401(k) and IRA Contribution Limits and Catch-Up Rules

For 2026 you can defer $24,500 into a 401(k), 403(b), governmental 457(b) or Thrift Savings Plan, plus $8,000 if you are 50 or older, or $11,250 instead if you turn 60, 61, 62 or 63 during the year. The IRA limit is $7,500, plus $1,100 at 50 or older. These are the official figures from IRS Notice 2025-67, announced in news release IR-2025-111 on November 13, 2025.

The IRS has not published the 2027 limits yet. The 2027 section below explains when they usually come out and what is already fixed by law. This page is updated the day they are released.

Contribution limits at a glance

All amounts are per person, per calendar year, from Notice 2025-67 unless noted.

Apart from the HSA row, the 2025 column is from IR-2024-285, Notice 2024-80 and the prior-year figures restated in Notice 2025-67. The $145,000 Roth catch-up threshold is the amount written into the statute.

401(k), 403(b) and 457(b) limits for 2026

The $24,500 elective deferral limit

The $24,500 limit applies to the money you choose to take out of your paycheck. Pre-tax and Roth deferrals share it: $14,500 pre-tax plus $10,000 Roth is the full $24,500, not $14,500 toward one limit and $10,000 toward another.

The limit follows you, not your employer. The IRS says your individual limit applies "each calendar year no matter how many plans you're in" (IRS: deferring to more than one plan). Deferrals to every 401(k), 403(b), SIMPLE IRA and SARSEP you join in a year are added together. If you change jobs in July after deferring $15,000, you have $9,500 of room at the new employer, and the new plan has no way of knowing that unless you tell it.

457(b) plans are the exception. A 457(b) has its own separate limit, which the IRS says "is not combined with your deferrals made to a 403(b) or other plans." A public school teacher with access to both a 403(b) and a governmental 457(b) can defer $24,500 to each in 2026, or $49,000 in total. The age-50 and 60–63 catch-ups apply to governmental 457(b) plans; 457(b) plans of tax-exempt organizations do not offer them under IRC §414(v)(6).

Age-50 catch-up: $8,000

If you turn 50 at any point in 2026, even on December 31, you can defer an extra $8,000, for a total of $32,500. The catch-up sits outside the $72,000 total-additions limit described below, so it never squeezes out employer money.

The age 60–63 "super catch-up": $11,250

SECURE 2.0 created a larger catch-up for participants who attain age 60, 61, 62 or 63 during the year. For 2026 it is $11,250, and it replaces the $8,000 amount rather than adding to it, so the maximum deferral is $24,500 + $11,250 = $35,750. The year you turn 64, you drop back to the regular age-50 catch-up.

Two details matter. First, plans are not required to offer the higher amount; check your plan's summary or ask HR. Second, the four-year window is tied to the age you reach by December 31. For 2026 it covers people born from 1963 (turning 63) through 1966 (turning 60). Someone born in 1962 turns 64 in 2026 and is back to the $8,000 catch-up.

The new Roth catch-up rule for higher earners

Under IRC §414(v)(7), if your FICA wages for the prior calendar year from the employer sponsoring the plan exceeded the threshold, your catch-up contributions to that plan can only be made as Roth. Notice 2025-67 sets the threshold that applies to 2026 catch-ups at $150,000 of 2025 wages, up from $145,000.

What this means in practice:

• Only the catch-up is affected. Your regular $24,500 can still be pre-tax.
• It is measured per employer. Wages from a former or second employer do not count toward the test at the current one, and a new hire with no prior-year wages from the employer is not covered by it.
• FICA wages include your pre-tax 401(k) deferrals. A $160,000 salary is over the threshold even after a $24,500 pre-tax deferral.
• If your plan has no Roth option, you lose the catch-up — not everyone else. A plan doesn't have to add Roth contributions. Under the final regulations it can simply refuse catch-ups from participants who are subject to the Roth rule while other participants keep making pre-tax catch-ups (T.D. 10033, 90 FR 44527, §1.414(v)-2(b)(2)).
• SIMPLE IRAs and SEPs are exempt from the Roth requirement by statute.

The Treasury and IRS issued final regulations on September 15, 2025 (IR-2025-91). They generally apply to contributions in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2026. For 2026 plans follow "a reasonable, good faith interpretation" of the statute, because the earlier administrative transition period ended December 31, 2025.

Worked example. You are 61, single, and earned $180,000 in FICA wages from your employer in 2025. In 2026 you defer $24,500 pre-tax and the full $11,250 catch-up, which has to be Roth. Your taxable income is $180,000 − $24,500 − $16,100 standard deduction = $139,400, which sits in the 24% bracket. Because the $11,250 goes in after tax, your 2026 federal income tax is $11,250 × 24% = $2,700 higher than it would have been under the old pre-tax catch-up. That money comes back later as tax-free Roth withdrawals.

The $72,000 total additions limit

IRC §415(c) caps everything that goes into your account at one employer in a year, at the lesser of 100% of your compensation or $72,000 for 2026. It counts your deferrals, employer matching and profit-sharing contributions, forfeitures allocated to you and after-tax (non-Roth) contributions. Catch-ups are not counted, so the ceiling is $80,000 at 50+ and $83,250 at 60–63.

Worked example. You are 45, earn $120,000, defer $24,500 and receive a 4% match of $4,800. Your annual additions are $24,500 + $4,800 = $29,300, which leaves $72,000 − $29,300 = $42,700 of room. If your plan accepts after-tax contributions, that is how much you could add on top; if it does not, the room simply goes unused.

Your employer match never reduces your $24,500, and the $72,000 limit applies per unrelated employer. Self-employed people with a side business can use that second $72,000 bucket. The 401(k) limits for the self-employed guide covers the solo 401(k), the employer contribution math and SEP comparisons.

IRA contribution limits for 2026

The 2026 limit is $7,500, or $8,600 if you are 50 or older by the end of the year. It is one limit shared by all of your traditional and Roth IRAs, and you also cannot contribute more than your taxable compensation for the year (IRS: IRA contribution limits). A spouse with little or no income can still contribute on a joint return, as long as the couple's combined contributions do not exceed the compensation on that return.

The IRA catch-up used to be a flat $1,000. SECURE 2.0 indexed it to inflation starting in 2024, in $100 steps (IRC §219(b)(5)(C)(iii)), which is why it rose to $1,100 for 2026.

The IRA limit is completely separate from your workplace plan. Someone who is 55 can put $32,500 into a 401(k) and $8,600 into an IRA in 2026, for $41,100 in total.

Roth IRA income limits for 2026

A Roth IRA contribution phases out based on modified AGI:

If you were married filing separately and did not live with your spouse at any time during the year, you use the single range (Pub. 590-A).

Worked example. A married couple, both 45, has MAGI of $245,000. That is $3,000 into the $10,000 range, so each spouse's limit drops by 30%: $7,500 − ($7,500 × $3,000 ÷ $10,000) = $7,500 − $2,250 = $5,250 each. Pub. 590-A rounds a reduced limit up to the next $10 and allows at least $200 while you are inside the range.

Roth MAGI has its own definition: it starts from AGI, adds back certain exclusions and leaves out Roth conversion income. The guide to MAGI shows how it is built, and the Roth IRA calculator applies the phase-out for you. Above the range, the usual route is a nondeductible traditional IRA contribution converted to Roth; the backdoor Roth calculator estimates the tax on that conversion under the pro-rata rule.

Traditional IRA deduction phase-outs for 2026

Anyone with compensation can contribute to a traditional IRA, regardless of income. What phases out is the deduction, and only if you or your spouse is covered by a workplace retirement plan (the "Retirement plan" box on your Form W-2 is the usual sign):

If neither you nor your spouse is covered, the full contribution is deductible at any income.

Worked example. You are single, 40, covered by a 401(k), with MAGI of $85,000. You are $6,000 below the top of the range, so the deductible amount is $7,500 × ($91,000 − $85,000) ÷ $10,000 = $4,500. The other $3,000 can still go in as a nondeductible contribution, reported on Form 8606.

SIMPLE IRA and SEP IRA limits for 2026

SIMPLE IRA and SIMPLE 401(k): employees can defer $17,000 in 2026, plus $4,000 at 50+ ($21,000) or $5,250 at 60–63 ($22,250) (IRS: SIMPLE IRA limits). SIMPLE deferrals count toward your overall $24,500 personal limit if you also defer into another plan.

SECURE 2.0 added a higher SIMPLE limit of $18,100 (with a $3,850 age-50 catch-up, for $21,950 in total) under IRC §408(p)(2)(E). It applies automatically to an employer that had no more than 25 employees earning at least $5,000 in the prior year. An employer with more employees can elect it, but then has to make a larger contribution, such as a 4% match instead of 3%. Either way, the employer must not have maintained another retirement plan for substantially the same employees in the three years before it first set up the SIMPLE. Your plan's summary description tells you which limit applies.

SEP IRA: only the employer contributes, up to the lesser of 25% of your compensation or $72,000 for 2026, and only the first $360,000 of pay counts. SEPs do not allow salary deferrals or catch-up contributions (IRS: SEP limits).

HSA limits

A health savings account is not a retirement plan, but it is often funded alongside one. For 2026 the limit is $4,400 for self-only coverage and $8,750 for family coverage, plus a $1,000 catch-up from age 55 that is fixed by statute and not indexed. The 2027 HSA limits are already official: $4,500 self-only and $9,000 family under Rev. Proc. 2026-24. The HSA calculator projects the tax savings.

Contribution deadlines

The deferral limit is a calendar-year limit, so the last paycheck of December is your last chance. If you front-load and hit $24,500 by September, check whether your plan computes the match per paycheck. Without a year-end "true-up," you can miss out on match for the months you were not deferring.

An IRA contribution made between January 1 and April 15 can count for either year. Pub. 590-A tells you to tell the IRA provider which year it is for, because otherwise the provider can treat it as a current-year contribution. If you over-contribute, the guide to fixing an excess Roth IRA contribution walks through the withdrawal, the earnings calculation and the deadlines.

2027 limits

As of October 29, 2026, the IRS has not published the 2027 401(k), IRA or other retirement plan limits. Any 2027 401(k) or IRA figure you see before the IRS notice is a projection, not a limit. We do not publish projections. This section will be replaced with the official table the day the IRS releases it.

When the IRS usually announces the new limits

The limits are indexed with the cost-of-living procedure of IRC §415(d), measured from the July–September quarter, so they come out each fall in a news release and an IRS notice once that quarter's data is in. The last four announcements:

What the law already fixes for 2027

The statute tells you how the 2027 numbers will be built, even though the dollar amounts are not out:

• The 401(k) catch-up moves only in $500 steps. The age-50 catch-up is indexed and any increase that is not a multiple of $500 is rounded down (IRC §414(v)(2)(C)).
• The 60–63 super catch-up is not "150% of this year's catch-up." The law set it at the greater of $10,000 or 150% of the 2024 age-50 catch-up (150% × $7,500 = $11,250), and indexes that amount separately for years after 2025, also in $500 steps. That is why the 2026 regular catch-up rose to $8,000 while the super catch-up stayed at $11,250. For 2027 it either stays at $11,250 or rises by a multiple of $500.
• The IRA limit rounds to $500 and the IRA catch-up to $100. Both are indexed under IRC §219(b)(5)(C), each rounded down to its step.
• The Roth catch-up test uses your 2026 wages. For 2027 catch-ups, your 2026 FICA wages from the plan sponsor are compared with a threshold that is indexed in $5,000 steps and will be announced with the 2027 limits. The final regulations also become fully applicable for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2026.
• Married-filing-separately phase-outs stay at $0 to $10,000. Notice 2025-67 confirms they are not indexed.
• The Saver's Credit becomes the Saver's Match. For tax years beginning after 2026, the credit is replaced by a Treasury matching deposit of up to $1,000 per person; the Saver's Match guide covers who qualifies.
• HSA limits for 2027 are final: $4,500 self-only, $9,000 family, as shown above.

If you set a payroll percentage for 2027 during open enrollment, you can base it on the 2026 limit and raise it once the new limit is out. Check how often your plan lets you change the election, since some only accept changes at set dates.

Common mistakes with contribution limits

• Assuming a new employer tracks your old deferrals. It cannot. If you change jobs, add up your year-to-date deferrals from every 401(k), 403(b) and SIMPLE plan yourself. An excess not removed by April 15 is taxed twice: once in the year deferred and again when it is eventually distributed.
• Counting the employer match against your $24,500. It counts toward $72,000, not $24,500.
• Missing the 60–63 window. For 2026 the higher catch-up covers people born from 1963 to 1966. Turning 64 in the year ends it.
• Ignoring the Roth catch-up rule in your tax plan. If your 2025 wages from your employer were above $150,000, your 2026 catch-up adds no deduction. Budget for the extra tax.
• Contributing to a Roth IRA before you know your MAGI. A bonus late in the year can push you into or past the phase-out range. Contributing between January and April 15 for the prior year, once your income is known, avoids an excess contribution.