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FREE FEDERAL MONEY CHECK

Ten questions. Then we do the arithmetic.

These are the exact figures Form 8881 asks for. Answer them and we work out what the federal retirement credit is worth to your company, from your numbers, and send it back. If it is not worth your time, we say so.

Free, no card and no account. Most people have everything they need in a payroll summary. If you are not sure of a number, a close estimate is fine and we will flag anything that needs firming up.

Two things to know before you start. The larger of the two credits only counts money you actually put into employee retirement accounts, so that part is cash leaving the business at the time you contribute it. And a credit is not a payment: it reduces federal income tax owed on the return for that year, and where there is no tax to reduce it carries forward to a year that has some. We ask about both below, so what we send back is the version that applies to you.

ONE OF FIVE

You and the company

Two letters. It decides which state mandate and exemption step applies.

TWO OF FIVE

The plan you would start

Estimates are fine. Nothing here is a commitment, and we confirm every figure against a real provider quote before anything is filed.

Costs paid in this year go on that year's return.

Leave this blank if you do not. Most employers starting a first plan have not priced one yet, and that is fine: we price it from the flat-fee providers in your packet, at their published rates, so the figure on your worksheet traces to a real quote rather than a guess.

What you would actually put in for each person. Money employees defer themselves never counts. The $1,000 in section 45E(f)(2)(A) caps the credit per employee, not the contribution we count: the applicable percentage is taken first, so a $1,000 contribution fills the cap in years one and two, and it takes $1,334 in year three, $2,000 in year four and $4,000 in year five. Put in the real figure rather than $1,000, or 0 if you would not contribute.

Worth $500 a year for three years on its own. Most new plans are required to do this anyway, and providers default to it, so the answer is usually yes.

THREE OF FIVE

Your people

Counts from last year's payroll. Round if you have to.

The eligibility test is 100 or fewer. Above 50, part of the credit tapers.

Highly paid means over $160,000, or owning 5% or more of the business. Subtract those people and any owners. This is the number the startup credit is calculated on.

The contribution credit only counts people at or below this line. $110,000 is the annual compensation limitation for tax year 2026 under section 45E(f)(2)(C), per IRS Notice 2025-67. It was $105,000 for 2025, so an older figure is the wrong year.

The credit requires the plan to actually cover someone who is not an owner or a high earner.

FOUR OF FIVE

Where the credit would land

Both of these are optional, and not sure is a real answer. They change none of the figures above. What they change is when the money reaches you.

If the business does not pay federal income tax itself, which covers S corporations, partnerships, sole proprietors and most LLCs, the credit passes through to the owners and is used on their own returns. Your accountant will know this without looking it up. If you do not, skip it or pick not sure.

This credit reduces tax you owe. It does not pay out, so with no tax to reduce it is not money this year. It is not lost either: the unused amount carries forward to a year that has tax to use it against. If the business is a pass-through, answer for the owners, since that is where the credit is used.

FIVE OF FIVE

The question that decides it

This is the one a CPA will look at first. A yes here does not end it: the auto-enrollment credit under section 45T is not gated on this test and still pays $500 a year for three years on its own conditions.

Count four things employers forget. A SEP or SIMPLE a payroll provider set up years ago and nobody has thought about since. A second business you or your co-owners control, because section 45E(e)(1) aggregates commonly controlled employers and treats them as one. A predecessor business, whose plan history follows the business into your hands. And any other arrangement covering substantially the same group of people. A state auto-IRA such as CalSavers or Illinois Secure Choice is not one of these, so if the state program is all you have had, the answer is no.

OPTIONAL

Two more, only if you know them

These have nothing to do with the retirement credit. They tell us whether anything else you are owed is worth looking at, because most hiring-based programs turn on who you hire rather than who already works for you. Skip them and the rest still works.

Check the box above to fill these in. Leave it unchecked and we never see or receive these two answers.

Free. No card, no account. We use the ten questions above to work out the credit and for nothing else. The two hiring questions are only used if you check the consent box above, and even then only to tell you about other credit programs.

Reimbursa is not a tax return preparer, a plan fiduciary, or a retirement plan provider. What we send back is information assembled from your answers and from public law, cited to source, for your CPA or EA to review and file. Questions here reflect 26 USC 45E, 26 USC 45T and the instructions to Form 8881 (Rev. December 2025).