(FORTUNE Small Business) – Tax season may be in the spring, but if you're thinking of changing your retirement plan, now is the time. Certain plans, such as the SIMPLE, must be opened by Sept. 30 for 2004 contributions to be tax-deductible. Dec. 31 is the deadline for tax-advantaged contributions to traditional or solo 401(k) plans and SEPs, so you still have a few months. Merely thinking about retirement plans might give you a migraine—all those IRS regulations, all that paperwork—but before you table the subject for another year, consider this: Retirement planning has gotten easier recently. Thanks to new web tools from the IRS and plans better tailored to the needs of small-business owners, what was once a dreaded chore is now becoming, well, merely a chore. Here's a guide to some common hurdles—and new ways to solve them.

HURDLE: I'm worried I won't be able to keep track of all the IRS rules to keep my retirement plan in compliance.

SOLUTION: To quell confusion, the IRS launched an online program in May called Check-Up for your SEP, SIMPLE, or Similar Plan. The quick quiz is designed to flag common problems found by IRS examiners. One question asks, "Is this SIMPLE IRA plan your business's only retirement plan?" (If the answer is no, you're in danger of noncompliance, because you can't sponsor more than one plan.) Find the checkup at irs.gov/ep; click on Retirement Source for Plan Sponsors/Employers and select a plan type.

I'm so busy, I have no time to administer a 401(k) plan for myself and my employees.

Technology has vastly streamlined the running of plans such as SEPs, SIMPLEs, and 401(k)s. Even though they are experts in the field, Benjamin and Sue Feller, ages 57 and 55, used to spend more than ten hours each quarter overseeing the plan at their 11-person business, Pension Review Services of Plainview, N.Y. Benjamin would spend one Saturday breaking down each quarterly statement on a spreadsheet, and Sue used to spend half an hour every payday figuring out contribution amounts for each employee and mailing checks.

In February they switched their company's retirement plan to Vanguard, mainly because they wanted more no-load investment options. But the Fellers were pleased that the new plan takes a lot of the administrative burden off their hands, reducing the time they spend to about 15 minutes each quarter. Online contributions now take Sue a few minutes every payday, and Vanguard automatically sends individual statements to each employee. Workers can look at their accounts online and make changes to allocations whenever they want. "Now all we do is open the duplicate statements that come in the mail and file them," says Sue.

Other firms, such as Fidelity and Franklin Templeton, have similar capabilities for 401(k)s, and recently some have started offering them for SEP, SIMPLE, and 403(b) plans as well. "Today you can outsource most aspects of your plan, and your interactions can be mostly online," says Edward Murphy, executive vice president of Fidelity Institutional Retirement Services.

My business is just me and my spouse, so the tax benefits aren't worth the hassle of setting up a plan.

Sole proprietors who earn as much as $205,000 and wish to maximize their tax savings should look at individual 401(k)s, also known as solo or uni 401(k)s. After a modest launch in 2002, solo 401(k)s have gained traction in the past year as CPAs and financial planners have become more familiar with their benefits and more products have come onto the market.

Here's how the contribution limits work: As an employee of your company, you can contribute as much as 100% of the first $13,000 of your 2004 self-employment income. (Other plans allow a much smaller percentage.) But as the employer—in a one-person company you're both—you can contribute an additional 25% of your salary if your business is incorporated or 20% if you're a sole proprietor. The total cap is $41,000 in 2004, and business owners age 50 or older can put in more. (The contribution caps rise in 2005.)

About 50 companies now offer the plans, up from a handful in 2002, with total assets in such accounts hitting $1.5 billion in June, according to Financial Research, a market research firm in Boston. The plans cost only $50 to $250 a year to run, compared with $700 or more for traditional 401(k)s. One more advantage for the commitment-shy: If you ever have a down year, you're free to make a smaller contribution or kick in nothing at all.