There’s a lesser-known tax break for low- to moderate-income Americans who save for retirement. However, most eligible taxpayers don’t claim it, experts say.

The retirement savings contributions credit, or saver’s credit, helps offset funds added to an individual retirement account, 401(k) plan or another workplace plan. The tax break is worth up to $1,000 per filer.

It’s not too late if you didn’t make a qualifying contribution last year. There’s still time to make IRA deposits before April 15 to claim the credit on 2024 returns.

However, “the saver’s credit is a well-kept secret,” Catherine Collinson, CEO and president of Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies said in a February report. 

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Only about half of U.S. workers know about the saver’s credit, according to a survey from Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, which polled more than 10,000 U.S. adults in September and October. 

That percentage drops to 44% among taxpayers with a household income of less than $50,000. 

“Awareness of the credit is very low across the board,” but it’s even lower among taxpayers who could qualify to use it, said Emerson Sprick, associate director for the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Economic Policy Program.

To that point, roughly 5.8% of returns claimed the saver’s credit in 2022, according to a the most recent IRS data. The average credit value that year was $194, according to a Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies analysis.

There are income phase-outs to claim 50%, 20% or 10% of your contribution, depending on your filing status and adjusted gross income. You can use an IRS tool to see if you’re eligible. 

For 2024, your adjusted gross income can’t exceed $23,000 for single filers or $46,000 for married couples for the 50% credit. The percentages drop to 20% and 10%, respectively, as earnings increase, with a complete phase-out above $38,250 for individuals or $76,500 for joint filers.

That’s part of the motivation for the “saver’s match” enacted via Secure 2.0, which will replace the saver’s credit in 2027 and deposit money directly into taxpayers accounts, he said.

“Everyone hopes that it’s going to be easier,” Sprick said. But “there are a lot of logistics that remain to be worked out.”

Although a broader window for Medicare enrollment has closed, some retirees have another opportunity to make changes to their coverage.

Medicare Advantage open enrollment is available from Jan. 1 through March 31.

Medicare Advantage plans are offered by private insurers as an alternative to original Medicare. Generally, Medicare Advantage may cover Medicare Parts A and B, as well as Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage and other potential extra benefits.

During this open enrollment period, individuals who are already enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan may switch to another Medicare Advantage plan. Alternatively, they may drop their current Medicare Advantage plan and opt for Medicare original coverage.

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To be sure, there will be more options later in the year during a broader open enrollment period that lasts from October to December, when Medicare original enrollees may also opt to change plans.

For beneficiaries who are eligible to make changes during this time, it’s important not to ignore this window, according to Juliette Cubanski, deputy director of the program on Medicare policy at KFF, a provider of health policy research.

“Plans can change considerably from one year to the next,” Cubanski said. “If people don’t compare their coverage to other options, they may not know that they’re going to be faced with higher costs.”

To be sure, Medicare Advantage plans have received negative attention because in some cases coverage was denied for necessary care.

Medicare Advantage plans are more likely than traditional Medicare to use prior authorization, approval needed before a patient can receive certain services or medications. However, because prior authorizations that have been denied are frequently overturned when they are appealed, that has prompted questions as to whether the plans are avoiding coverage obligations.

Medicare Advantage plans are more likely than original Medicare to offer extra benefits — such as dental, vision and hearing — that elderly beneficiaries need.

Most Medicare beneficiaries — 83% — consider supplemental benefits to be important to their coverage, according to a recent survey from The Commonwealth Fund, a provider of independent research on health care issues.

Notably, a larger share of Medicare Advantage enrollees — 89% — said supplemental benefits are important to them, versus 74% of traditional Medicare enrollees, The Commonwealth Fund found.

“People on Medicare, both older adults and those with disabilities, generally really need dental, hearing and vision services, as well as other benefits that are typically offered by Medicare Advantage plans,” said Gretchen Jacobson, vice president of Medicare at The Commonwealth Fund.

Beneficiaries who are in traditional Medicare may not have coverage for those same services unless they are able to purchase a supplemental plan or they qualify for Medicaid, Jacobson said.

State-based organizations — the State Health Insurance Program, or SHIP — provide assistance to Medicare beneficiaries to help sort through their plan options.

Unlike insurance brokers or other professionals, these organizations do not have a financial interest to sign people up for certain plans, Cubanski said.

A federal judge in Maryland on Monday granted a temporary restraining order barring staffers from Elon Musk‘s secretive government-slashing effort, the Department of Government Efficiency, from accessing the personal information of millions of student loan borrowers.

The order, issued by Judge Deborah Boardman, ruled that the Department of Education and the Office of Personnel Management — the government’s HR department — must stop sharing federal employees’ and student borrowers’ personal data with DOGE officials. It marks a significant limitation on DOGE’s access to Americans’ personal data.

Boardman’s order bars DOGE from the personal information at the Education Department until March 10 at 8 a.m.

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Workers for DOGE have entered government offices in recent weeks, looking to make deep cuts to federal spending.

Boardman’s order came in response to a lawsuit led by The American Federation of Teachers, a union representing 1.8 million members. The AFT sued several federal agencies, including the Education Department, for permitting DOGE access to individuals’ private data.

AFT president Randi Weingarten applauded Boardman’s decision.

“When people give their financial and other personal information to the federal government — namely to secure financial aid for their kids to go to college, or to get a student loan — they expect that data to be protected and used for the reasons it was intended,” Weingarten said.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request from CNBC for comment.

There are currently six DOGE “affiliates” working at the Education Department, according to the court order. DOGE has claimed that it needed access to student loan programs to investigate waste, fraud and abuse, Boardman said.

However, the judge said the order that the government didn’t explain why DOGE affiliates at the Education Department “need such comprehensive, sweeping access to the plaintiffs’ records to audit student loan programs.”

Boardman expressed concern that DOGE had access to people’s income information and Social Security numbers.

And she wrote that the plaintiffs would likely be successful in their claim that the Education Department’s disclosure of their records to DOGE staffers violates The Privacy Act, a federal law that applies to federal agencies and is meant to protect individuals’ personal information.

“The data in question includes really sensitive information on a population of people who had to give that information for one clear purpose: borrow money to get an education,” said Ben Winters, the director of artificial intelligence and privacy at the Consumer Federation of America.

“It’s crucial that institutions like governments only allow your data to be used for strictly the purpose you gave it for,” Winters said.