Pre-tax value goes unused
HSA, FSA, dependent care, and commuter elections sit below what many households could use. Every missed qualifying dollar leaves employee tax savings behind and may also reduce measurable employer payroll savings.
Benefits decision support
Help employees choose benefits with household-specific math.
Matchbook is the coordination layer between plan documents and enrollment. Employees choose a goal, compare paycheck and coverage tradeoffs, and get source-backed recommendations. Employers see only aggregate adoption, support friction, and plan ROI after payroll runs.
Employee outcomes come first. Employer payroll impact is measured afterward, where qualifying pre-tax elections apply.
4 goals
Employees choose cash flow, health coverage, retirement, or total investment before Matchbook optimizes.
Aggregate
Employers see adoption, friction, and ROI trends without individual household details.
1,200
Demo employer size modeled from the ACME 2026 benefits fixture.
30 days
Target pilot window from plan ingest to a post-payroll operating report.
The open enrollment problem
Employees make high-stakes benefit choices with generic tools.
Open enrollment becomes a speedrun. The result is predictable: households miss plan features, leave tax-advantaged dollars unused, ask HR for advice HR cannot personalize, and employers struggle to prove whether the benefits budget is working.
Advice requests flood the team
Employees ask HR which plan to pick, whether an HSA makes sense, and how to coordinate spouse coverage and childcare. HR cannot personalize household math at scale.
Benefit ROI is hard to defend
Leadership sees premium spend and renewal increases. They rarely see which employees were helped in aggregate, which benefit categories improved, and where employees got stuck.
Explainer
See the mutual win in practice.
A short walkthrough of how better employee elections can create measurable savings for both sides.
What the employer gets
Employee guidance first. Aggregate proof second.
Matchbook turns plan rules plus employee inputs into auditable decision support. Employees get the personal recommendation; the employer gets aggregate outcomes without seeing household details or becoming an adviser.
- 01 Better employee decisionsEmployees compare benefits against their own goal: cash flow, health coverage, retirement, or total investment.
- 02 Higher enrollment qualityEmployees see the paycheck impact and plan tradeoffs before they submit elections in your existing system.
- 03 Lower support volumeCommon questions are handled up front, with HR escalations reserved for eligibility, plan administration, and exceptions.
- 04 Plan design intelligenceAggregate analytics show what is confusing, underused, or mismatched to households before renewal planning.
- 05 Payroll tax impactWhen employees choose qualifying pre-tax benefits that fit their needs, employer FICA may drop where applicable and can be measured after payroll.
Show outcomes, not just spend
Finance gets a conservative model and a post-payroll report: incremental qualifying pre-tax elections, employer payroll tax impact, support deflection, and payback period.
- Participation scenarios by population segment
- Post-payroll impact report
- Exportable assumptions and audit trail
Give employees confident guidance at scale
Employees get household-specific guidance while HR keeps control over plan rules, disclaimers, and escalation boundaries.
- Employee-selected optimization goal
- Plan-specific recommendations
- Household-aware questions (spouse coverage, dependents in care, utilization)
- Reduced repeat questions during enrollment
Make broker strategy operational
Matchbook turns plan design into employee-level decision support, then feeds aggregate adoption gaps back into renewal planning.
- Structured plan graph from SPDs and rate sheets
- Underuse and confusion signals by benefit
- Renewal-ready insights by benefit category
How it works
Launch before open enrollment. Prove aggregate outcomes after payroll.
Employers set the guardrails. Employees choose their goal and answer what changes the math. Payroll proves the aggregate result.
01
Ingest the plan
SPDs, rate sheets, contribution rules, IRS limits, and payroll-eligible benefits become a structured benefits graph.
02
Set employer guardrails
HR approves disclaimers, escalation rules, plan constraints, and which aggregate metrics are visible to the employer.
03
Guide employees
The employee chooses a goal and answers only the questions needed for their household. Matchbook calculates plan fit, contribution levels, and paycheck impact.
04
Prove outcomes
Dashboards show aggregate unlocked value, payroll tax impact where applicable, improved elections, underused benefits, and recurring support questions.
Real employer view: plan-document ingest on top, Section 125 FICA savings and full-participation model directly below.
Employer dashboard
Open enrollment should produce aggregate proof.
HR and finance get a benefits performance view that ties employee decision support to measurable outcomes without individual surveillance.
- How many employees improved their elections versus last year
- Which benefit categories drove employee savings and payroll tax impact
- Where employees abandoned, escalated, or needed clarification
- Which plan design changes could unlock savings next year
ROI model
The business case should survive partial adoption.
Example using the ACME 2026 fixture: 1,200 employees. If Matchbook drives $2,400 in additional qualifying pre-tax elections per participating employee per year, each participant can create up to $183.60 in employer FICA savings (7.65% — 6.2% OASDI below the Social Security wage base plus 1.45% Medicare, under IRC §3121(a)(5)(G)). Employees earning above the wage base generate only the 1.45% share. The model below shows conservative participation scenarios instead of assuming everyone uses the tool.
| Participation | Model | Employer impact |
|---|---|---|
| 15% of 1,200 employees | 180 participants x $2,400 incremental qualifying pre-tax elections | About $33,048 gross employer FICA savings under the assumption. |
| 30% of 1,200 employees | 360 participants x $2,400 incremental qualifying pre-tax elections | About $66,096 gross employer FICA savings under the assumption. |
| 50% of 1,200 employees | 600 participants x $2,400 incremental qualifying pre-tax elections | About $110,160 gross employer FICA savings under the assumption. |
| 100% of 1,200 employees | 1,200 participants x $2,400 incremental qualifying pre-tax elections | About $220,320 gross employer FICA savings under the assumption. |
The CFO version
Employee savings and better fit drive adoption. Employer payroll savings are a measurable offset when qualifying pre-tax elections increase.
~$66k
Modeled gross employer FICA savings at 30% participation for a 1,200-person employer under the assumptions above.
Actual savings depend on participation, incremental behavior change, employee wages, benefit eligibility, payroll configuration, Social Security wage base effects, and applicable tax rules.
Why Matchbook
Decision support between plan education and enrollment.
Your broker designs the plan. Your admin platform collects elections. Matchbook does the household math in between and returns an auditable recommendation based on the employee's goal.
| Capability | Benefits admin platform | Broker webinar | Matchbook |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employee-selected goal | Rare | Discussed live | Built into the recommendation |
| Personalized household math | Limited | Generic examples | Employee-specific recommendation |
| Plan document reasoning | Stores documents | Explains highlights | Turns plan rules into a benefits graph |
| Aggregate payroll impact model | Rare | No | Aggregate only |
| HR support deflection | FAQ articles | One-time session | Guided flow plus escalation rules |
| Renewal intelligence | Enrollment counts | Anecdotal feedback | Underuse, confusion, and value unlocked |
Security and governance
Employer visibility without employee surveillance.
Employees need privacy and agency. Employers need results. Matchbook separates personal recommendation details from aggregate operational reporting and keeps decision rights with the employee.
Aggregate employer reporting
Employers see trends, unlocked value, participation, and plan friction. Individual household details stay with the employee unless they choose to share in an escalation.
HR-approved guardrails
Plan administrators approve disclaimers, source documents, escalation rules, and the boundaries of what the agent can recommend.
Traceable reasoning
Recommendations are tied back to plan rules, rate sheets, employee inputs, and tax assumptions so the employer can review what drove the outcome.
The trust boundary
Matchbook does
- Provide decision support from employee-stated assumptions
- Show paycheck, coverage, and contribution tradeoffs
- Tie recommendations to plan rules, employee inputs, and tax assumptions
- Escalate uncertain cases to HR, broker, or plan administrator
- Report aggregate adoption, savings, friction, and support trends
Matchbook does not
- Make final elections for employees
- Guarantee tax, medical, investment, or legal outcomes
- Let employers view personal household details by default
- Replace brokers, payroll, benefits admin platforms, or plan fiduciaries
- Secretly optimize for employer savings over employee goals
Pilot path
Start with one population. Measure outcomes conservatively.
Pilot with one plan year and one employer population. Set targets for employee engagement, qualifying pre-tax adoption, and support deflection, then measure aggregate results after payroll.
30-day launch
Plan ingest, HR review, employee guidance, and an employer operating report for a defined population before or during open enrollment.
- One employer benefits package
- Guided employee recommendations
- Aggregate ROI and friction report
Always-on benefits copilot
Open enrollment, new hires, qualifying life events, and renewal planning fed by the same structured plan intelligence.
- New-hire onboarding
- Life event recalculations
- Renewal insights for HR and broker teams
FAQ
Questions employers ask first.
Is Matchbook replacing our broker or benefits admin platform?
No. Your broker still designs the plan and your benefits admin platform still collects elections. Matchbook provides household-specific decision support before submission.
Do employers see individual employee financial details?
No by default. Employees receive personalized recommendations, while HR and finance see aggregate adoption, savings, friction, and support trends. Individual details are shared only when the employee chooses to escalate a case.
Are you optimizing for employer savings or employee outcomes?
Employee outcomes come first. The employee picks the goal, such as cash in hand, health coverage, retirement, or total investment. Employer payroll savings are measured only as an aggregate byproduct when qualifying pre-tax elections increase.
Is this tax, legal, investment, or medical advice?
No. Matchbook provides decision support based on employer plan documents, employee inputs, and stated assumptions. Employees remain responsible for final elections, and employers keep their normal plan administrator, broker, payroll, and adviser roles.
How does payroll tax savings work?
Section 125 cafeteria plan salary reductions are excluded from FICA wages under IRC §3121(a)(5)(G), per IRS Pub 15-B. That covers premium-only plans, healthcare FSA, dependent care FSA, HSA contributions routed through §125, and Section 132(f) commuter benefits. The employer FICA rate is 7.65% up to the Social Security wage base ($176,100 in 2025; projected ~$183,600 in 2026) and 1.45% on wages above that base, so Matchbook models savings per employee rather than quoting a flat rate. Traditional 401(k) deferrals reduce federal income tax but do not reduce FICA. Direct HSA contributions made outside the cafeteria plan are also not FICA-exempt — Matchbook helps route them through §125 where the employer has elected to allow it.
How is Matchbook different from vendors that promise payroll tax savings through wellness programs?
Matchbook increases employee enrollment in pre-tax benefits your plan already offers. We do not sell a new plan design, a fixed-indemnity policy, or a wellness-reward program that routes cash back to employees post-reduction. Those arrangements are the category the IRS has been challenging (see Chief Counsel Advice 202323006 on wellness-indemnity schemes and related guidance), and WTW has publicly warned employers to scrutinize them. Matchbook's savings come from higher utilization of existing Section 125 and Section 132(f) elections, modeled against each employee's actual wages — not from a new tax position.
Can you give a concrete example?
In the ACME fixture, a family spending ~$22k/year on childcare can elect a $7,500 dependent care FSA, which the demo scorer models as ~$2,224/year in additional employee tax savings and ~$574/year in additional employer FICA savings. A single high-cashflow employee can switch to HDHP+HSA and activate Mega Backdoor Roth contributions that they could not access unless the employer enabled after-tax contributions and in-plan Roth conversion.
Can this handle complex households?
Yes. The core value is modeling spouse coverage, dependents, expected care, cash flow, retirement contributions, disability needs, and plan interactions that static enrollment pages do not personalize.
Make open enrollment easier to trust.
Launch Matchbook with one population, help employees compare household-specific tradeoffs, and bring aggregate adoption, support, and ROI evidence to renewal.