Maximum Retirement Contributions - SIMPLE and SEP

Help!! I've asked my accountant and two other CPAs (including an EA!) these questions, and no one seems to be able to give me an internally consistent answer about this:

I work for a small corporation (two of us) which offers an SEP retirement plan. I make no voluntary contributions, but the employer contributes the maximum (25%) of our compensation. This year, i expect that the employer's contribution will reach the contribution limit of $46,000.

I also have a self-proprietership consulting business for which I am considering setting up a SIMPLE IRA.

Am I permitted to make > employee contributions < to the SIMPLE IRA up to the $10,500 limit assuming that I am going to reach the 2008 SEP limit? My understanding is that the $46,000 limit is collectively for all EMPLOYER contributions to defined contribution plans, and since i make no employee contributions to the SEP (or to any other plan), I should be able to contribute through employee contrributions up to the SIMPLE IRA limit.

If this is correct, how would required SIMPLE IRA employer contributions be dealt with in this case? Since my employer would have contributed the maximum amount under the SEP plan, I assume that one of the plans would be required to stop employer contributions once my limit of $46,000 is reached. Can that be through either the SEP or the SIMPLE plan? If I am not making employer contributions under the SIMPLE IRA, it seems that I'm violating the requirements for mandatory employer contributions.

If I set up a 401(k), can i contribute the maximum employee amount of up to $15,500 for the consulting business?

There appears to be no income limit for deduction of the employee SIMPLE IRA contributions under the regular tax. Do the AMT calculations negate or reduce the deduction in any way?

Can any of you recommend an accountant in the San Francisco area who has experience with these types of issues?

Thanks all!

You are wrong. The employer limit is per plan, not per person over all the employers (including himself) he works for. For the SEP the corporation is the employer. For the proposed SIMPLE you are the employer. What happens in the SEP doesn't affect what happens in the SIMPLE, and vice versa. See Publication 560.

Yes. That's "you," the employee. "You," the employer can also make additional profit-sharing contributions. Again, Pub 560.

In addition to all the above, you the individual can make an IRA contribution in the full amount allowed, assuming you're under 70 1/2. Deductibility of traditional IRA contributions is subject to the AGI phaseouts since you're covered by a retirement plan at work. That's Pub

590.