Greetings, Merlottwins, and welcome. You wrote:

<<I moonlight as an independent contractor and was planning to establish a simple IRA. I'm already fully contributing to my Roth IRA and Spousal IRA. I'm not eligible for a 401K as I'm in the military. I just found out that I've missed the Oct 31st deadline to establish my simple IRA but I can still get a SEP. What's the difference? >>

For an overview of both the SIMPLE and the SEP, see my Foolish Retirement Plan Primer at http://www.fool.com/Retirement/Retirement.htm. You should also read IRS Publication 560 (Retirement Plans for Small Business) available at http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/forms_pubs/index.html. While it's too late to establish a SIMPLE for tax-year 1999, you may still open a SEP until the date your tax return is due.

The SIMPLE will allow you to make tax-deferred contributions of up to 3% of compensation as the employer plus up to $6K as the employee. The SEP allows you to contribute up to 15% of net self-employed compensation. Of the two, the SIMPLE is slightly more complex to administer.

Regards..Pixy