401(k) Contribution Calculator 2026: The Real Limit Is Two

The 2026 Limits, in One Table

Notice 2025-67 is the document that prints the 2026 figures, and it lists them separately rather than as a single number. Read across your own row before trusting any article that quotes just one limit.

What it covers	Code section	2025	2026
401(k), 403(b), 457(b) employer plan, Thrift Savings Plan deferrals	402(g)(1)	$23,500	$24,500
SIMPLE IRA or SIMPLE 401(k) deferrals	408(p)(2)(E)(i)(III)	$16,500	$17,000
Catch-up at age 50 or over, most plans	414(v)(2)(B)(i)	$7,500	$8,000
Catch-up in the years you attain 60, 61, 62 or 63	414(v)(2)(E)(i)	$11,250	$11,250 (unchanged)
Catch-up in a SIMPLE plan at 50 or over	414(v)(2)(B)(ii)	$3,500	$4,000
Catch-up in a SIMPLE plan at 60 to 63	414(v)(2)(E)(ii)	$5,250	$5,250 (unchanged)
Total additions to one defined contribution plan	415(c)(1)(A)	$70,000	$72,000
Wages above which 2026 catch-ups must be Roth	414(v)(7)(A)	$145,000	$150,000
Compensation counted for plan limits	401(a)(17)	$350,000	$360,000

The notice is a two-page PDF and it is the only place the 2026 amounts are officially stated, so every figure above is quoted from Notice 2025-67 itself rather than from a summary of it.

Why One Person Can Defer $60,250 in a Year

This is the part most pages get wrong, and it is not obscure. Section 402(g) aggregates your elective deferrals across 401(k), 403(b), SIMPLE and SARSEP plans into a single limit, so two 401(k) accounts at two staffing companies share one $24,500. A 457(b) plan is not on that list. The IRS says it plainly on its own page about deferring to more than one plan: a 457(b) “has a separate deferral limit” and is “not combined with your deferrals made to a 403(b) or other plans.”

So a nurse with a hospital 403(b) and a state or public-hospital 457(b) has two independent $24,500 limits in 2026, plus a catch-up on top. That is the difference between putting away $24,500 and putting away $49,000 before any catch-up at all.

Two honest cautions, both from the same IRS page. The 457(b) limit “includes both employee and employer contributions,” so unlike a 401(k), a match inside that plan eats the same room your deferrals use. And deferrals to each employer’s plan “can’t exceed 100% of your compensation from that employer,” so the second limit is only as large as the pay that plan sees.

The Age 60 to 63 Window, and the Cliff at 64

The higher catch-up came from SECURE 2.0 and it is not “62 and over” or “the last few years before retirement.” It applies in the specific years you attain age 60, 61, 62 or 63. In 2026 that amount is $11,250, and the notice says it remains there rather than rising with inflation.

• Age 55 in 2026: $24,500 plus $8,000 = $32,500
• You turn 61 in 2026: $24,500 plus $11,250 = $35,750
• You turned 63 in 2025, so 2026 is the year you attain 64: back to $8,000, and the ceiling is $32,500 again

The gap between the middle row and the two beside it is $27,750 in one year, for the same dollars of pay. If you are in that window, deferring to $35,750 in a single plan is legal, and a page that prints $32,500 is understating what you are allowed to save.

The Other Ceiling: $72,000 of Total Additions

Your deferrals are not the only money counted. Section 415(c) caps everything going into one plan in a year, at the lesser of your pay or $72,000 for 2026, up from $70,000. That pulls in the employer match, non-elective contributions, after-tax employee contributions and forfeitures. A high earner maxing deferrals and getting a generous match can hit it without doing anything wrong, and the compensation counted stops at $360,000.

Catch-up contributions sit outside the $72,000 test, which is why the arithmetic in the calculator only counts your base deferrals against it.

If You Earned Over $150,000 in 2025

One rule quietly changed what your catch-up is allowed to look like. If your wages from this employer in the prior year beat the indexed threshold, $150,000 for the 2025 test applied to 2026, your catch-up contributions must be designated Roth if the plan offers a Roth side. Regular deferrals are untouched, and the catch-up still counts against the same $8,000 or $11,250 limit. What changes is that the catch-up money goes in after tax and grows tax free, instead of saving tax at your bracket today.

Worked Example: Age 61, Two Plans, $12,000 Already In

A nurse who attains 61 in 2026, earning $118,000 from a public hospital system with a 403(b), and who also has the state’s 457(b). She has deferred $12,000 in the 403(b) and the employer has added $3,000 in match. She is in the 22 percent bracket.

• 403(b) ceiling: $24,500 base plus the $11,250 window catch-up = $35,750. Room left: $23,750, worth $5,225 of 2026 federal tax at her bracket.
• 457(b) ceiling: a separate $24,500, so the two plans together carry $49,000 in base deferrals, and $60,250 once the 403(b) catch-up is counted.
• The flat-limit version of this page would have told her she was finished at $24,500, which understates her real ceiling by $35,750.
• Section 415(c) test on the 403(b): $12,000 of base deferrals plus $3,000 of match is $15,000, against $72,000. Headroom $57,000, so the match is not crowding her out.
• Her 2025 wages were under $150,000, so the catch-up does not have to be Roth.

Deferring to the limit is also what makes the other retirement page worth reading: elective deferrals to a 401(k), 403(b) or governmental 457(b) are eligible contributions for the saver’s credit, so a nurse low enough on the income bands can pick up as much as $1,000 on money she was already putting in.

What Happens If You Go Over

Deferring past your limit is an excess deferral, and it is fixable. The plan can return the excess, plus earnings on it, by April 15 of the following year; the returned amount is then taxed in the year it went in, once, and the earnings are taxed as income. Left in the plan past the deadline, the same dollars are taxed in 2026 and again when the plan eventually pays them out, which is the actual penalty and is entirely avoidable.

A catch-up you were not entitled to is treated the same way, so the age question in the calculator is worth answering carefully. If you have two employers with plans that share one limit, the excess can come from either one, and each administrator only sees their own plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the 2026 limit per plan or per person?

Per person, across 401(k), 403(b), SIMPLE and SARSEP plans, which is why two staffing-company 401(k)s share one $24,500. A 457(b) plan is the exception with its own limit.

Does my employer match count against my $24,500?

No. Match does not touch the deferral limit, but it does count against the separate $72,000 additions ceiling in that same plan.

Do Roth 401(k) deferrals count?

Yes, Roth and pre-tax deferrals share the same limit. Roth money is not extra room.

Can I still get the saver’s credit if I max a 401(k)?

Yes, and elective deferrals are the contribution the credit looks at. The credit only sees the first $2,000, so the answer depends entirely on your income band, which is what the saver’s credit calculator is for.

What if my plan says I cannot defer that much?

The federal number is a ceiling, not a floor. Some plans cap deferrals at a percentage of pay or disallow catch-ups. The plan document wins, so check the summary plan description.

Is there a catch-up that has nothing to do with age?

For 403(b) plans, yes, and the IRS states it separately: your individual limit “may be increased by as much as $3,000 if your 403(b) plan allows a 15-year catch-up contribution,” and that rule “is separate from the age-50 catch-up.” It takes 15 years of service with one qualifying employer, so it is rare for a traveler and common for a staff nurse who moved into per-diem work late.

Can I defer more than I earn?

No. The most the tax law allows is the lesser of the limit for that plan type or 100% of your eligible compensation, and with two employers the deferrals to each plan cannot exceed the pay that employer reported.

Does self-employment income get the same limit?

Different vehicle, similar ceiling. A solo 401(k) lets you defer as the employee and contribute as the employer, but the employee side is still $24,500 for 2026, and it aggregates with any W-2 plan you have. The self-employment tax calculator covers what the 1099 side costs first.

When do the 2027 numbers come out?

The IRS publishes them in a notice in the second half of the year, usually November. Until then any 2027 figure on the internet is a projection.

Sources

• IRS Notice 2025-67, 13 November 2025: Every 2026 amount on this page: the $24,500 elective deferral limit under 402(g)(1), the $17,000 SIMPLE limit, the $8,000 and $4,000 catch-ups, the $11,250 and $5,250 amounts for the years you attain 60 to 63, the $72,000 additions ceiling, the $150,000 Roth catch-up wage test and the $360,000 compensation limit.
• IRS, How much salary can you defer if you are eligible for more than one retirement plan?: That the deferral limit aggregates across 401(k), 403(b), SIMPLE and SARSEP plans, and that a 457(b) plan carries a separate limit that is not combined with a 403(b).
• IRS, Retirement topics: Contributions: What counts as an elective deferral, how catch-ups work, and the rule that a catch-up is only available if the plan allows one.
• IRS, Retirement topics: What happens when elective deferrals exceed the limits: The April 15 correction window, and that an excess deferral left in the plan is taxed twice, once when contributed and again when distributed.

Next step: Ask your plan administrator two questions in writing: does the plan allow a catch-up, and does it offer a designated Roth side. Both change what the calculator prints for you.