Retirement Contribution Calculator

Introduction

Every January, millions of workers set a retirement goal based on a number they are not quite sure about. How much can I actually contribute to my 401(k) this year? What about my Roth IRA? Can I still put money into my HSA? The answer is never a single figure — it depends on which accounts you own, your age, your income, and your health insurance. The Internal Revenue Service publishes a full set of cost-of-living-adjusted limits every fall for the following tax year, and for 2026 those numbers changed in several meaningful ways: the 401(k) elective-deferral limit rose to $24,500, the IRA limit reached $7,500, and the HSA family limit climbed to $8,750[irs-ir2025-111][irs-cola].

This Retirement Contribution Calculator answers the question in one screen. Pick your plan type, enter your age and pay frequency, and it returns your base limit, any catch-up allowance you qualify for, the maximum total you can contribute, and exactly how much to set aside per paycheck to reach that maximum. If you choose a Roth IRA it also applies the 2026 income phase-out based on your filing status and modified adjusted gross income (MAGI). If you choose an HSA, it switches to the self-only and family coverage limits. There is no guesswork and no calculator math to do yourself.

Knowing your limit matters for three reasons. First, missing it leaves tax-advantaged space permanently unused — the contribution room for a given year does not roll over, so an unused $5,000 of 401(k) space is gone forever. Second, the IRS imposes a 6% excise tax on excess contributions to IRAs and a similar penalty on excess employer-plan deferrals, so overshooting is just as costly as undershooting. Third, contribution limits interact with your broader tax picture: deferring more into a traditional 401(k) lowers your taxable income, which is where the Income Tax Estimator comes into play. And to see whether your savings are on track, the Retirement Savings Gap Calculator tells you how your projected retirement income compares with what you will likely need.

How to Use

The calculator runs automatically as you change any field — there is no Calculate button. Start by choosing the plan type you want to check from the ten options: 401(k), 403(b), 457(b), Thrift Savings Plan, SIMPLE IRA, Traditional IRA, Roth IRA, HSA, SEP IRA, or Solo 401(k). Enter your age, which drives the catch-up rules, and pick a pay frequency so the tool can convert your annual limit into a per-paycheck target. Optionally, enter how much you have already contributed this year to see your remaining room.

Here are three worked examples.

Example 1 — A 45-year-old contributing to a 401(k). With no age input above 50, the base elective-deferral limit of $24,500 applies with no catch-up. Paid biweekly (26 pay periods per year), the per-paycheck target is 24,500 ÷ 26 = $942.31. If this worker has already contributed $10,000, the remaining room is $14,500.

Example 2 — A 55-year-old with an employer plan. Workers age 50 or older at the end of the calendar year can add a catch-up contribution of $8,000 to their 401(k), 403(b), or 457(b), for a maximum total of $32,500[irs-401k]. Monthly, that is 32,500 ÷ 12 = $2,708.33 per month. A 62-year-old in the same plan gets the SECURE 2.0 enhanced catch-up of $11,250, pushing the total to $35,750.

Example 3 — A 40-year-old funding a Roth IRA. The base IRA limit for 2026 is $7,500[irs-ira]. If this saver files single with a MAGI of $100,000 — well below the $153,000 phase-out floor — the full $7,500 is allowed. At a MAGI of $160,500, the contribution phases down to $3,750, and at $168,000 or more it disappears entirely. The Roth IRA Contribution & Growth Calculator can then project what those contributions grow to by retirement.

The Formula

For most plans the calculation is a simple lookup: take the statutory base limit for 2026 and add the catch-up tier you qualify for. The catch-up tiers differ by plan family. For 401(k)-type plans (including 403(b), 457(b), TSP, and Solo 401(k)), employees age 50 and older get an extra $8,000, and those age 60 through 63 get $11,250. SIMPLE plans use $4,000 and $5,250 respectively. IRAs add $1,100 for age 50 and older, and HSAs add $1,000 for age 55 and older — the only account type with a catch-up that is not tied to age 50.

The interesting math is the Roth IRA phase-out. Your contribution is reduced proportionally as your MAGI moves through the phase-out band, with the reduction rounded up to the nearest $10. For a single filer in the $153,000–$168,000 band, the reduced limit is:

At a MAGI of $160,500 the reduction is $3,750, leaving a $3,750 limit. Note that the $1,100 catch-up for age 50 and older is not subject to the phase-out, so a 52-year-old above the $168,000 ceiling can still contribute $1,100 — a detail many savers miss.

Married filing separately is the harshest case: anyone who lived with their spouse at any point during the year and has a MAGI of $10,000 or more cannot make a direct Roth contribution at all. High earners in that situation often use a backdoor Roth conversion, which is why the Vanguard guide is worth reading alongside the IRS tables[vanguard-roth].

The Traditional IRA Contribution & Growth Calculator uses the same $7,500 base limit and $1,100 catch-up, but it is worth knowing that the deduction for traditional IRA contributions phases out at different income levels than the Roth phase-out above — a worker covered by an employer plan sees their deduction fade between $81,000 and $91,000 of MAGI if single, or between $129,000 and $149,000 if married filing jointly. The contribution itself is always allowed up to the limit; only the tax deduction is income-dependent.

Reference Table

The 2026 limits below come directly from the IRS cost-of-living announcement and the statutory catch-up tiers[irs-cola][irs-rp25-19]. "Max total" assumes the age-50 catch-up and shows what a typical participant can put away in a single year.

The table reveals a clear hierarchy: workplace plans dominate IRAs in raw capacity, and an HSA is the only account that combines the IRA-level contribution with triple tax advantages. It also shows why the two separate $7,500 IRA and $6,500 HSA limits are often confused — both round to similar numbers but are completely independent, and you can fully fund both in the same year.

Historical context shows how fast these limits climb after inflation spikes:

Practical Tips

• Contribute at least up to your employer match first. A 50% match on the first 6% of salary is an immediate 50% return on invested dollars, which dwarfs any tax benefit or long-term growth assumption. Fund the match before any other retirement dollar.
• Use the per-paycheck number, not the annual number. Splitting the annual limit across pay periods (the calculator does this for you) is the practical way to max out without a surprise shortfall in December. If you start mid-year, divide the remaining room by the number of paychecks left, not the full year.
• Do not confuse the two IRA limits. The $7,500 limit applies to the combined total across all traditional and Roth IRAs — you cannot put $7,500 in each. The HSA limit is separate, so a family HDHP holder can save $8,750 in an HSA plus $7,500 in an IRA in the same year.
• Age 60-63 is the catch-up sweet spot. SECURE 2.0 raised the catch-up for those four birth-year windows, letting a 61-year-old add $11,250 instead of $8,000. If you are in that band, this is your best chance to compress two decades of late-stage saving into a few years.
• Watch Roth income limits before contributing. If your MAGI is near the phase-out band, check with the calculator before depositing — the IRS treats a disallowed Roth contribution as an excess contribution subject to the 6% excise tax unless withdrawn in time.
• Run the Retirement 401k Calculator to project the outcome. Knowing your limit is only the input; the growth projection tells you what a decade of maxed-out contributions is actually worth in retirement dollars.

Limitations

This calculator reports the federal statutory limits, but your real-world cap can be lower in four situations. First, employer plans may impose lower plan-level limits or caps on highly compensated employees, and discrimination testing can restrict contributions for higher earners. Second, your contribution cannot exceed your earned income — a $10,000 part-time earner cannot contribute $7,500 to an IRA, regardless of the statutory limit. Third, a married couple's Roth eligibility depends on combined MAGI, so even if your own income is low, your spouse's earnings can push you into the phase-out. Fourth, non-governmental 457(b) plans use a compressed limit based on prior-year balances rather than the flat $24,500 shown here.

The SEP IRA and Solo 401(k) rows deserve extra caution. SEP contributions are made by the employer, not the employee, and are capped at 25% of compensation up to $72,000 in annual additions. A Solo 401(k) combines an elective deferral with a profit-sharing contribution, and the combined annual additions — your deferral, catch-up, and employer contribution — cannot exceed $72,000 ($80,000 including the age-50 catch-up). These rules are fully explained in the IRS profit-sharing guidance[irs-401k]. The catch-up amounts also assume you are 50 by the end of 2026; the enhanced 60-63 tier applies to the year you turn 60 through the year you turn 63.

Finally, this tool reports limits for the 2026 tax year only. The IRS publishes updated figures each November for the following year, and inflation can move them substantially — between 2021 and 2026 the 401(k) limit rose $5,000. Re-run this calculator annually rather than carrying last year's numbers forward.

Frequently Asked Questions

❓ What is the 2026 401(k) contribution limit?

✅ The elective-deferral limit is $24,500 for 401(k), 403(b), governmental 457(b), and Thrift Savings Plans. Employees age 50 and older can add an $8,000 catch-up ($32,500 total), and those age 60-63 can add $11,250 ($35,750 total).

❓ What is the 2026 IRA contribution limit?

✅ The combined limit for traditional and Roth IRAs is $7,500, or $8,600 if you are age 50 or older because of the $1,100 catch-up. The limit applies to the total across all your IRAs, not per account.

❓ What are the 2026 HSA contribution limits?

✅ Self-only coverage allows $4,400 and family coverage allows $8,750. If you are age 55 or older, you can add a $1,000 catch-up. You must be enrolled in a qualifying high-deductible health plan.

❓ At what income does the Roth IRA phase out in 2026?

✅ For single filers and heads of household, the phase-out runs from $153,000 to $168,000 of MAGI. For married couples filing jointly it runs from $242,000 to $252,000. Married filing separately is limited to under $10,000.

❓ Is the Roth IRA catch-up subject to the income phase-out?

✅ No. The $1,100 catch-up for age 50 and older is not affected by the phase-out, so a high earner above the ceiling can still contribute up to $1,100 directly to a Roth IRA.

❓ What is the difference between the $24,500 limit and the $72,000 annual-additions limit?

✅ The $24,500 is your elective deferral. The $72,000 annual-additions limit caps the total of your deferral (excluding catch-up), employer match, profit-sharing, and forfeiture allocations across all plans maintained by one employer.

❓ How much can I contribute to a SIMPLE plan in 2026?

✅ The salary-reduction limit is $17,000, with a $4,000 catch-up for age 50 and older and a $5,250 enhanced catch-up for age 60-63. Plans meeting SECURE 2.0 requirements may allow the higher applicable limit of $18,100.

❓ Can I contribute to both a 401(k) and an IRA in the same year?

✅ Yes. The 401(k) elective-deferral limit and the IRA limit are separate, so a 50-year-old can contribute $32,500 to a 401(k) and $8,600 to an IRA in 2026, assuming sufficient earned income and Roth income limits.

❓ What happens if I contribute more than the limit?

✅ Excess IRA contributions incur a 6% excise tax each year until corrected. Excess employer-plan deferrals must be withdrawn with earnings by April 15 of the following year to avoid double taxation and the 6% tax.

❓ Do contribution limits reset every year?

✅ Yes, the limits apply per calendar year and unused room does not roll over. The IRS announces new limits each November, so it is worth re-checking every year because inflation adjustments can be substantial.