401(k) Contribution Limits

Every 2026 401(k) ceiling in one table: deferrals, catch-up, the age 60–63 super catch-up and the combined limit, each with its IRS source.

Four different ceilings apply to a 401(k), and they don't stack the way most people assume. Here's every 2026 figure the IRS has published, what each one actually limits, and the section of the code it comes from.

The 2026 ceilings, with the code section behind each

How do you work out your own maximum for the year?

Read off the age you reach at any point during 2026, take the deferral figure for that band, and add nothing else to it, because employer money never comes off your ceiling.

1. Under 50 for the whole of 2026: $24,500, and that's the entire answer.
2. Turning 50 or older during 2026: $24,500 plus the $8,000 catch-up, so $32,500. The catch-up is yours from 1 January of that year, whether your birthday has passed or not.
3. Aged 60, 61, 62 or 63 at any point in 2026: $24,500 plus $11,250, so $35,750.
4. Turning 64 during 2026: back down to $32,500, because the window has closed.

Then one subtraction. Every deferral you've already made this year to any 401(k), Roth or pre-tax, at any employer, comes off that figure, and the per-paycheck calculator does the subtraction and the division from your year-to-date total. Two things that never come off it are the employer match and anything going into a 457(b), whose limit doesn't share with a 401(k) at all.

Self-employment changes the shape of the question, because you're then both parties. The employee half is the same figure from the table above, and an employer contribution sits on top of it, worked out from net earnings at a rate that depends on whether you trade as a sole proprietor or through a corporation, which is the arithmetic the solo 401(k) calculator exists for.

The combined figure isn't your savings target

The mistake people make most often is treating the §415(c) figure of $72,000 as a personal savings target. That figure is the ceiling on everything that lands in one plan account in a year, including money you never chose to put there, and your own contribution stops at $24,500 however much room is left underneath it.

A ceiling is also not a plan. What this year's $24,500 is worth by the time you stop working depends on your age, your employer's formula and what the funds charge, and that is the arithmetic the full 401(k) projection with match and fees does.

The second mistake is assuming the compensation cap limits what you can contribute. It does no such thing. It only limits what the plan may count. A plan that matches 50% on the first 6% of pay will match on at most $360,000 of salary, so the largest possible match under that formula is 3% of $360,000, and it's the same whether you earn $360,000 or four times that. The employer match calculator applies this cap automatically, which as far as I can tell most free match calculators don't.

The age 60–63 window runs on calendar age, not your birthday

The age 60 to 63 window catches people out. It's temporary, and it runs on the age you reach at any point during the year.

If you'll be 60, 61, 62 or 63 at any point during 2026, even if your birthday falls on 31 December, your catch-up for the whole year is $11,250 under §414(v)(2)(E), instead of $8,000. That's $35,750 of your own money, the largest amount a 401(k) will ever let you defer. The year you turn 64 it drops back.

Two practical consequences. Someone who turns 60 in December has the larger allowance for that entire year and could have been contributing at the higher rate since January. And a plan isn't obliged to offer catch-up contributions at all, so check your plan document before you count on the figure. SECURE 2.0 created the window; it didn't make offering it compulsory.

Above $150,000, your catch-up has to be Roth

Since 2026, catch-up contributions must be Roth if your FICA wages from the employer sponsoring the plan were above $150,000 in the previous calendar year. The threshold is indexed and moves in $5,000 steps. The base figure written into SECURE 2.0 was $145,000, before indexing. That's why the older number still circulates.

Three details decide whether it applies to you:

• It's measured per employer. Wages from the plan sponsor only. Change jobs mid-year and the new employer looks at what it paid you last year, which may be nothing.
• It's FICA wages, not total pay. Box 3 of your W-2. Deferrals to a traditional 401(k) don't reduce it, though the figure stops at the Social Security wage base for the FICA calculation itself.
• No FICA wages means no requirement. A partner with only self-employment income from the sponsoring firm falls outside the rule.

The effect is on tax timing only, not on how much you can put in. If it applies to you, the catch-up goes in after tax and comes out tax-free later. The Roth vs traditional calculator prices it.

Two jobs in one year is how most people over-contribute

If you just want the per-paycheck figure that lands on the ceiling in December without overshooting it, the contribution calculator solves for it from your year-to-date total. A 457(b), if you are offered one, sits outside all of this: its limit is separate.

The $24,500 §402(g) deferral limit belongs to you, not to a plan. Two employers in one year means two payrolls, neither of which can see the other, and each will happily let you defer the full amount. Nothing stops it at the time. Nothing flags it afterwards.

You have to catch it yourself.

The §415(c) limit works the other way: it applies per employer. All plans of a single employer, and of a controlled group, share one $72,000 ceiling; two genuinely unrelated employers each get their own. If one of them is your own business, the solo 401(k) calculator works through the same split.

If you did over-contribute, ask one of the plans for a corrective distribution of the excess plus earnings before 15 April of the following year. Inside that window the money is taxed once.

Outside it, the same dollars are taxed in the year you deferred them and again when they leave the plan, and as far as I know the IRS gives you no way to unwind the second charge.

IRA limits are a separate pot

Separate ceiling, separate decision. You can fill both in the same year.

An IRA does apply an income test, which no 401(k) does, and it runs two of them for different purposes. What you may actually put in at your income sets both out.

A workplace 401(k) doesn't block an IRA. It only affects whether a traditional IRA contribution is deductible, which phases out across an income range that depends on your filing status.

A Roth IRA has its own income test on top of that: the contribution phases out between $153,000 and $168,000 of modified AGI for a single filer, and between $242,000 and $252,000 filing jointly. A Roth 401(k) has no income test at all, which is the single biggest reason a high earner should care about the difference. The two accounts are compared here.

Where these figures come from

The 2026 figures come from IRS Notice 2025-67 (IR-2025-111), and the checks that keep them honest are documented separately. Nothing here is retyped from another website. If you find a figure that disagrees with the IRS document, the IRS document is right and I want to hear about it; how the checking works is set out alongside the results.

Frequently asked questions

How much can I contribute to my 401(k) this year?

$24,500 of your own money if you're under 50. From the year you turn 50 you may add a catch-up of $8,000, taking you to $32,500. If you're 60, 61, 62 or 63 at any point during the year the catch-up is larger, $11,250, for a total of $35,750. Employer money sits outside all of these figures.

Does my employer's match count toward the limit?

Not toward your limit. The §402(g) deferral limit of $24,500 applies only to money you put in yourself. Match, profit sharing and any other employer contribution count instead toward the combined §415(c) annual additions limit, which is $72,000 for 2026. In practice almost nobody gets near that ceiling.

What is the age 60 to 63 super catch-up?

SECURE 2.0 created a larger catch-up for a four-year window. In any year in which you're 60, 61, 62 or 63 at some point, your catch-up is $11,250 instead of $8,000. It ends the year you turn 64. You go back to the ordinary catch-up. The window runs on your age during the calendar year, not on whether your birthday has passed.

I earn over $150,000 — why must my catch-up be Roth?

Since 2026, if your FICA wages from the employer sponsoring the plan were above $150,000 in the prior calendar year, any catch-up contribution you make has to be a designated Roth contribution. Your regular $24,500 is unaffected. It can still be pre-tax. The test looks at one employer's wages, so a job change can reset it, and someone with only self-employment income and no FICA wages from the plan sponsor is outside the rule.

What happens if I contribute too much?

Tell your plan administrator. Ask for a corrective distribution of the excess plus its earnings. If it's returned by 15 April following the year of the excess, you're taxed on it once, in the year you deferred it. Miss that date and the same money is taxed twice, once for the year of deferral and again when it eventually comes out. Two jobs in one year is the usual cause, because no single payroll can see the other one.

Do 401(k) and IRA limits share a pot?

No. They're separate ceilings and you can fill both in the same year, $24,500 to a 401(k) and $7,500 to an IRA. Having a 401(k) at work doesn't stop you contributing to a traditional IRA; it only affects whether that contribution is deductible, which phases out over an income range.