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The Mandate Monitor

Minnesota Secure Choice: next employer deadline December 31, 2026

In effectChecked November 7, 2026Run by Minnesota Secure Choice Retirement Program Board

Short answer

Minnesota requires employers with 5 or more covered employees that don’t offer a qualified retirement plan to register for Minnesota Secure Choice, a state-run Roth individual retirement account (IRA) program, or certify an exemption. Deadlines are phased in by size. Employers with 100 or more employees were due June 30, 2026, employers with 50–99 are due December 31, 2026, and the last wave (5–9 employees) is due June 30, 2028. The program notifies each employer with an Access Code when it’s time to register.

Next date: December 31, 2026: Registration deadline for employers with 50–99 employees.

Does your payroll handle Minnesota Secure Choice? See the free state route and the 5 payroll systems with help docs that cover it.

Minnesota Secure Choice deadlines

  1. · Retirement mandate

    Registration deadline for employers with 50–99 employees

  2. · Retirement mandate

    Registration deadline for employers with 25–49 employees

  3. · Retirement mandate

    Registration deadline for employers with 10–24 employees

  4. · Retirement mandate

    Registration deadline for employers with 5–9 employees, the last phase-in wave

  5. · Retirement mandate

    The two-year written-warning period ends for 100+ employers that missed the June 30, 2026 deadline

    From this date the board may assess penalties, starting at $100 per covered employee (up to $4,000).

  6. · Retirement mandate

    The two-year written-warning period ends for 50–99 employers that missed the December 31, 2026 deadline

    From this date the board may assess penalties, starting at $100 per covered employee (up to $4,000). · 50–99 employees

Dates already passed (1)
  • : Registration deadline for employers with 100 or more employees.

What employers have to do

  1. Watch for your notice with an Access Code, then register at securechoice.mn.gov or certify an exemption by the last day of your enrollment phase.
  2. Set up the employer account (company and payroll details, payment setup) and add your covered employees. You can invite a payroll representative or bookkeeper to help.
  3. After each employee’s 30-day opt-out period, start payroll deductions with the next paycheck. Remit each deduction as soon as practicable and no later than 30 days after the paycheck date.
  4. Enroll new covered employees within 21 days of their first day of work.
  5. Keep records current: apply contribution-rate changes, add new hires, and mark former employees as terminated.

Handling Minnesota Secure Choice in payroll

The free route: register directly with the state

You can register and report on your own through Minnesota Secure Choice Retirement Program Board. You’ll still need your payroll to send the employee contributions each pay period.

Payroll systems with a help document covering Minnesota Secure Choice

SystemWhat the documentation saysLink
ADP RUNThe Minnesota Secure Choice help center lists a 360-degree integration for ADP Run that runs through Payroll Integrations, a third party that charges employers a monthly fee. Read the program’s help doc, Nov 7, 2026See plans for ADP RUN
GustoGusto’s auto-IRA help article lists Minnesota Secure Choice among the state programs that integrate with Gusto through Vestwell, which adds a "Vestwell State IRA" deduction to payroll. Read their help doc, Nov 8, 2026See plans for Gusto
Paychex FlexThe Minnesota Secure Choice help center describes a 360-degree integration with Paychex Flex (Select and Pro) that receives contributions from payroll and sends employees’ savings-rate changes back. Read the program’s help doc, Nov 7, 2026See plans for Paychex Flex
QuickBooks PayrollThe Minnesota Secure Choice help center describes a 360-degree integration with QuickBooks Online Payroll (a QuickBooks Online plus Payroll subscription) that receives contributions from payroll and sends employees’ savings-rate changes back. That help center lists QuickBooks Online Payroll as supported and doesn’t mention Workforce plans. Read the program’s help doc, Nov 7, 2026See plans for QuickBooks Payroll
Square PayrollThe Minnesota Secure Choice help center lists a 360-degree integration with Square Payroll; employers request it by emailing their Square Payroll representative. Read the program’s help doc, Nov 7, 2026See plans for Square Payroll

Listed alphabetically. We may earn a commission from these links; it never decides who’s listed.

How Minnesota Secure Choice works

Default 5% of gross pay into a Roth individual retirement account (IRA) (after-tax). Default auto-escalation adds 1 percentage point each January for savers enrolled at least six months, up to 8%. The statute sets 5% in year one, 6% in year two, 7% in year three, and 8% from year four on. Savers can pick any rate from 1% to 100% within IRS limits, choose a traditional IRA instead, skip an increase, or opt out.

No employer fees. Employer contributions and matches are not permitted, and employers have no fiduciary responsibility for the program or employees’ investments.

Questions employers ask

Who has to follow Minnesota Secure Choice?

For-profit and nonprofit employers doing business in Minnesota with 5 or more covered employees that don’t sponsor or contribute to a retirement savings plan, and didn’t in the preceding 12 months. Covered employees exclude workers under 18 (as of December 31 of the prior year), temporary or seasonal hires expected to work 180 days or less, government employees, Railway Labor Act workers, and workers covered by a Taft-Hartley multiemployer pension. Businesses that haven’t operated in Minnesota for at least 12 months and government employers are not covered. An employer that first becomes covered after the phase-in must enroll employees during the 21 days starting January 1 of the following year.

How do employers get an exemption from Minnesota Secure Choice?

Employers that sponsor or contribute to a qualified plan (such as a 401(k), 403(b), 457(b), Simplified Employee Pension (SEP), SIMPLE individual retirement account (IRA), or multiemployer plan) certify the exemption online with their Employer Identification Number (EIN) and Access Code. The same process applies to employers with fewer than 5 employees and to those in business in Minnesota for less than 12 months. The executive director must accept the certification, or rule that you’re covered, within 30 days and may ask for documents. You can appeal a rejection to the board within 30 days.

What happens if an employer doesn’t comply?

Under Minn. Stat. 187.07, subd. 6 and 187.12, the board sends written warnings during the first two years of noncompliance. From the second anniversary of the end of your enrollment window, it may assess $100 per covered employee (max $4,000), then $200 per employee (max $6,000) at year three, $300 per employee at year four, and $500 per employee each year after. Fixing the problem within 30 days of the penalty notice avoids it, and the board can waive it for extenuating circumstances. Not remitting withheld contributions within 30 days triggers a demand for the money plus interest. A second demand adds a $250 penalty for each contribution withheld but not sent. Willfully failing to remit within 10 days of a demand is a misdemeanor. Employees or the attorney general can also sue for damages.

Everything employers in Minnesota must do ·Retirement mandates in every state

Sources

  1. Minn. Stat. ch. 187
  2. Employer program details and deadlines, Minnesota Secure Choice (read Nov 7, 2026)
  3. Employers: no fees, no match, no fiduciary responsibility, exemption, Minnesota Secure Choice (read Nov 7, 2026)
  4. Contribution rates and default annual increase, Minnesota Secure Choice (read Nov 7, 2026)
  5. Employer fact sheet, Minnesota Secure Choice (read Nov 7, 2026)
  6. 2026 Minnesota Statutes, chapter 187 (full text), Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes (read Nov 7, 2026)