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Turn payroll tax into employee healthcare.
Every payroll cycle, you send the IRS money the tax code does not require you to send. SIMERP redirects it into real medical care for your team, at no net cost to your business.
New to the term? What is SIMERP?
Money the tax code never asked for
Your last payroll overpaid the IRS. So did the one before it.
Nothing on your payroll register shows how much.
- Net cost to your businessZero
- Change to employee gross payNone
- First savings appearNext payroll
Your broker stays. Your health plan stays. Your payroll provider stays.
- Pub. 15the IRS publication that names this plan type
- 50 statesSIMERP is available in every one
- 300+trusted advisor partners
Results tape · annual FICA recovery, active SIMERP clients
Updated 2026-09-09“The SIMERP methodology is more than just a benefits program, it’s a strategy for smarter business growth.”
Kevin Harrington, Original Shark from Shark Tank®
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01 · The problem
You are paying for two benefits programs. You only chose one.
The one you chose for your team. And the one you accidentally fund for the government, every single payroll cycle, in FICA taxes the law never required you to pay.
Taking that money back is not savings. It is recovery: these are dollars the tax code never asked you to send in the first place.
The question
What is SIMERP?
SIMERP is a self-insured medical expense reimbursement plan your own company sponsors. It is not insurance. It is service-based medical care, and it does not replace or change the health plan you have: it sits alongside it. Employees make a pre-tax election under Section 125, and because that lowers taxable wages, your FICA bill drops.
02 · The blind spot
Why your CPA and your broker never brought this up
Nobody made a mistake. Until recently, recovering these dollars was so complex that only Fortune 500 companies with armies of lawyers did it. SIMERP was built to change that.
The simplest way to see why nobody mentioned it: each of your advisors drives the lane you hired them for, and this program lives in a lane of its own, right between them.
The question
Why has my CPA or broker never mentioned this?
Because SIMERP sits where tax law, benefits law and healthcare regulations intersect, a lane neither advisor was hired to cover. CPAs focus on standard tax compliance and traditional deductions. Brokers focus on premiums. Neither works with this benefit structure without specific training in it. The gap is structural, not personal.
The question
If this is real, why have I never heard of it?
Because the law alone was never enough. Delivering on it took an administrator and a medical provider built to work as one system, giving your people access to world-class care with no copay and no deductible, from anywhere. The tax code has allowed this since 1954. What changed is the delivery.
03 · The mechanism
How one election lowers taxes on both sides of the paycheck
The question
How does SIMERP actually lower payroll tax?
In three moves. Employees make a pre-tax election under Section 125, which lowers the income their payroll taxes are calculated on. Their federal, state, Social Security, and Medicare taxes drop, and part of that savings covers their care membership. With less taxable income on payroll, your FICA bill drops too.
Gross pay stays exactly what it is.
Nothing is cut and nothing is added. The same paycheck simply gets taxed differently from here on.
Gross pay does not changeEmployees opt in with a pre-tax election.
It runs under Section 125, the same section of the tax code your employees’ FSA and HSA already live in. The election lowers the wages that taxes are calculated on, for them and for you.
Section 125Their taxes drop, and take-home pay goes up.
They pay less federal, state, Social Security, and Medicare tax. Part of that saving funds their care benefit. The rest stays on their check, so take-home pay goes up.
Your FICA bill drops. That is just math.
Lower taxable wages mean the business stops paying its FICA match on those dollars. Every payroll, automatically.
04 · The rules
Built to pass the test the IRS actually applies.
The question
Is SIMERP legal, or does it invite an IRS audit?
SIMERP is built to comply with existing IRS regulations rather than work around them. Treasury Regulation §1.105-2 draws the line: reimbursements must be tied to actual medical care, never paid whether or not care happens. Every interaction is delivered by licensed physicians, documented with CPT and ICD codes, and valued by independent actuaries.
Wellness schemes that pay cash whether or not care ever happens.
The IRS has warned about exactly those schemes. That warning is correct. It is also not about SIMERP.
Paid irrespective of careSection 105(b) does not apply to amounts a taxpayer would receive “irrespective of whether or not he incurs expenses for medical care.”
- Licensed physicians deliver every interaction.
- CPT and ICD codes document every interaction.
- Independent actuaries value every reimbursement.
The seven public instruments that do the work are printed below, ready to hand to your CPA.
See it for yourself first. Take the call and look at your own numbers. Twenty minutes, and you will know what your payroll is worth.
The statutes SIMERP runs on.
Nothing here to take on faith. Every one of these is public. Every citation below is a link to the full text, and the years speak for themselves.
The question
Which tax code sections is SIMERP built on?
Five sections of the Internal Revenue Code and one Treasury Regulation: IRC 105, 106, 125, 213(d), and 3121, plus Treasury Regulation §1.105-2. IRS Publication 15 names the plan type directly. The core of it has been law since 1954, and Section 125 since 1978.
- IRS Pub. 15Names the plan type. Medical care reimbursements under an employer's self-insured medical reimbursement plan are not wages, and are not subject to social security, Medicare, and FUTA taxes.Reissued every year
- IRC §125The pre-tax election your employees make. Under the tax code, those amounts are treated as employer contributions.Law since 1978
- IRC §105The self-insured medical reimbursement plan itself, and the exclusion of qualifying reimbursements from an employee's income.Law since 1954
- IRC §106The exclusion of employer-provided coverage and qualifying reimbursements from wages.Law since 1954
- IRC §213(d)The definition of medical care the plan is allowed to reimburse.Law since 1954
- IRC §3121The wage definition that FICA is calculated on, and what sits outside it.Law since 1954
- Treas. Reg. §1.105-2The line the IRS draws. Reimbursements must be tied to actual medical care, never paid irrespective of whether care happens.Final regulation
The statute itself is the highest authority, and every line of it is public. The full statutory framework
06 · The number
How much does SIMERP recover per enrolled employee?
The program recovers up to $640 per enrolled employee per year, at no net cost to your business. That works out to $93.33 per enrolled employee per month in FICA savings, of which $53.33 stays with you after every program cost. Your exact figure comes from your own payroll.
Recovery per enrolled employee, per year
up to $640
per enrolled employee, per year, at no net cost to your business
This money was always yours. You were just never told you could keep it.
- up to $93.33FICA savings per enrolled employee, per month
- $53.33Net savings per enrolled employee after all program costs
07 · Your number
How much have you been overpaying?
Move the slider to your headcount and the estimate multiplies it by the published program figure. It is an upper estimate, not a quote: results vary by state, salary mix, and plan structure. Your exact figure comes from your Recovery Ledger, built from your actual payroll, with no cost and no obligation.
Nobody made a mistake, and nothing here is a loophole. This is money the tax code never required you to send, sitting in a place nobody thought to look.
Estimate based on the published program figure of up to $640 per enrolled employee per year. Results vary by state, salary mix, and plan structure. Your exact number comes from your Recovery Ledger, built from your actual payroll.
Start My Savings Assessment
The shift ends at eleven. The clinic closed at five.
Illustrative photograph, not an actual SIMERP client site. It works anywhere you run W‑2 payroll, and your people feel it soonest where the hours run late and the nearest open door is an emergency room.
08 · The night it matters
Your team gets real care, not a perk.
The question
What do employees actually get, and what does it cost them?
Primary and urgent care, mental health, pharmacy, and weight health, for the employee plus up to 6 legal dependents. Zero copay, zero deductible, no fees. Their gross pay does not change and their take-home pay goes up, because the pre-tax election lowers the wages they are taxed on.
Sunday night. A son spikes a high fever.
11:00 PM
Instead of hours in an ER waiting room, his parent picks up the phone.
- +0 minutesThey call the urgent care line. No hold menu, no portal login.
- +4 minutesA doctor is on the line, examining by video and asking the questions that matter.
- Same callDiagnosis made, prescription sent to a 24-hour pharmacy down the road.
- Within the hourMedicine picked up, everyone home and asleep. No ER bill. No copay. No paperwork.
An illustration of how the care line works, not an account of a specific member. Urgent care answers around the clock, typically in under 20 minutes.
- under 20 minto urgent care, any hour
Primary and urgent care
Board-certified physicians; primary care appointments in days, not weeks
- 24/7support, with ongoing counseling
Mental health
Licensed clinicians for adults and teens
- 1,000+medications at no cost
Pharmacy
Maintenance delivered free to your home; acute picked up at your pharmacy
- $0copay, deductible, or fees
Weight health
Physician-supervised programs with scheduled visits and coaching
09 · The record
Real companies. Real savings.
The question
Does this actually work for a company like mine?
The table below is annual FICA savings at active SIMERP clients, anonymized to industry and state, ranging from a law office to a home care company. Every one of them kept its broker, its health plan, and its payroll provider. Employee utilization ran 45% in the first 90 days.
| Business | State | Annual FICA savings |
|---|---|---|
| Home care company | New York | $844,449 |
| Industrial equipment supplier | Michigan | $291,189 |
| Transportation company | New York | $66,077 |
| Animal clinic | Michigan | $62,716 |
| HVAC business | North Carolina | $30,078 |
| Law office | Illinois | $8,319 |
- 45%employee utilization in the first 90 days, against an industry norm of 15–20%
- 30 to 60 daysfrom signed paperwork to launched program
10 · Who we are
A company, a phone number, and people who answer it.
The question
Who runs SIMERP?
SIMERP LLC, founded by Shawn Vucurevich and Kristin Moore. The name stands for Seize Innovation. Motivate Employees. Rule Profitability.® and it is federally registered. You can reach a person at (888) 887-2343 or info@simerp.com, and the plan is available to employers in all 50 states.
11 · What changes
Nothing you have today changes.
The question
Do I have to change my broker, health plan, or payroll provider?
No. SIMERP is additive and sits on top of what you already have. Your broker relationship, your group health insurance, your payroll provider, and your employees’ gross pay all stay exactly as they are. Launch takes 30 to 60 days, and your HR team typically spends under 5 hours on it.
What stays exactly the same
- Your existing health insurance plan
- Your broker relationship
- Your payroll provider
- Your HR team's workload
- Your employees' gross pay
What gets better
- Your FICA payroll tax burden drops
- Employee take-home pay goes up
- Your team gains 24/7 urgent care and zero-copay medical services
- Your primary plan's claims history improves
- Retention and culture improve with it
- 30 to 60 daysfrom signed paperwork to launched program
- Typically under 5 hoursyour HR team's total time
- Zeronet cost to your business
See how much payroll tax you're overpaying.
A three-minute form called the Savings Assessment gets you an estimate on the spot, and a 20-minute Discovery Call with us if the estimate looks worth pursuing. There's no cost and no obligation.