SECURE 2.0 Tax Credit Recovery

Your 401(k) plan has unclaimed tax credits.

We already found them in your plan's public Form 5500 filing. That is why you received our letter. Enter your code to see your number.

Your fee held in escrow Filed by your own CPA Built by TPAs since 1975 & 1985

See your projection

Enter the code from your letter or email.

Pulling your plan's credit estimate…

How it works No code? See if you qualify

Why did I get a letter? Every retirement plan files a public Form 5500 with the Department of Labor. We read yours, identified the credits your plan is owed, and mailed you a private code to view them. No information was bought or shared.

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Estimated credits, full 5-year window

You keep · 75%$0

Our fee · 25%$0

Estimate based on your plan's employer-contribution data under IRC §45E(f), capped at $1,000 per eligible employee. Final amounts are confirmed in Tally(k) before you engage. Our 25% fee is held in escrow.

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94.5%

of eligible employers never claim their credits

Fewer than 6 of every 100 eligible plans ever file for the SECURE 2.0 credits they are owed. Congress created the money. Almost no one collects it.

Claims the credit Never claims

$5B+

In recoverable credits across eligible plans nationwide

204,000+

Eligible plans identified from DOL Form 5500 filings

$25,000+

Estimated average credit per plan, over 5 years

5 yrs

Of recoverable credits, including prior years

Conservative estimate based on the full 5-year credit window across 204,000+ eligible plans identified from DOL Form 5500 filings. Per-employee employer contribution credit capped at $1,000 per IRC §45E(f). Estimates adjusted for plan design mix and participation using Vanguard's How America Saves 2025 Small Business Edition. Includes prior-year credits recoverable via amended returns. Actual amounts vary by plan design and participation.

The problem

Where $5 billion in credits gets lost

When 94.5% of eligible employers never claim a credit, the issue isn't any individual professional. It's the credit itself. SECURE 2.0 created something genuinely new: credits that need plan-level data to calculate but get filed on the employer's tax return. Two separate data sources, two separate disciplines, and a narrow specialty that didn't exist three years ago.

⚙️Two data sources

The credit needs data from two places

Calculating it requires plan-level data, who is eligible, contribution amounts, effective dates, that lives in your plan's administration records. But the credit is filed on your business tax return. Two separate systems, kept by different professionals, for different purposes. No single one has everything.

📊New since 2023

A specialty that didn't exist until 2023

SECURE 2.0 created or expanded credits across §45E, §45T, and §45AA, each with its own phase-out rules and eligibility windows, inside a 358-page bill. The 94.5% unclaimed rate reflects how new and specialized these provisions are.

⏳Time-sensitive

The credits are expiring

These aren't permanent. The credit windows span specific tax years, and every year you don't file is a year of credits you lose for good. Prior years can still be recovered through amended returns, but that window closes too.

Four parties touch your plan every year. None of them owns this credit, which is exactly how it slips through.

Recordkeeper

Runs the plan's investments, the website, and participant statements. They don't prepare your business tax return, so the credit was never theirs to file.

Your TPA

Handles plan compliance and the Form 5500. That work lives on the plan side, not on the corporate tax return where the credit is actually claimed.

Your CPA

Prepares the tax return, but the credit needs plan-level contribution detail they often never receive, and it's a brand-new, narrow specialty most haven't filed before.

You

Reasonably assume one of the three above handled it. With no single owner, nobody does.

That gap is the entire reason the credit goes unclaimed, and the entire reason Credit(k) exists. We sit in the seam between the plan data and the tax return, and we do only this.

The research

This is documented, not a sales pitch

CRI

Georgetown University Center for Retirement Initiatives

Bloomfield et al. · Georgetown CRI · 2025 · NBER Working Paper

Peer-reviewed research by Bloomfield et al. (2025) used detailed IRS and Census data to examine how firms respond to retirement plan tax incentives. The findings confirm these credits are dramatically underutilized, and reveal exactly why.

Read the full study →

< 50%

File again in year two

Even among employers who successfully claim in year one, fewer than half file again in year two, and the share drops further in year three. Most who start never capture the full window.

Bloomfield et al. · Georgetown CRI · 2025

+11 pts

Specialized experience matters

Having a preparer with prior experience filing this specific credit raised the probability of claiming by 11 percentage points. Specialized expertise is the single biggest driver, and 87% of employers lack access to one.

Bloomfield et al. · Georgetown CRI · 2025

How it works

You verify once. We handle the rest.

Four steps from your letter to a signature-ready package. The only thing on your plate is a few minutes confirming your own data.

Credit(k)

We identify

We already analyzed your plan's eligibility from your public Form 5500. That's why you got the letter.

You · 5–10 min

You verify

In Tally(k), import the payroll or census export you already have. Confirm who earned under the cap and their employer contributions. It reconciles to your Form 5500.

Credit(k)

We prepare

You get a signature-ready Form 8881 and Form 3800 package for every eligible year, plus a full audit-support workbook.

Your CPA

Your CPA files

You take the finished package to your own CPA to review and file. Credit(k) prepares the package. It is never the filer.

🔒

Why the verify step exists

Form 8881 is signed under penalty of perjury and reports a federal tax credit. We will not put an estimated number on it. You spend a few minutes confirming your real per-employee data, and we turn it into signature-ready forms. Real data in, defensible filing out.

What you're owed

Three credits, one form

The SECURE 2.0 Act created or expanded three federal credits for small employers, all filed on Form 8881. A credit cuts your tax bill dollar for dollar, not just your taxable income.

IRC §45E(f)

Employer Contribution Credit

up to $1,000

Per eligible employee per year for 5 years, at declining percentages (100/100/75/50/25). Based on employer contributions only; deferrals are excluded by statute. Usually the largest of the three.

IRC §45E(a)

Plan Startup Credit

up to $5,000

Covers up to 100% of qualified startup costs, capped at $5,000 per year for the first 3 years. Often offsets the entire cost of establishing and running the plan.

IRC §45T

Auto-Enrollment Credit

$500 / yr

$500 per year for up to 3 years for plans with an eligible automatic contribution arrangement (EACA or QACA).

Engagement & payment

Aligned with your savings, never in our hands

One engagement covers your full 5-year window. Our fee is 25% of identified credits, the low end of the industry's 25–40% range, and it sits in escrow until you've verified the work.

Upfront fee

25%

Of total credits identified, funded into a licensed third-party escrow account and released only as you confirm delivery. 100% money-back guarantee.

Your net

75%

On credits you didn't know existed and would likely never have filed. Money that was leaving the table for good.

Engagement

Full 5 years

One engagement covers every eligible tax year, including prior years recoverable via amended returns.

Included

Audit support

Every package ships with a full audit-support workbook: methodology, IRC citations, data provenance, and phase-out worksheets your CPA can stand behind.

🛡️

Your fee is never in our hands

Funds are held by Escrow.com, incorporated in 1999 by Fidelity National Financial, with billions in protected transactions. Released in two equal 50/50 milestones, each only after you verify the deliverables. Credit(k) never touches your money directly.

Who we are

Real firms, with decades behind them

The people behind Credit(k) have been administering retirement plans since 1975 and 1985. Two established third-party administrators, roughly 90 combined years in this exact corner of the business, plus the carrier and technology experience to build the engine that finds these credits at scale.

Michael Zahariades, APR

Partner, Retirement Plan Administrators (RPA) · Atlanta

Partner at RPA, an independent Atlanta TPA administering retirement plans since 1985. Two decades on the carrier side at Transamerica, John Hancock/Manulife, and MassMutual before that, as a top-producing wholesaler in the TPA channel.

Mike holds the APR (Accredited Pension Representative) designation from NIPA and FINRA Series 6 and 63 licenses. He served as RPA's Director of Sales and Marketing before becoming Partner, helping lead a firm that supports more than 1,000 plans from offices in Atlanta, Augusta, and Savannah. His earlier roles include VP and Director of Special Markets at Transamerica, TPA Regional Marketing Director at John Hancock/Manulife, and Regional Sales Director at MassMutual. Northeastern University, BS in Business Management.

JD Carlson

CEO, Plan Design Consultants (PDC) · Co-Founder, Waivz · Host, Retireholi(k)s

Second-generation CEO of Plan Design Consultants, the TPA his father founded in 1975, now in its fifth decade. A former professional surfer who took over the family firm and rebuilt it around a smart, easy service model. Co-founder of Waivz alongside Tony.

JD leads PDC, a full-service TPA handling 401(k), 403(b), defined benefit, cash balance, and combo plans. He founded the 401k Academy to train investment professionals, writes the four01k blog, and hosts Retireholi(k)s, the long-running 401(k) web show, with Chad and their partners. He also co-founded the creative studio Seventy5 Studios, and with Tony co-founded Waivz, the software venture behind Credit(k). San Diego State University.

Chad Johansen, QKA

Partner & Director of Retirement Plan Sales, PDC · ASPPA speaker & author

Partner at Plan Design Consultants, where he built and runs the firm's Comprehensive Retirement Plan Analysis. A QKA credential holder, regular ASPPA Annual speaker, contributor to ASPPA's Plan Consultant magazine, and one of the four Retireholi(k)s.

Chad joined PDC in 2010 and became a managing partner in 2014, leading retirement-plan sales and consulting and helping advisors and sponsors compare plan design, fees, and providers. He holds the QKA (Qualified 401(k) Administrator) credential, speaks at the ASPPA Annual conference, and co-authors articles for ASPPA's Plan Consultant on topics like self-directed brokerage accounts and pooled-account design. BA in Business Administration from William Woods University, where he graduated summa cum laude and was named Business Student of the Year.

Tony Davis

Founder, Elite Retirement Alliance · Co-Founder, Waivz · Founder & Managing Member, Credit(k)

Founder of Elite Retirement Alliance and co-founder of Waivz with JD. Thirty-plus years spanning TPA operations, carrier distribution, and retirement-plan technology, with roles at Manulife/John Hancock, MassMutual, Oppenheimer, and Empower.

Tony's career runs the full length of the business. He started on the operations and technology side at Manulife (now Manulife John Hancock), moving from programmer and analyst to supervisor of new business and administration to TPA services manager. He then spent seven years as a Regional Vice President at MassMutual, three as a DCIO at Oppenheimer, and three as a wholesaler at Empower. He founded Elite Retirement Alliance and, with JD, co-founded Waivz, the venture behind Credit(k). That mix of hands-on administration, distribution, and software is what lets him build the Credit(k) engine end to end.

Common questions

What plan sponsors ask us

It's real. We identify eligible plans from public DOL Form 5500 filings, the same annual reports every retirement plan files by law. We mailed you a private code to view what your plan is owed. We never ask for bank logins or passwords, your fee is held by a licensed escrow service rather than paid to us, and your own CPA reviews and files the final package. You can verify the firms behind Credit(k) in the About section above.

A deduction reduces your taxable income, so a $10,000 deduction might save you $2,500 depending on your bracket. A credit reduces your actual tax bill dollar for dollar. A $10,000 credit saves you exactly $10,000. These SECURE 2.0 credits are credits, not deductions.

In most cases, yes. If your plan was established in a prior year and you didn't claim the credits, your CPA can file an amended return to recover them, generally within 3 years of the original filing date. Our package includes amended-return guidance for your entity type.

It's not an oversight on their part. The credit needs plan-level contribution detail that lives with your TPA and recordkeeper, not in the records a CPA normally sees, and it's a narrow specialty created only in 2023. Georgetown's research found that 87% of employers lack access to a preparer experienced with this specific credit. We do only this, then hand the finished work to your CPA to review and sign.

One short step. In Tally(k), you import the payroll or census export you already have and confirm which employees earned under the cap and their employer contributions. It takes about 5 to 10 minutes and reconciles to your Form 5500. We handle identification, calculation, the forms, and the audit workbook. Your CPA files.