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- The Saver’s Match program, which was authorized in 2022 Secure 2.0 retirement legislation, will provide income-eligible retirement savers with a matching annual contribution worth up to $1,000 for single filers and $2,000 for joint filers beginning with the 2027 tax year.
- The IRS sent CP321J notices to taxpayers who claimed the saver’s credit — which the Saver’s Match will replace — on their 2025 returns or whose 2025 income would make them eligible.
- The Treasury Department and the IRS plan to issue regulations to govern the operation of the Saver’s Match and are seeking input from the public until Oct. 5 to address potential complications in the program.
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The IRS has begun notifying some taxpayers who may be eligible for a new retirement cash contribution debuting next year.
Authorized by the 2022 Secure 2.0 retirement legislation, the upcoming Saver’s Match program will provide income-eligible retirement savers with a matching annual contribution worth up to $1,000 for single filers and $2,000 for joint filers beginning with the 2027 tax year.
According to a recent post on the IRS website, the agency sent CP321J notices to taxpayers who claimed the saver’s credit — which the Saver’s Match is replacing — on their 2025 tax return or whose 2025 income was otherwise in the range of eligibility. The IRS did not respond to a CNBC email asking how many taxpayers received the notice.
The benefit is available whether workers save through a workplace plan like a 401(k) or in an individual retirement account. People would claim the Saver’s Match with a new Form 8880-A when filing their 2027 tax return in 2028, according to the IRS.
Before the Saver’s Match takes effect, the saver’s credit remains available through the 2026 tax year for lower- and moderate-income retirement savers. It’s also worth up to $1,000 for single filers and $2,000 for joint filers who contribute to their retirement accounts, depending on income. But it’s a nonrefundable tax credit, meaning it can only reduce your tax bill to $0, rather than generate a refund.
“The Saver’s Match will very likely be more effective than the saver’s credit,” said Stephen Roll, assistant professor at Washington University in St. Louis’ Brown School and research director at its Center for Social Development. “The saver’s credit never reached tax filers at scale.”
In addition to low awareness of the credit, “low-income households like those targeted by the saver’s credit usually owe very little, or even nothing, in taxes, so reducing their tax liability provides them with minimal benefit,” Roll said.
How the Saver’s Match will work
The new Saver’s Match is part of an ongoing broader effort to help workers save for retirement. An estimated 53.7 million full-time and part-time private-sector workers between the ages of 18 and 65 lack access to any employer-based retirement plan, according to 2025 research from the Economic Innovation Group, a bipartisan public policy group.
Under the Saver’s Match program, single-filer taxpayers with annual modified adjusted gross income up to $20,500 or joint filers earning up to $41,000 can qualify for a government match equal to 50% of retirement contributions up to $2,000, for a maximum yearly match of $1,000 per person. Single filers with annual modified adjusted gross incomes of between $20,501 and $35,499 will qualify for reduced matching contributions, as will joint filers making between $41,001 and $70,999.
Other qualifications include being at least age 18, not being a student or someone else’s dependent and generally being a U.S. resident for tax purposes. They also must make qualifying retirement contributions.
Complications still have to be sorted out
However, there are kinks to work out.
For example, although Roth IRA contributions count for eligibility, those accounts cannot receive the match. This means that workers who save via a Roth — including nearly all of those enrolled in state-run auto-IRA programs — would need a traditional account to receive the match, experts say.
A joint Treasury Department and IRS notice issued Aug. 7 indicates that the agencies are considering a “conduit” traditional IRA that would receive the Saver’s Match and then transfer it to a Roth — which would be a taxable conversion. The public can provide input on the notice through Oct. 5.
The simpler the program is, the better for taxpayers, said Shai Akabas, vice president of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a think tank.
“From the standpoint of tax forms, what people actually have to fill out in order to claim the match, and also what types of accounts the match can go into, and how that match is treated for tax purposes — those are going to be critical components here as well,” Akabas said.
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Additionally, workplace retirement plans and IRA providers are not required to accept Saver’s Match deposits directly, according to the notice.
The Plan Sponsor Council of America, a trade association, polled its plan members in August about the program, and of the 125 responses received, just three respondents said they will accept the federal matches.
Another 45 said they are considering it and 57 said they are not. Among the latter group, some respondents said their employees would not be eligible due to higher incomes.
The remaining 20 polled said they were unfamiliar with the program.
A new website, TrumpIRA.gov, is expected to launch on Jan. 1 for workers to compare and enroll in IRAs and, if eligible, collect the Saver’s Match when it is distributed.
