Two separate things are happening to retirement accounts right now, and most coverage only mentions one of them. First, the IRS has already confirmed the official 401(k) and IRA contribution limits for 2026 — that’s settled, effective this January. Second, 2026 is also the first year a mandatory rule change from the SECURE 2.0 Act actually bites: high earners age 50 and older can no longer choose how their catch-up contributions are taxed. And a third, smaller story is just emerging — actuarial firm Milliman published its first 2027 projection on September 14, 2026, based on August inflation data. Here’s all three, separated clearly so you know what’s confirmed and what’s still an estimate.
Key Takeaways
- The 2026 401(k) employee deferral limit is officially $24,500, up from $23,500 in 2025, per IRS Notice 2025-67 (published November 13, 2025).
- The 2026 IRA contribution limit is officially $7,500, up from $7,000.
- Starting in 2026, employees 50+ who earned $150,000 or more in FICA wages the prior year must make their 401(k) catch-up contributions to a Roth account — they no longer get to choose.
- Milliman’s early 2027 forecast, released September 14, 2026, projects the 401(k) limit rising another $1,000 to $25,500 — but that projection depends on September’s CPI data, not yet released.
- None of the 2027 numbers are official. The IRS typically confirms the following year’s limits in early November.
2026 Contribution Limits: Official and Already in Effect
These numbers are confirmed. The IRS announced them in Notice 2025-67 on November 13, 2025, and they’ve applied to contributions since January 1, 2026:
| Limit | 2025 | 2026 (Official) |
|---|---|---|
| 401(k)/403(b)/457(b) employee deferral | $23,500 | $24,500 |
| Catch-up contribution (age 50+) | $7,500 | $8,000 |
| “Super” catch-up (ages 60–63) | $11,250 | $11,250 (unchanged) |
| Traditional/Roth IRA contribution | $7,000 | $7,500 |
| IRA catch-up (age 50+) | $1,000 | $1,100 |
A worker 50 or older can put a maximum of $32,500 into a 401(k) in 2026 ($24,500 plus the $8,000 catch-up), or $35,750 if they’re specifically between 60 and 63 and their plan offers the higher “super” catch-up. Combined employer-plus-employee contributions to a defined contribution plan are capped separately, at a higher figure that includes any employer match or profit-sharing on top of what an employee personally defers.
IRA Income Limits for 2026: Who Actually Gets the Tax Deduction
The contribution limit is the same whether an IRA is deductible or not, but income determines how much of a traditional IRA contribution can actually be written off, and whether someone can contribute to a Roth IRA at all.
- Traditional IRA deduction phases out for single filers covered by a workplace plan between $81,000 and $91,000 in modified adjusted gross income (MAGI), and for joint filers where the contributing spouse is covered, between $129,000 and $149,000.
- If only your spouse is covered by a workplace plan, the phase-out for your own deduction is much higher: $242,000 to $252,000.
- Roth IRA eligibility phases out for single filers between $153,000 and $168,000 in MAGI, and for joint filers between $242,000 and $252,000.
Above the top of the Roth phase-out range, direct contributions aren’t allowed at all — though a “backdoor Roth” conversion remains a separate, legal workaround many high earners use instead. Parents building tax-advantaged savings for children rather than themselves should also know these IRA rules are separate from the newer Trump Accounts, which function more like a custodial IRA with its own distinct contribution rules.
The Bigger Story: Catch-Up Contributions Just Changed for High Earners
The dollar limits above get most of the annual attention, but a structural change under the SECURE 2.0 Act is arguably more consequential for the people it affects, and it’s only now taking effect after repeated delays.
Starting with 2026 contributions, any employee age 50 or older whose FICA-taxable wages from their employer were $150,000 or more in the prior year (2025, for 2026 contributions) can no longer choose how their catch-up contributions are taxed. Those contributions must go into a Roth account, meaning they’re made with after-tax dollars rather than pre-tax dollars. The threshold is based on a rolling one-year lookback and is indexed for inflation, so it will likely rise again for the 2027 lookback year.
Three practical consequences follow from this:
- No more upfront tax deduction on catch-up dollars. Affected employees lose the immediate tax break on the $8,000 (or $11,250) catch-up portion of their contribution, even though they still get it on their base $24,500 deferral.
- If your plan doesn’t offer a Roth 401(k), you may lose the ability to make catch-up contributions at all. Employers without a Roth option have had to either add one or effectively cap affected employees at the standard deferral limit.
- It only applies to catch-up contributions, not the whole deferral. The base $24,500 limit can still go into a traditional, pre-tax account regardless of income — only the amount above that, up to the catch-up limit, is affected.
Employees under the $150,000 threshold aren’t affected at all and can still choose freely between traditional and Roth catch-up contributions, exactly as before.
2027 Limits: What’s Projected, and Why It Isn’t Official Yet
Every fall, actuarial firms publish early estimates of next year’s limits based on the same inflation data the IRS itself will eventually use, but the agency doesn’t confirm the real numbers until it has a full year of Consumer Price Index data — typically announced in early November. As of this writing, only partial 2026 inflation data is available, so any 2027 figure is a forecast, not a fact.
The most current projection, published by actuarial firm Milliman on September 14, 2026, estimates:
| Limit | 2026 (Official) | 2027 (Milliman Projection) |
|---|---|---|
| 401(k) employee deferral | $24,500 | $25,500 |
| Catch-up contribution (age 50+) | $8,000 | $8,500 |
| “Super” catch-up (ages 60–63) | $11,250 | $11,750 |
| Max defined contribution (employer + employee) | $72,000 | $75,000 |
Milliman’s own note on the projection is a useful caveat: it assumes roughly 0.25% monthly inflation growth through September 2026. If September’s actual inflation reading comes in below about 0.04%, the 401(k) limit could stay flat at $25,000 instead of climbing to $25,500 — a reminder that even the most careful projection is sensitive to a single month of data that hasn’t been published yet. Other actuarial forecasters have published similar but not identical estimates over the summer, generally clustering in the same $25,000–$25,500 range for the base 401(k) limit.
The IRA limit doesn’t move every year — it’s adjusted in smaller increments and sometimes stays flat — so a 2027 IRA projection is less reliable this early. The safest approach is to plan around the confirmed 2026 numbers and treat any 2027 figure as directional until the IRS’s official notice arrives, typically in early-to-mid November.
What This Means for Your Year-End Planning
A few practical steps make sense regardless of where the 2027 numbers land:
Check your last paycheck’s math against the 2026 limit
If you’re contributing a flat dollar amount or percentage per paycheck, it’s worth confirming your 2026 contributions are actually on pace to hit $24,500 (or your applicable catch-up total) rather than falling short because your withholding percentage was set for the old 2025 limit. If you’ve recently changed jobs, the math resets differently — see What to Do With 401(k) After Layoff for how a mid-year job change affects what you can still contribute.
Find out if the Roth catch-up rule applies to you
If you’re 50 or older and earned $150,000 or more from your employer in 2025, confirm with your plan administrator that your catch-up contributions are actually routing to a Roth account this year — and check whether your plan offers a Roth option at all, since not adding one can effectively cap what you’re allowed to contribute.
Don’t rearrange your budget around unconfirmed 2027 numbers
It’s reasonable to expect the 2027 limits to rise modestly, in line with a 2027 Social Security COLA that’s similarly still an estimate rather than a confirmed figure — both numbers are ultimately tied to the same underlying inflation data, just measured slightly differently. Treat both as planning inputs, not locked-in facts, until each becomes official this fall.
FAQ
What is the 401(k) contribution limit for 2026?
$24,500 for employee deferrals, confirmed by the IRS in Notice 2025-67. Someone 50 or older can add a $8,000 catch-up, for a total of $32,500.
What is the projected 401(k) contribution limit for 2027?
Actuarial firm Milliman’s early projection, published September 14, 2026, estimates $25,500, but this depends on September 2026 inflation data that hadn’t been released as of this writing and is not an official IRS figure.
Who has to make Roth catch-up contributions in 2026?
Employees 50 or older whose FICA wages from their employer were $150,000 or more in 2025. Their catch-up contributions must go into a Roth 401(k) rather than a traditional pre-tax account.
What happens if my employer’s 401(k) plan doesn’t offer a Roth option?
An affected high earner may not be able to make catch-up contributions at all unless the plan adds a Roth 401(k) feature, since the law no longer allows those contributions to go into a traditional pre-tax account.
Is the IRA contribution limit the same as the 401(k) limit?
No. The 2026 IRA limit is $7,500 ($8,600 with the age-50+ catch-up), separate from and much lower than the 401(k) limit, and IRAs and 401(k)s have different income-based rules for deductibility and eligibility.
The Bottom Line
The numbers that matter for actual 2026 payroll deductions are already locked in: $24,500 for a 401(k), $7,500 for an IRA, with catch-ups on top for anyone 50 and older. The more consequential change for many higher earners isn’t a dollar figure at all — it’s that catch-up contributions of $150,000-plus earners must now go into a Roth account, a structural shift that changes the tax math even for people who haven’t increased how much they’re saving. The 2027 numbers, including Milliman’s $25,500 projection, are a useful preview for planning ahead, but they won’t be official until the IRS publishes its own notice this November.
