Should self-employed people use a SEP-IRA even though it complicates backdoor Roths?

It's a real tradeoff. A SEP-IRA lets the self-employed contribute far more than a standard IRA, a percentage of net self-employment income up to a high IRS ceiling, all tax-deductible, which is powerful for high earners. The downside is that the SEP-IRA balance is pre-tax money that gets counted by the pro-rata rule, making clean backdoor Roths difficult. If backdoor Roths matter to you, a Solo 401(k) is often the better choice because 401(k) balances are excluded from the pro-rata calculation, and many Solo 401(k)s allow Roth contributions too. For pure deduction and simplicity, a SEP-IRA is hard to beat. Compare options at wealthserene.com/tools/self-employed-hub and confirm limits at irs.gov.