Can You Max Out a 401(k) and an IRA? Limits, Income Rules, and Deadlines

Yes, you can max out a 401(k) and an IRA in the same year. For 2026, that’s up to $24,500 in a 401(k) and up to $7,500 in an IRA if you’re under 50, for a combined $32,000 of tax-advantaged savings.¹ The two accounts sit in different parts of the tax code, so funding one doesn’t shrink the limit on the other. Where people run into trouble is on the IRA side, where your income can quietly limit how much of the tax benefit you actually get.

The Two Limits Are Separate

Your 401(k) elective deferral limit for 2026 is $24,500. That’s the maximum you can redirect from your paycheck into the plan across all your 401(k), 403(b), and similar plans combined, even if you work for more than one employer during the year.² Employer matching money is on top of that under a separate cap.

Your IRA limit for 2026 is $7,500, and this is a combined ceiling for all your traditional and Roth IRAs together.³ You can split that $7,500 between the two types however you like. You just can’t exceed the total, and you can’t contribute more than your taxable compensation for the year if that’s lower.

Nothing in the rules prevents you from hitting both ceilings in the same year. Whether you should is a cash-flow question. Whether you’ll get the full tax benefit on the IRA side is an income question, discussed further down.

How Much More You Can Save After 50

Workers 50 and older get extra room in both accounts. For 2026, the 401(k) catch-up is $8,000, lifting the employee deferral ceiling to $32,500. The IRA catch-up is $1,100, taking the IRA ceiling to $8,600. Combined, that’s $41,100.³

There’s a bigger window between ages 60 and 63. SECURE 2.0 creates a “super catch-up” of $11,250 for those four years, replacing the standard $8,000 catch-up. That pushes the 401(k) employee ceiling to $35,750 and the combined 401(k)-plus-IRA total to $44,350.⁴ Once you turn 64, you drop back to the regular $8,000 catch-up.

One more change matters if you’re a higher earner in this age bracket. Starting in 2026, if your FICA-taxable wages from the prior year exceeded $150,000, your 401(k) catch-up contributions must be made on a Roth (after-tax) basis inside the plan. Below that wage threshold, you can still choose pre-tax or Roth if the plan offers both.

Income Limits That Affect the IRA Side

The 401(k) has no income cap. You can earn any amount and still contribute the full $24,500. IRAs are different, and this is where “maxing out both” gets complicated.

Roth IRA Eligibility

Direct Roth IRA contributions phase out based on modified adjusted gross income. For 2026:¹

Single or head of household: full contribution below $153,000, reduced from $153,000 to $168,000, none above $168,000.
Married filing jointly: full below $242,000, reduced from $242,000 to $252,000, none above $252,000.
Married filing separately: phase-out from $0 to $10,000, which effectively closes the door for most people in this filing status.

If you fall inside the phase-out range, you can still contribute, just not the full $7,500. The IRS reduces the allowed amount proportionally based on where you land.

Traditional IRA Deductibility

You can always contribute to a traditional IRA regardless of income. The deduction is a separate question, and this is where having a 401(k) does interact with your IRA. If you or your spouse is covered by a workplace retirement plan, the deduction phases out at certain incomes.⁵ For 2026:¹

Single filer with a workplace plan: full deduction below $81,000, partial from $81,000 to $91,000, none above $91,000.
Married filing jointly, contributing spouse has a plan: full below $129,000, partial from $129,000 to $149,000, none above $149,000.
Spouse without a plan, married to someone who has one: full below $242,000, partial from $242,000 to $252,000, none above $252,000.
Married filing separately with a plan: partial from $0 to $10,000, none above $10,000.

Losing the deduction doesn’t stop you from contributing. You can still put $7,500 into a traditional IRA as a nondeductible (after-tax) contribution. If you do, file Form 8606 with your tax return to record your after-tax basis.⁶ Skipping the form creates real problems later because you’ll have no record showing which dollars were already taxed, and the IRS charges a $50 penalty for failing to file it.⁷

The Workaround for High Earners

If your income is above the Roth IRA cutoff, the backdoor Roth is a well-established two-step move: make a nondeductible contribution to a traditional IRA, then convert it to a Roth. There’s no income limit on either step. The strategy remains fully legal for 2026 despite periodic discussions in Congress about closing it.⁸

The conversion is reported on Form 8606, and when you’re converting money that was never deducted, you generally owe little or no tax on it.⁶ Watch out for the pro-rata rule. If you have existing pre-tax money in any traditional, SEP, or SIMPLE IRA, the IRS treats all your traditional IRA balances as a single pool when calculating the taxable portion of any conversion. You can’t select only the after-tax dollars.

Say you have $90,000 in a pre-tax traditional IRA and add a $7,500 after-tax contribution. Roughly 92% of any amount you convert becomes taxable, not just the new contribution. A common fix is to roll existing pre-tax IRA balances into your 401(k) first, if the plan accepts incoming rollovers. That empties the pre-tax IRA and lets the nondeductible contribution convert cleanly.

Deadlines Are Different

The two accounts run on different clocks. 401(k) contributions must be withheld from your paychecks during the calendar year. Once December 31 passes, you can’t add more for that year.

IRAs give you more time. You have until the tax filing deadline of the following year, April 15, 2027, to fund your IRA for the 2026 tax year.⁹ That extra window is useful if you want to wait until you know your full-year income before deciding how much to contribute and whether it goes to a traditional or Roth. When you make the deposit, tell your custodian which tax year the contribution is for. Most online platforms ask during the transfer.

What Happens if You Go Over

Exceeding the limit on either account triggers a 6% excise tax on the excess for every year it stays in the account.¹⁰ It compounds. A $1,000 over-contribution costs $60 the first year, $60 the next, and so on until you correct it.

To avoid the penalty, withdraw the excess plus any earnings it generated before the tax filing deadline (including extensions, typically October 15). The excess amount comes out penalty-free, but the earnings portion is taxable in the year you made the contribution. Miss that deadline and you can apply the excess toward next year’s limit, but you’ll owe the 6% for each year the overage sat there.

The most common way people go over on a 401(k) is by changing jobs mid-year without tracking what they already deferred at the first employer. Your new employer’s payroll system has no way of knowing what you contributed elsewhere, so the responsibility is yours.² If you switch jobs in 2026, add up your year-to-date deferrals from your last pay stub at the old job and set your new deferral rate so the combined total lands at or under $24,500 (plus any catch-up you qualify for).

1
Internal Revenue Service. 401(k) Limit Increases to $24,500 for 2026, IRA Limit Increases to $7,500
2
Internal Revenue Service. Consequences to a Participant Who Makes Excess Annual Salary Deferrals
3
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – IRA Contribution Limits
4
Internal Revenue Service. COLA Increases for Dollar Limitations on Benefits and Contributions
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 219 – Retirement Savings
6
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 8606, Nondeductible IRAs
7
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8606
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 408A – Roth IRAs
9
Internal Revenue Service. Traditional and Roth IRAs
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 4973 – Tax on Excess Contributions to Certain Tax-Favored Accounts and Annuities