What should you pick at open enrollment?
Most of a household’s tax-free money for 2027 is chosen this month, and most people click “same as last year”. A few answers say which benefits to elect, how much a paycheck, and what each one puts back.
How it’s worked out
Why does it matter whose paycheck a benefit goes through?
A pre-tax election through a cafeteria plan skips income tax and the 7.65% of Social Security and Medicare. Past $184,500 of pay a year, Social Security stops, so a dollar through that paycheck skips only Medicare's 1.45%. For a couple, anything both employers offer (a dependent care FSA, say) saves 6.2% more through the paycheck under the limit.
When does a dependent care FSA not help?
It takes away the dependent care credit dollar for dollar. The credit is 50% of up to $3,000 of care for one child ($6,000 for two or more) at low incomes, falling to 20%, so a household in a low bracket with two kids can keep more by claiming the credit and leaving the FSA unelected. The checker works out both.
How much should go into the HSA?
To the family limit ($9,000) less what your employer adds, spread over the paychecks. Through payroll it skips Social Security and Medicare too, which money put in on your own does not.
Is the stock purchase plan worth it?
At 15% off, each purchase sold the day it arrives keeps a discount of about 17.6% on what went in, taxed as pay but never as Social Security or Medicare wages. It is money from your employer, not from the IRS, so the checker shows it beside the picks rather than in them.
Is my information kept?
Not unless you make an account. The answers stay in your browser. With an account they become your tax profile, and the checker reads your employer’s benefits guide for its exact terms.
Checked on October 24, 2026 against 26 U.S.C. 129, dependent care assistance, 26 U.S.C. 21, the dependent care credit, Rev. Proc. 2025-32, 2026 inflation adjustments, Publication 969, Health Savings Accounts, Publication 525, Taxable and Nontaxable Income, Publication 15-B, Employer’s Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits and IR-2025-111, 2026 401(k) and IRA limits. An estimate for your records, not tax advice.
Already enrolled? The tax forecast says what you will owe for this year from your latest pay stub, and the savings waterfall where your next dollar should go.
More if you draw a paycheck
Put more back in your pocket.
Reimburse reads your employer’s benefits guide, prices every pick on your own year, and puts your enrollment deadline on your calendar.