What Is a Catch-Up Contribution? Limits, Ages 60–63, and Roth Rules

A catch-up contribution is an extra amount you’re allowed to add to a retirement or health savings account once you hit a qualifying age, stacked on top of the standard annual limit. For 2026, catch-up contributions let workers age 50 and older put an additional $8,000 into a 401(k) or similar workplace plan, while workers ages 60 through 63 can add up to $11,250 under a higher tier created by the SECURE 2.0 Act.¹ IRAs and HSAs have their own smaller catch-up amounts with their own rules.

Who Qualifies

For workplace retirement plans and IRAs, you qualify in any year you turn 50 or older by December 31. Even if your 50th birthday is the last day of the year, you get the full catch-up amount for that whole year.² HSAs use a different threshold: you must be at least 55 by the end of the tax year.

A non-working spouse on a joint return can also make IRA catch-up contributions, as long as the working spouse has enough taxable compensation to cover both contributions and total combined contributions don’t exceed that compensation.³

2026 Catch-Up Limits for 401(k) and Similar Workplace Plans

The standard elective deferral limit for 401(k), 403(b), most governmental 457(b), and Thrift Savings Plan accounts is $24,500 for 2026. Adding the $8,000 age-50 catch-up brings your maximum employee contribution to $32,500.⁴

SIMPLE IRAs and SIMPLE 401(k)s work off smaller numbers. The base contribution cap is $17,000 for 2026, with a $4,000 catch-up for participants 50 and older, for a total of $21,000.⁵ All of these figures are adjusted annually for inflation.

The Higher Catch-Up for Ages 60 Through 63

SECURE 2.0 added a bigger catch-up tier for the years you turn 60, 61, 62, or 63. In a 401(k), 403(b), governmental 457(b), or TSP, that raises the catch-up from $8,000 to $11,250, and your total employee contribution ceiling to $35,750 for 2026.¹

For SIMPLE plans, the enhanced catch-up in those same years is $5,250 instead of $4,000.⁴ Once you turn 64, you drop back to the standard age-50 amount. These figures are also indexed for inflation.

IRA Catch-Up Contributions

The base IRA contribution limit, covering both Traditional and Roth accounts, rises to $7,500 for 2026. If you’re 50 or older, you can add an extra $1,100, for a total of $8,600.¹ The IRA catch-up sat at a flat $1,000 for years; SECURE 2.0 tied it to annual cost-of-living adjustments starting in 2025.

Roth IRA contributions are also subject to income limits that can reduce or eliminate what you’re allowed to put in, regardless of your age.

HSA Catch-Up Contributions

Health Savings Accounts follow their own rules. You must be at least 55 by year-end and enrolled in a High Deductible Health Plan. The HSA catch-up is $1,000, added to the 2026 base limit of $4,400 for self-only coverage or $8,750 for family coverage.⁶ Unlike the retirement catch-ups, the HSA catch-up is not indexed for inflation and has stayed at $1,000 for years.

If both spouses are 55 or older and each hold their own HSA, each can take the $1,000 catch-up in their own account. Combined regular contributions, not counting catch-ups, still can’t exceed the family coverage limit if you share a family HDHP.

The Roth Requirement for Higher Earners

Under SECURE 2.0, if your FICA wages from the prior year exceeded $150,000, catch-up contributions to your workplace plan must go into a Roth account rather than pre-tax. You lose the upfront deduction on those catch-up dollars, but qualified withdrawals come out tax-free. The $150,000 threshold applies to 2026 catch-ups based on 2025 wages and is adjusted annually for inflation.⁷

The IRS gave plans a transition period through December 31, 2025, and the final regulations take full effect for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2026. For 2026 itself, plans may implement the requirement under a good-faith interpretation of the statute.⁷ If you’re above the threshold, ask your plan administrator whether Roth treatment applies to your catch-ups for 2026 or starts in 2027.

If your FICA wages are $150,000 or less, you can still direct catch-up dollars to either a pre-tax or Roth account, depending on what your plan offers. This mandatory-Roth rule does not apply to IRAs.

Deadlines

Workplace plan catch-ups (401(k), 403(b), 457(b), SIMPLE) run through payroll and must be made before the plan year closes, which is December 31 for most plans.² You can’t go back and add to a workplace plan after year-end.

IRAs give you more time. You have until the tax return due date, generally April 15 of the following year, to make a prior-year contribution. If you contribute between January 1 and April 15, tell your IRA provider which tax year the money is for; otherwise it may be recorded as a current-year contribution.⁸

Multiple Employers, One Limit

The $24,500 deferral limit and the $8,000 (or $11,250) catch-up are individual caps that apply across all your plans combined, not per employer. Your employers generally won’t see what you contribute elsewhere, so tracking your own total is on you.⁹

If You Contribute Too Much

Excess amounts left in the account are hit with a 6% excise tax for each year they stay there.¹⁰ For IRAs, you can avoid the penalty by withdrawing the excess (plus any earnings on it) by your tax return due date, including extensions.³ Workplace plan corrections go through the plan administrator. Financial institutions report IRA contributions to the IRS on Form 5498, so over-contributions do get flagged.⁸

2026 Catch-Up Amounts at a Glance

401(k), 403(b), governmental 457(b), TSP, age 50–59 or 64+: $8,000 catch-up; $32,500 total employee limit
401(k), 403(b), governmental 457(b), TSP, age 60–63: $11,250 catch-up; $35,750 total employee limit
SIMPLE IRA or SIMPLE 401(k), age 50–59 or 64+: $4,000 catch-up; $21,000 total employee limit
SIMPLE IRA or SIMPLE 401(k), age 60–63: $5,250 catch-up; $22,250 total employee limit
Traditional or Roth IRA, age 50+: $1,100 catch-up; $8,600 total
HSA, age 55+: $1,000 catch-up; $5,400 self-only or $9,750 family

Every limit above except the HSA catch-up is indexed for inflation and may rise in future years.⁴

1
Internal Revenue Service. 401(k) Limit Increases to $24,500 for 2026, IRA Limit Increases to $7,500
2
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Catch-Up Contributions
3
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – IRA Contribution Limits
4
Internal Revenue Service. 2026 Amounts Relating to Retirement Plans and IRAs, as Adjusted for Changes in Cost-of-Living Notice 2025-67
5
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Contributions
6
Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Procedure 2025-19 – HSA Contribution Limits for 2026
7
Internal Revenue Service. Treasury, IRS Issue Final Regulations on New Roth Catch-Up Rule, Other SECURE 2.0 Act Provisions
8
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 590-A (2025), Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs)
9
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – 401(k) and Profit-Sharing Plan Contribution Limits
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 4973 – Tax on Excess Contributions to Certain Tax-Favored Accounts and Annuities