion, but I'm starting to get confused. Let me phrase my question in a completely different way ...

1. This year, I'll earn about K in a W-2 job.

1. I'll also earn about K in consulting (1099-MISC).

2. I've already max'ed out my 401K (,500) from the W-2 job.

1. I wish to tax defer as much income as possible.

How can I best accomplish #4 ?

Also, I've already made my max Roth IRA contribution, and I have a pre-existing SEP-IRA, to which I've made no contribution as yet.

Thanks, John

If you've maxed out your employee contribution at your day job, then a solo 401(k) and a SEP-IRA are equal in terms of the amount of SE income you can contribute and shield from income tax. In other words, the max allowed employER contribution to a solo 401(k) is the same as the max contribution allowed to a SEP-IRA.

So for 2007, you may as well use the SEP-IRA.

-- Rich Carreiro snipped-for-privacy@rlcarr.com

So I can't do both the SEP-IRA *AND* the "solo" 401K ? So I just contribute the 18.5% (or whatever it is) of net 1099 income to the existing SEP-IRA, and be done with it ?

Thanks !