The 2026 Retirement Savings Rules: Higher Limits, a Super Catch-Up, and a New Roth Rule for High Earners

On November 13, 2025, the IRS released the retirement savings numbers for 2026, and they matter most to people in their 50s and 60s. The base amount a worker can put into a 401(k) rose to $24,500.

Savers age 50 and older can add another $8,000. And a narrow group, those who turn 60, 61, 62, or 63 during the year, can add $11,250 instead, for a possible $35,750. Buried in the same notice is a change that takes a tax break away from some higher earners starting January 1, 2026.

If you are still working and saving, these numbers decide how much you can shelter from taxes this year. Here is what changed, who it affects, and the one thing to check before December.

The Base Limits Went Up

Start with the number most people watch. For 2026, the amount you can personally defer into a 401(k), 403(b), most 457 plans, and the federal Thrift Savings Plan is $24,500.

That is up from $23,500 in 2025, a $1,000 bump. The IRS adjusts these figures for inflation. The $1,000 increase for 2026 is actually larger than the $500 increases that applied for both 2024 and 2025.

The individual retirement account, or IRA, limit also rose, to $7,500 from $7,000. Keep in mind the $24,500 is your money only. In a 401(k), 403(b), or the Thrift Savings Plan, any match or contribution your employer adds sits on top of it under a separate, much higher ceiling.

A 457(b) plan works differently, because employer and employee contributions generally share the same limit rather than stacking. For most workers approaching retirement, the practical message is simple.

If you were already maxing out last year, you now have room for a little more. If you were not, these limits are a target, not a requirement. Whether you can reach the new ceiling depends on your pay, what you already set aside, how many paychecks are left in the year, and your household expenses.

A small bump in your contribution rate moves you closer, but only your own budget can tell you how far you can go. The guidance that set these figures is IRS Notice 2025-67, which also carries the catch-up rules below.

The Catch-Up for Age 50 and Older

Congress has long let older workers save extra, on the theory that retirement is close and the years to build a nest egg are short. For 2026, the standard catch-up for anyone age 50 or older climbs to $8,000, up from $7,500.

Stack that on the $24,500 base and a saver age 50 or older can put $32,500 into a workplace plan in a single year. That is a meaningful figure. A worker who contributes the full $32,500 and earns a steady return can add a large sum to retirement in the final working decade, exactly when many people have paid off a mortgage or sent the last child through school and finally have cash to spare.

How the catch-up gets made varies by plan. Some plans apply your existing contribution election or use an automatic spillover once you reach the base limit, while others want a separate catch-up election.

Do not assume either way. Ask your plan administrator how yours handles it. If you turned 50 this year or last and never checked, you may be leaving the extra room on the table.

Look at your most recent pay stub to see what percentage you are actually setting aside.

The Super Catch-Up for Ages 60 Through 63

Here is the provision few people know about. Under the SECURE 2.0 Act, workers who reach ages 60, 61, 62, or 63 during the calendar year get an even larger catch-up. For a 401(k) or similar non-SIMPLE plan, the law sets it at the greater of $10,000 or 150 percent of the regular catch-up limit that was in effect for 2024, with inflation adjustments after that.

The regular 2024 catch-up was $7,500, so 150 percent of that comes to $11,250, and the IRS set the figure at $11,250 for 2026. Add it to the $24,500 base and this group can contribute up to $35,750 in one year.

Three details matter. First, eligibility turns on your age on the last day of the year, not your birthday month, so if you reach 60, 61, 62, or 63 by December 31, 2026, you qualify for the whole year.

Second, the window closes once you reach 64. If you turn 64 at any point during a year, you are ineligible for the larger catch-up for that entire year and use the regular $8,000 catch-up instead, for a $32,500 total.

Third, you cannot claim both catch-ups. The larger one replaces the smaller. Your employer's plan must offer the feature, so confirm yours does before counting on it.

The New Roth Rule for Higher Earners

This is the change that will surprise people. For most plans, Section 603 of the SECURE 2.0 Act requires certain higher earners to make their catch-up contributions as Roth money, meaning after-tax dollars, rather than the pre-tax money many have used for years, beginning January 1, 2026.

The line is drawn by your prior-year wages. If your Social Security wages, shown in Box 3 of your 2025 W-2 from the employer that sponsors your plan, topped $150,000, your catch-up for 2026 must go into a Roth account.

The statute set the base at $145,000, and the IRS indexed it to $150,000. One timing caveat matters. The final regulations give certain collectively bargained multiemployer plans deemed compliance for a limited stretch, so if a union agreement covers your plan, confirm the date that actually applies to you.

A few points ease the sting. The test uses only the prior year, so a mid-year raise does not change your status. It counts wages from the plan sponsor, so moving to an unrelated new employer with no applicable prior-year wages can put you under the line.

But related-employer aggregation and predecessor-employer rules can carry prior-year wages with you, so a job change does not always reset it. The rule hits only the catch-up, so your base $24,500 can stay pre-tax.

You pay tax now on the catch-up, and the earnings come out tax-free later only if the withdrawal is qualified. For a workplace Roth, that generally means you have met the designated Roth account's five-taxable-year participation period and you are 59 and a half, disabled, or the money is paid after death.

What If Your Plan Has No Roth Option

This is the sentence that catches plans off guard. If your 401(k) or 403(b) does not offer a Roth option and you are over the $150,000 wage line, you may not be able to make any catch-up contribution at all in 2026.

The rule does not force an employer to add Roth. It simply says higher earners must use Roth for catch-ups, and if there is no Roth bucket to use, the catch-up door closes for those workers.

The requirement is keyed to the participant's taxable year, which for almost everyone is the calendar year, so a worker with 2025 wages over the line is subject to it for 2026 no matter when the employer's plan year begins or ends. The final regulations illustrate this point with a plan that runs from July to June, applying the rule on a calendar-year basis to the participant.

An earlier administrative transition had postponed the requirement from 2024 to 2026. The IRS issued final regulations on September 15, 2025, and two groups get a later date for when those regulations formally bind the plan: certain collectively bargained plans and governmental plans.

That later applicability date governs when the written rules apply, not whether the law applies, so the 2026 start still reaches those workers. For the 2026 gap, the agency allows plans to follow a reasonable, good-faith reading of the law while payroll systems catch up.

None of that changes the practical point for you. If you want the full catch-up, call your plan administrator now and ask one question: does the plan allow Roth contributions, and am I subject to the rule in 2026?

IRAs and SIMPLE Plans Changed Too

The numbers above cover workplace plans, but the smaller accounts moved as well. For 2026 the IRA contribution limit is $7,500, and the catch-up for those age 50 and older is $1,100, up from the flat $1,000 it sat at for years.

That catch-up is now indexed for inflation under SECURE 2.0, so expect small annual increases going forward. Combined, a saver 50 or older can put $8,600 into a traditional or Roth IRA in 2026.

Note that the $7,500 is a shared ceiling across all your IRAs, not per account. Workers at smaller companies with a SIMPLE IRA also got a raise. The SIMPLE catch-up for ages 60 through 63 is $5,250 for 2026.

For savers 50 to 59 and those 64 and older, the catch-up is $4,000 in most SIMPLE plans, but Notice 2025-67 keeps a separate $3,850 catch-up for certain SIMPLE plans, so the figure that applies depends on the plan type. One caution worth repeating every year: income limits still govern who can deduct a traditional IRA contribution or put money directly into a Roth IRA.

The contribution limit and the eligibility rules are two separate things, and a tax preparer can confirm where you land before you write the check.

If you take one action from this column, make it a phone call. Ask your plan administrator two things: does the plan offer a Roth option, and have I elected the catch-up I am entitled to.

Those two answers decide whether you capture the higher 2026 limits or let them pass. If you are between 60 and 63, the enhanced catch-up is a short window that closes once you reach 64, so use it while you can.

If your 2025 Box 3 wages topped $150,000, expect your catch-up to run through a Roth account this year, and plan for the tax you owe now in exchange for tax-free money later. None of this requires a financial expert.

It requires one pay stub, one phone call, and a few minutes before the December payroll deadlines arrive.

Sources

• Internal Revenue Service, Notice 2025-67, 2026 Pension Plan Limitations (2025)
• Internal Revenue Service, Final Regulations on Catch-Up Contributions, T.D. 10033 (2025)
• CNBC, IRS Unveils 2026 IRA Contribution Limits, Raises Savings Cap (2025)
• American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries, 2026 401(k) Contribution Limits Issued by the IRS (2025)
• Journal of Accountancy, IRS Finalizes Regulations for Roth Catch-Up Contributions Under SECURE 2.0 (2025)