La fiscalité des fonds de pension aux Etats-Unis

Over the last thirty years, several tax reforms have been implemented in the United States to foster households' savings. In 1974, the ERISA introduced Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) for the workers who did not have access to firm-sponsored pension plans. In 1981, the Economic Recovery Tax Act extended the eligibility of IRAs to all tax payers, and the contribution and deductibility limits were upwardly revised. At the same time, firm-sponsored plans known as 401(k) after the name of the tax code section became popular with the clarification of their fiscal status. In 1986 a tax reform act substantially reduced tax deductibility ceilings, and the outstanding of pension plan savings decreased. To prevent a further depletion, the Parliament enacted the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act in 2001, which created incentives to retirement savings both for the households and the firms. This article has two main objectives. First it aims at describing the tax rules and devices applicable to pension savings. Second it surveys the effects of tax rules on savings accumulation over the last twenty years.