Your questions about Compt, answered

Compt is a lifestyle benefits platform that lets companies offer flexible, personalized employee stipends — for wellness, family, professional development, remote work, and more — while automating tax compliance and payroll integration. Below are the questions HR and Finance leaders ask us most when evaluating Compt.

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What is Compt?

Compt is a lifestyle benefits platform that lets companies offer flexible, personalized employee stipends — for wellness, family, professional development, remote work, and more — while automating tax compliance and payroll integration. Unlike points-and-catalog rewards tools or pre-funded benefit cards, Compt uses a reimbursement model: employees spend on what they actually want, employers keep full control of budget and eligibility, and the platform handles tax classification automatically. Compt is used by companies from 50-person startups to global enterprises.

What does Compt offer?

Compt’s platform runs six interconnected products on one reimbursement engine:

  • Lifestyle Benefits — personalized stipends for wellness, family, learning, remote work, and more.
  • Rewards & Recognition — spot bonuses and peer recognition that flow through payroll with the correct tax treatment.
  • Company Swag Store — branded, made-to-order swag funded by employee stipends.
  • Professional Development Pro — streamlined approvals, budget tracking, and peer learning recommendations.
  • Expense Management — compliant tracking for everyday business expenses.
  • Employee Discounts — thousands of brand deals included with paid Compt plans.

You can run one product or all six, and pricing is tiered annually based on the products you choose — not the number of employees.

Who is Compt for?

Compt works for companies of any size, from 50-person startups to 100,000+ employee enterprises, and it’s especially well-suited for distributed teams — remote, hybrid, and global. HR and benefits leaders use Compt to offer benefits that match a diverse workforce instead of a one-size-fits-all plan. Finance leaders use Compt because the reimbursement model means the company only pays for what employees actually use — so budgets stay predictable and unused dollars don’t disappear into prefunded cards or unused vendor contracts.

What software does Compt integrate with?

Compt integrates with major HRIS and payroll platforms — including ADP, Workday, Gusto, UKG, Sequoia, Paycor, Paylocity, Zenefits, TriNet, Kallidus, Paychex, Rippling, and BambooHR — plus identity and communication tools like Google, Okta, Slack, and Microsoft Teams. Stipend reimbursements and recognition rewards flow into payroll with the correct tax treatment already applied, so payroll teams aren’t manually coding transactions or fixing W-2s at year end.

What kind of customer support does Compt offer?

Compt’s platform is intuitive enough that fewer than 1% of all users ever contact support. When they do, support is available by email, live chat, and Zoom or Google Meet, with an average response time of 34 minutes. All customers receive a dedicated implementation contact during onboarding, and enterprise customers receive additional ongoing support.

Lifestyle Benefits Basics

What lifestyle benefits actually are

Lifestyle benefits are employer-funded, flexible benefits that let employees choose how to spend a defined budget — typically for wellness, family, professional development, remote work, or personal interests. Unlike traditional benefits, where everyone receives the same gym membership or learning platform, lifestyle benefits give each employee the freedom to spend on what’s most useful to them, while the employer controls categories, eligibility, and tax compliance.

What's the difference between an LSA, a stipend, and a perk?

An LSA (Lifestyle Spending Account) is a flexible benefits account where employees can spend on a broad range of approved categories from a single shared budget.

A stipend is a fixed budget tied to a specific category — for example, a $100/month wellness stipend or a $1,200/year learning stipend. A perk is anything an employer offers beyond core compensation, monetary (a stipend) or non-monetary (Friday off, free snacks, peer recognition).

Are lifestyle benefits better than a cash bonus or raise?

Often yes, for two reasons:

  1. Taxes: several lifestyle benefit categories have specific IRS exclusions and can be offered tax-free up to defined limits. A $1,000 tuition reimbursement is worth $1,000 to the employee, while a $1,000 cash bonus nets them roughly $700 after income tax and FICA.

  2. Perception: cash disappears into a paycheck and reads as compensation, while a monthly wellness or learning stipend shows up as a discrete benefit the employee remembers and uses.

What can employees spend their stipend on?

Whatever the employer approves. Compt customers typically allow categories like fitness, mental health, nutrition, family and dependent care, fertility, professional development, learning subscriptions, home office equipment, internet, cell phone, commuting, and more. Common real-world purchases on Compt include gym memberships, therapy, online courses, daycare, eldercare, pet care, ergonomic chairs, and student loan payments.

Are lifestyle benefits taxable?

It depends on the category. Most general wellness and lifestyle stipends are taxable to the employee as additional compensation. However, several categories have specific IRS exclusions and can be offered tax-free up to defined limits.

How Compt Compares

How does Compt compare to other lifestyle benefits platforms?

The biggest differences are the spending model, pricing model, and product breadth. Compt runs on a true reimbursement model: employees buy what they actually want from any vendor, submit a receipt, and Compt reimburses through payroll with the correct tax treatment automatically.

How is Compt different from expense software?

Expense software is built to track any business spend. Compt is built specifically for employee benefits: it enforces lifestyle benefit categories and applies the correct IRS tax treatment.

How is Compt different from rewards platforms?

Rewards platforms are built around points-and-catalog recognition: employees earn points, redeem them in a marketplace, and the platform takes a margin on each transaction. Compt’s Rewards & Recognition product takes a different approach — recognition flows through Compt’s reimbursement engine and into payroll.

How is Compt different from giving employees a corporate card?

Pre-funded cards require the employer to fund the balance upfront. Compt’s reimbursement model inverts this problem and employers pay only after a receipt is submitted and approved.

How is Compt different from manual reimbursements?

Manual reimbursement programs are how most companies start offering stipends but break down past about 50 employees. Compt automates the entire workflow: employees submit through an app, policy validation is instant, and reimbursements flow to payroll with the correct tax treatment.

Pricing & Implementation

How does Compt's pricing work?

Compt’s pricing is designed for transparency and budget control, with two parts to the total cost: the software fee and your stipend budget.

Is there a minimum number of employees required?

Compt works for companies of any size, from 50-person startups to 10,000+ employee enterprises.

How long does it take to implement Compt?

Most customers go from contract signing to employee launch in 2 to 4 weeks, depending on your team size and the number of integrations involved.

Can we migrate our existing perks to Compt?

Yes — most customers migrate their existing perk budgets dollar-for-dollar while seeing participation rates double or triple.

Can we add new stipend categories later?

Yes. Add, modify, or pause categories anytime.

What happens if an employee doesn't use their full stipend?

Because Compt uses a reimbursement model, unused stipend dollars stay with the company.

Tax, Payroll, & Compliance

Is Compt IRS tax compliant?

Yes. Compt is built around IRS classification rules for fringe benefits.

Are employee stipends taxable to the employee?

It depends on the category. Most general wellness and lifestyle stipends are taxable. However, several categories have specific IRS exclusions.

How does Compt handle payroll integration?

Compt integrates directly with major payroll platforms to pass approved reimbursements through with the correct tax classification already applied.

How do employees actually get reimbursed?

Employees submit a receipt through the Compt app. Approved reimbursements flow into the next payroll cycle.

Is Compt SOC 2 and GDPR certified?

Yes. Compt is SOC 2 certified, ensuring high standards of security and compliance for company and employee data.

Is Compt subject to ERISA, COBRA, or ACA?

No — lifestyle benefits administered through Compt are not subject to ERISA, COBRA, or ACA.

Global & Enterprise

Does Compt work for international employees?

Yes. Compt supports employees in countries around the world with multi-currency reimbursements.

How does Compt handle multi-currency reimbursements?

Employees submit receipts in their local currency, and reimbursements are issued through local payroll in local currency.

What does enterprise support and onboarding look like?

Enterprise customers receive a dedicated implementation lead, configurable approval workflows, and SSO setup through Okta or your identity provider of choice.

Can we get custom reporting for our program?

Yes. Compt provides standard reporting and enterprise customers can request custom report builds for specific business questions.