401(k) catch-up in 2026: the 60–63 limit, the new Roth rule, and maxing out by December

By DecisionSheet · Updated October 16, 2026 · 2026 tax figures

Two things about 401(k) catch-up contributions are new for 2026, and both are easy to get wrong in the last few paychecks of the year. The catch-up for workers in their early sixties is larger than at any other age, and stops being larger at 64. And for anyone who earned more than $150,000 from their employer in 2025, the catch-up has to be a Roth contribution, which raises this year's tax bill instead of lowering it.

DecisionSheet's 401(k) catch-up calculator applies both rules to your age, wages and contributions so far, and says what each remaining paycheck has to defer. The same limits apply to a 403(b), a governmental 457(b) and the federal Thrift Savings Plan.

The 2026 limits

• Everyone: $24,500 of elective deferrals, pre-tax and Roth together (Notice 2025-67).
• Age 50 or older by December 31: a catch-up of $8,000 more, for a total of $32,500. You qualify for the whole year if you reach that age on any day of it.
• Age 60, 63 or in between on December 31: a catch-up of $11,250 instead of $8,000, for $35,750. The two do not stack.
• Age 64 or older on December 31: back to $8,000. The statute gives the higher amount to a participant who reaches 60 but not 64 before the close of the year (26 U.S.C. §414(v)(2)(B)(i)), so the year you turn 64 is the first year without it.

The limits are per person, not per plan: deferrals at a second employer in the same year count against the same $24,500 plus catch-up, and the calculator takes them as an input. The higher catch-up is something a plan has to offer; check that yours does.

The new Roth catch-up rule

From 2026, a participant whose 2025 wages from the employer sponsoring the plan were over $150,000 may make catch-up contributions only as Roth contributions (§414(v)(7); the threshold for 2025 wages is in Notice 2025-67). Three details decide whether it reaches you:

• Which wages. Social Security wages, Box 3 of your 2025 W-2, from this employer only. Pay from a previous employer does not count, so someone hired in 2026 is not subject this year whatever they earn (T.D. 10033).
• "Over." Wages of exactly $150,000 are not over it.
• Only the catch-up. The first $24,500 can still be pre-tax. Deferrals count toward the base limit first, and only what goes past it is the catch-up.

If the plan has no Roth option at all, the regulations set the catch-up for anyone subject to the rule at zero: no catch-up, pre-tax or otherwise. Such a plan may also stop everyone else's catch-up. The final regulations apply from 2027; for 2026, plans follow the statute under a "reasonable, good faith interpretation" standard, so details such as how a plan switches your election can vary.

The example: 55, with 5 paychecks to go

• The saver. Age 55 at year end, $180,000 of 2026 pay and $172,000 in 2025, married filing jointly with $60,000 of other income, in a plan with a Roth option.
• So far. $20,000 deferred pre-tax, with 5 paychecks left of $6,923 each.
• Tax rates. The 22% federal bracket and a 5% state rate.

The 2026 maximum is $32,500, so $12,500 is left: $2,500 from each paycheck, 36% of pay. Because $172,000 is over $150,000, the $8,000 catch-up goes in as Roth. Of the $12,500, only the $4,500 that finishes the base limit is pre-tax.

So maxing out lowers this year's income tax by just $1,215, the $4,500 at 27%, and take-home pay falls by $11,285 ($2,257 a paycheck). Had the catch-up been pre-tax, it would have saved another $2,160: $8,000 at 22% federal plus 5% state. Open this scenario.

That $2,160 is not lost. It is tax paid now instead of later: a qualified Roth withdrawal is tax-free, and a pre-tax one is taxed at whatever your rate is in retirement. Whether the switch costs you anything over a lifetime depends on that later rate, which the Roth vs. Traditional calculator weighs. What changes for sure is this year's cash: the rule leaves 2026 take-home pay $2,160 lower, whether it shows up in withholding or at filing time.

At 61: the larger catch-up

The same saver at 61 can defer $35,750, $3,250 more than at 55. That makes $15,750 to go, $3,150 a paycheck or 46% of pay. The whole $11,250 catch-up is Roth, so the rule's cost rises to about $3,038, while the tax saved by maxing stays $1,215. Open it.

At 64 the limit falls back to $32,500 and every figure is the same as at 55. Someone turning 64 in 2026 who planned on the higher amount would go over the limit. Open it.

Just under the threshold

With $148,000 of 2025 wages, $150,000 or less, the rule does not apply and the whole $32,500 can be pre-tax. The per-paycheck amount is the same $2,500, but maxing out now saves $3,375 of tax and costs $9,125 of take-home pay, against $1,215 and $11,285 for the saver over the line. The difference is the $2,160 above. Open it.

The chart shows that edge for the default saver across wages, with each year's wages taken to be the same as the last. The tax saved by deferring the full $32,500 follows one line up to $150,000. Just above it the 2026 rules fall $2,160 below the pre-tax line, and the gap widens to $2,320 at $400,000 as the bracket rises.

When the plan has no Roth option

If the same plan offered no Roth contributions, the $172,000 saver could make no catch-up at all. The limit would be $24,500, leaving $4,500 to go, $900 a paycheck. The catch-up that can no longer be made pre-tax would have saved the same $2,160. Open it.

Adding a Roth option is how an employer restores the catch-up. A plan may also switch your catch-up to Roth automatically once your deferrals pass $24,500; the regulations allow that as long as you have a real chance to choose otherwise.

Getting the last paychecks right

1. Count paychecks, not months. A deferral counts in the year it comes out of pay. A change made now usually takes effect a payroll cycle later, so the first paycheck you can change may be the second one from today.
2. Pay has to cover it. Social Security and Medicare (7.65%) are withheld from pre-tax and Roth deferrals alike, so the calculator treats at most 92.35% of each paycheck as deferrable. Health premiums, other withholding and a plan's percentage cap can leave less.
3. Check the match. Some plans match each paycheck separately. Front-loading the year's deferral into a few paychecks can leave match on the table unless the plan makes a year-end "true-up."
4. Do not overshoot. Deferrals over the limit are taxed in the year deferred and again when paid out, unless the plan returns them by April 15 of the next year (§402(g)(2)). Two employers in one year is the usual way it happens: neither plan sees what the other took.

A new deferral percentage for next year usually starts with the first check of January, the same check on which Social Security restarts for anyone who passed the wage base. Why your first 2027 paycheck is smaller (or bigger) puts the two stubs side by side.

Assumptions and limits

• One plan at this employer, with 2026 limits from Notice 2025-67 and the rules of §414(v) as amended by the SECURE 2.0 Act. Deferrals at a previous employer this year can be entered: they reduce the room here, while the Roth wage test stays with each employer. Every saver on this page has one employer. Employer contributions are not modeled; with yours they are limited to $72,000 a year per employer, not counting catch-ups.
• Income tax is the 2026 federal tax on the brackets in Rev. Proc. 2025-32 with the standard deduction (and, at 65, the additional standard deduction and the senior deduction), plus a flat state rate on AGI. Some states, Pennsylvania among them, do not exclude 401(k) deferrals from state tax. Other income is taxed as ordinary income.
• Contributions made so far are assumed to have followed the same pre-tax or Roth choice.
• Not modeled: SIMPLE plans and their lower limits, the 403(b) long-service catch-up, the special 457(b) catch-up in the years just before retirement age, IRAs, and the alternative minimum tax.
• This is a model of tax rules, not tax advice. Your plan document and administrator decide what your plan allows.

Method and sources

The model is calculateCatchUp in the 401(k) catch-up calculator. It sets the limit from your age at year end, applies the Roth rule to your 2025 wages, splits the year's deferrals into the base limit and the catch-up, and computes the year's income tax twice: stopping now and maxing out with the remaining paychecks. When the Roth rule applies, it computes the year a third time with the catch-up pre-tax to show what the rule changes. Every figure on this page comes from runs of the model on the inputs in the scenario links; the statutory figures are read from the site's tax constants for 2026, and the calculator was cross-checked against an independent model of the same rules.

• IRS Notice 2025-67: the 2026 $24,500 deferral limit, the $8,000 and $11,250 catch-ups, the $150,000 threshold for 2025 wages, and the $72,000 annual additions limit.
• 26 U.S.C. §414(v): eligibility at age 50 by year end, the higher amount from 60 until 64, and the requirement that catch-ups above the wage threshold be Roth.
• T.D. 10033, Catch-Up Contributions (90 FR 44527): wages measured from W-2 Box 3 for the prior year from the same employer, a zero catch-up for those subject to the rule in a plan without Roth, and good-faith compliance before 2027.
• Rev. Proc. 2025-32: 2026 tax brackets and standard deductions.
• IRS Roth comparison chart: how designated Roth and pre-tax deferrals are taxed on the way in and out.

Open this scenario in the calculator

All figures on this page come from the 401(k) Catch-Up & Max-Out calculator. Change any input there and the numbers update.