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Illinois ABLE

Illinois ABLE is offered through the National ABLE Alliance. The plan is established under the Illinois ABLE account program legislation and Section 529A to encourage and assist individuals and families in saving private funds for the purpose of supporting individuals with disabilities to maintain health, independence, and quality of life, and to provide secure funding for disability-related expenses on behalf of designated beneficiaries with disabilities that will supplement, but not supplant, benefits provided through private insurance, federal and Illinois medical and disability insurance, the beneficiary's employment, and other sources.


  • Program typeABLE Savings plan
  • Investment Manager
    Underlying mutual funds and ETFs managed by BlackRock, Schwab, and Vanguard. Sallie Mae Bank provides the high yield savings account.
  • Inception2017
  • State agency
    Office of the Illinois State Treasurer
  • Program Manager
    Ascensus
  • Manager contract termUNLOCK PRO

Eligibility

State residency requirements:

No

Who can be a participant/owner in the program?

An account owner must be an eligible individual under Section 529A as well as a U.S. Citizen or resident alien with a SSI/TIN number and valid permanent U.S. street address.

Program restrictions:

To be eligible for an ABLE savings plan, an individual must have been diagnosed with a disability before age 26, and be eligible to receive benefits under Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and/or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). Individuals who are not receiving SSI and/or SSDI may still be eligible if they meet the age requirement and have been diagnosed by a licensed physician and received a letter of certification.

Did you know?

  • The plan can be used to pay for qualified disability expenses.

    This can include education, job training and support, healthcare and financial management.

  • Savings in an ABLE account will not impact eligibility to receive government benefits.

    The first $100,000 is exempt from the Supplemental Security Income limit, and beneficiaries will continue to receive Medicaid regardless of account size.

  • Residents are not limited to investing in their own state's ABLE plan.

    Another state may offer a plan with better suited investment options, lower fees or preferred features.

  • Visit this plan's website to learn more

Contributions

Maximum contributions:

Annual contribution limit is currently $15,000 from all sources. If the beneficiary works, the beneficiary can also contribute part, or all, of their income to their ABLE account. This additional contribution is limited to the poverty-line amount for a one-person household. For 2018, this amount is $12,140. The designated beneficiary is not, however, eligible to make this additional contribution if their employer contributes to a workplace retirement plan on their behalf.

ABLE account beneficiaries can qualify for the Saver's Credit based on contributions they make to their ABLE accounts. Up to $2,000 of these contributions may qualify for this special credit designed to help low- and moderate-income workers.

No additional contributions may be made for the benefit of an account owner when the fair market value of the account exceeds the account balance limit of $450,000. Accounts that have reached the account balance limit may continue to accrue earnings, although future contributions may not be made to such accounts. If however, the market value of such account falls below the account balance limit due to market fluctuations and not as a result of withdrawals from such account(s), additional contributions will be accepted.

Minimum contributions:

The initial and additional contribution minimum is $25.

Investment Options

Target-Risk Options:

Select among 6 portfolio options: Aggressive Option, Moderately Aggressive Option, Growth Option, Moderate Option, Moderately Conservative Option, or Conservative Option.

Bank Money Market Investment / Checking Option:

None, but the conservative option allocates 60% to a Sallie Mae Bank High-Yield Savings Acount.

Fees & Expenses

Enrollment or application fee:

None

Account maintenance fee:

$60, assessed at $15 per calendar quarter. The quarterly fee is discounted by $3.75 for account owners who elect to receive statements via electronic delivery.

$2 monthly service charge for investments in the Checking Option, waived for accounts with an average daily balance of more than $250.

Program management fees:

0.32%; none for Checking Option

Expenses of the underlying investments:

Ranges from 0.02% to 0.05%, depending on the investment option chosen

Total asset-based expense ratio:

0.34% - 0.37%, depending on the investment option chosen.

Fees or restrictions on the number of disbursements

None, but a $25 fee applies to all outgoing wires and priority delivery service.

Taxes and other Benefits

Program match on contributions:

None

State tax deduction or credit for contributions:

None

State tax recapture provisions:

None

State tax treatment of qualified distributions:

If a withdrawal is taken from an account to pay for qualified disability expenses, the account owner generally does not have to include as income any earnings attributable to that withdrawal for the applicable taxable year if the total withdrawals for that year are less than or equal to the total withdrawals for qualified disability expenses for that year.

State tax treatment of rollovers:

Illinois follows federal tax-free treatment of rollovers, though tax-free rollovers are restricted to once per 12-month period.

Medicaid eligibility

The CMS guidance can be found at Implications of the ABLE Act for State Medicaid Programs on the CMS website. Please consult with your state's Medicaid office with any additional questions.

Medicaid recapture provisions

Under Section 529A, following the death of the account owner, any state may file a claim against the account owner or the account itself for the amount of the total medical assistance paid for the account owner under the state's Medicaid plan after the establishment of the account (or any ABLE account from which amounts were rolled or transferred to the current account). The amount paid in satisfaction of such a claim is not a taxable withdrawal from the account. Further, the amount is to be paid only after the payment of all outstanding payments due for the qualified disability expenses of the account owner and is to be reduced by the amount of all premiums paid by or on behalf of the account owner to a Medicaid Buy-In program under that state's Medicaid plan.

Is there a debit card/ purchasing card available, and if so, at what cost?

Not at this time

Statutory protection of an account from creditors:

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Distributions & Terminations

To whom are distributions made payable:

Withdrawals will be sent by check or ACH to the account owner at the address on the account or a third party designated by the account owner.

Account Changes

Policy regarding participant/owner changes:

Accepts requests to transfer account ownership provided the appropriate form and any additional requested documentation is submitted to the plan.

Documents, Access & Reporting

Does participant have online password-protected access to account?

Yes

Can the complete enrollment process including funding be done online?

Yes

Documents and other services accessible or downloadable on the program's public Web site:

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Contact

Website:

https://savewithable.com/il/home.html

Email:

crehwinkle@illinoistreasurer.gov

State News

Illinois launches ABLE program (01/31/2017)
Illinois consolidates and improves its college savings lineup (06/15/2017)
IL adds ABLE tax deduction (08/23/2018)
Assets and accounts on the rise for Bright Start, Bright Directions (02/06/2019)