The Saver's Match is one of the largest federal efforts aimed at helping families with low and moderate incomes build retirement savings. Passed by Congress in 2022 as part of the bipartisan SECURE 2.0 Act (PDF), the program is designed to replace and improve on the existing Saver’s Credit. Starting in 2027, the federal government will be able to directly match up to $2,000 of contributions to eligible retirement accounts. This will allow workers who owe little or no federal income tax to take advantage of the program.
Still, federal policymakers could do more to ensure eligible workers are aware of the Saver’s Match and to expand the Saver’s Match to more Americans struggling to save for retirement. Here we explore four ways policymakers could amplify the program’s impacts.
How many people will claim the Saver’s Match in 2027?
Using the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center's microsimulation model, we estimate that 11.4 million taxpayers nationally (about 6.0 percent of all taxpayers) will claim $4.15 billion through the Saver's Match for tax year 2027.
About 97 percent, or 11.1 million of the 11.4 million taxpayers claiming the Saver’s Match, fall in the bottom 60 percent of the income distribution. We estimate that, on average, about 79 percent of eligible taxpayers claim the match.
Four ways federal policymakers could help more families with low incomes save for retirement through the Saver’s Match
Some members of Congress are considering legislative changes to expand the Saver’s Match, and federal agencies have administrative options as well. Here are four ways policymakers could consider amplifying the reach of the Saver’s Match:
1. Raise the income limits. The current income limit for the full match is $41,000 for married couples ($20,500 for single filers) and is completely phased out at $71,000 ($35,500 for singles). That is far below the national median household income, which was about $87,460 in 2025.
Using the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center's microsimulation model, we project that if Congress increased the full-match income limit for married couples from $41,000 to $50,000, and the income at which the match completely phases out from $71,000 to $80,000, would raise the number of taxpayers that would claim the Saver’s Match to about 14.3 million. That is 3 million more taxpayers than projected under the current law. This would increase the total cost of the Saver’s Match to $6 billion, about $1.8 billion more than under the current limits.
2. Offer a higher match rate for workers with the lowest incomes. Research shows that take-up of savings incentives is lowest among people with low incomes, partly because these workers are less likely to hear about programs like the Saver's Match or to have access to in-person guidance when they file their taxes. At the same time, the match itself could also be too small to overcome the upfront cost of setting money aside.
A more generous match rate for the taxpayers with the lowest incomes could address both problems at once—raising awareness while making the trade-off worthwhile. Another approach would be a universal increase in the matching rate from 50 percent to 100 percent for all eligible savers, as proposed in the Saver's Match Enhancement Act (S. 5507) introduced by Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee.
2. Designate matching funds to go into Roth accounts. Currently, the US Department of the Treasury cannot directly deposit the Saver’s Match into a Roth account. The match can only go into a traditional individual retirement account (IRA) or an employer plan as pretax money that is fully taxable when withdrawn.
For workers with low incomes, Roth accounts can be more tax efficient, as taxes are paid upfront when the worker's income, and likely their tax rate, is lower. Roth accounts also offer greater flexibility for households living paycheck to paycheck; households can withdraw money from a Roth account at any time, tax- and penalty-free, because the dollars were already taxed. The Treasury has proposed ways to convert Saver’s Match funds from traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs without opening a separate account (PDF), which could better serve the program’s target population.
- Help people open a qualifying retirement account. The three changes above all presume that workers already have a retirement account. But about 43 percent of US workers—approximately 56 million people—lack an employer-sponsored retirement plan. Without an account to contribute to, these workers cannot claim the Saver's Match, however generous the benefit may be.
The Trump IRA platform, a government-run marketplace launching January 1, 2027, is designed to help these workers find low-cost IRAs and help determine their eligibility for the Saver’s Match.
By expanding awareness and access to the Saver’s Match, policymakers can help more workers with low incomes grow their retirement savings and have greater financial security in retirement.
