401(k) Catch-Up Limits for 2026, and Who Now Has to Make Them Roth

Putting $35,750 into a 401(k) during 2026 takes $1,375 out of each of 26 biweekly paychecks. Only workers who turn 60, 61, 62 or 63 this year can go that high, because their 401(k) catch-up contribution is $11,250 on top of the $24,500 base limit. Everyone else who is 50 or older gets an $8,000 catch-up, for $32,500. And if your Social Security wages from that employer topped $150,000 in 2025, those catch-up dollars now have to go in as Roth.

The IRS hasn’t announced the 2027 limits yet. The 2026 figures came out on November 13, 2025, in news release IR-2025-111, so next year’s numbers will probably land in November too. Every figure below applies to tax year 2026.

Who qualifies for a 401(k) catch-up in 2026

Age is measured on December 31. The IRS page on catch-up contributions says people who are 50 or over at the end of the calendar year can make them, so anyone born in 1976 or earlier qualifies for the whole of 2026, even with a birthday in late December. The plan has to allow catch-ups. It’s a plan feature, not a right, and the plan document says whether yours has it.

The bigger amount for ages 60 through 63 came from the SECURE 2.0 Act and started in 2025. It’s set at 150% of the 2024 regular catch-up of $7,500, which is where $11,250 comes from, and it stayed at that figure for 2026. Someone qualifies in any year they reach 60 but haven’t yet reached 64 by year end, which for 2026 means birth years 1963 through 1966.

People born in 1962 lose ground this year. They turn 64, drop back to the $8,000 catch-up, and can put in $32,500, while in 2025 they could contribute $34,750 ($23,500 plus $11,250). That’s $2,250 less room, in a year when the base limit went up.

SIMPLE plans, IRAs and the $72,000 ceiling

Small employers often use SIMPLE IRAs instead of a 401(k). There the 2026 base is $17,000. A catch-up adds $4,000 at 50, or $5,250 at ages 60 to 63, for a top total of $22,250. IRS Notice 2025-67 also lists a higher $18,100 base for certain SIMPLE plans, with a $3,850 catch-up at 50, so ask which version your employer runs.

An IRA catch-up is separate from all of this. For 2026 it’s $1,100, so a 55 year old can put $8,600 into traditional and Roth IRAs combined, and the age 60 to 63 tier doesn’t apply to IRAs.

Employer money has its own limit. Everything going into a 401(k) for one year, counting your deferrals, the match and profit sharing, is capped at $72,000 for 2026. Catch-up contributions sit outside that cap, so the most that can reach the account is $80,000 for someone 50 or older and $83,250 at ages 60 to 63.

The Roth catch-up rule for high earners

Starting in 2026, a worker whose prior-year wages from the employer sponsoring the plan exceeded a set amount must make any catch-up contributions as Roth, after tax. The statute set the line at $145,000, indexed for inflation. Notice 2025-67 raised it to $150,000, measured on 2025 wages, to decide who has to use Roth in 2026. It covers 401(k), 403(b) and governmental 457(b) plans. SIMPLE IRAs, SEPs and regular IRAs are outside it.

Only catch-up money is affected. The first $24,500 can still be pre-tax for anyone.

Treasury and the IRS issued final regulations in September 2025, announced in IR-2025-91. Those rules formally apply starting in 2027, and for 2026 plans may follow a reasonable, good faith reading of the law. The final rules let a plan treat an affected worker as having elected Roth for those dollars automatically, so a plan may switch them without a new form from you. In a plan with no Roth option, a worker above the line can’t make catch-up contributions at all.

Box 3 on your W-2, not box 1

The regulations measure wages using the Social Security wages reported in box 3 of Form W-2. Pre-tax 401(k) deferrals reduce box 1, the income tax figure, but they’re still subject to Social Security tax, so they stay in box 3. A worker paid $160,000 in 2025 who deferred $23,500 pre-tax sees $136,500 in box 1 and $160,000 in box 3. He’s over the $150,000 line for 2026 even though his taxable wages look well under it. Health premiums paid through a cafeteria plan do come out of box 3, which can pull someone near the line back under it.

Wages from other employers don’t count. Someone hired in 2026 has no 2025 wages from the new employer, so the Roth requirement doesn’t apply to them this year. A partner or sole proprietor with only self-employment income has no box 3 wages and isn’t covered by the rule either.

What the Roth requirement costs in 2026 tax

A single filer, 61, earns $165,000 from the same employer in 2025 and 2026 and maxes out at $35,750. The first $24,500 goes in pre-tax and the $11,250 catch-up has to be Roth. After the $16,100 standard deduction, her 2026 taxable income is $165,000 minus $24,500 minus $16,100, or $124,400.

For single filers the 24% bracket covers taxable income over $105,700 up to $201,775, per the IRS’s 2026 inflation adjustments. If her $11,250 could still go in pre-tax, her taxable income would be $113,150, which is still inside that bracket. Compared with putting it in pre-tax, the Roth rule raises her 2026 federal income tax by $11,250 times 24%, or $2,700. Social Security and Medicare tax don’t change, since 401(k) deferrals pay those taxes either way.

The $2,700 isn’t lost. Roth money and its growth come out tax free in retirement once the withdrawal is qualified, which generally means age 59½ and five years since the first Roth contribution to that plan. If 2026 is her first year with Roth money in the 401(k), the five-year clock starts now. State income tax on that $11,250 is a separate question that depends on where she lives.

Can you still fit it in before December?

Payroll deferrals have to come out of 2026 paychecks, so December 31 is the deadline, with no extension to April the way IRAs have. With two months left, the math is about what you’ve already put in. Someone eligible for $35,750 who has deferred $24,000 by the end of October has $11,750 of room, which on four remaining biweekly checks is $2,937.50 each. Most plans let you set a dollar amount or a higher percentage for the rest of the year, though the change can take a pay cycle to show up.

Watch the employer match too. Some plans match each paycheck and don’t make a year end true-up, so front-loading or back-loading your deferrals can cost match dollars. The summary plan description says which kind you have.

For 2027, both catch-up amounts and the $150,000 wage line are indexed, and the Roth test will look at 2026 box 3 wages. None of those figures are official yet.

Before your next paycheck

• Find your 2025 W-2 from the employer that runs the plan and compare box 3 with $150,000.
• Ask HR or the plan website whether the plan offers Roth deferrals and how it routes catch-ups for workers over the line.
• If you were born between 1963 and 1966, subtract what you’ve deferred so far from $35,750 and spread the rest over your remaining 2026 paychecks.

Related reading

• Can You Contribute to a Roth IRA and a 401(k) in the Same Year?
• Legal Ways to Reduce Taxes on Stock Gains in the U.S.
• How Fast Can Your Money Grow by Investing?

Your plan’s own rules decide whether it allows catch-ups, whether it offers Roth deferrals and how it applies the $150,000 wage test, so confirm your 2026 setup with the plan administrator, and look for the IRS’s 2027 limits before you set next year’s deferral.