The 2026 basic employee 401(k) limit is $24,500—not $23,500. The general IRA limit is $7,500, and the HSA limits are $4,400 self-only / $8,750 family for eligible coverage. Those are different rules for different accounts. Being able to read a limit does not mean you can contribute that amount, deduct it, or earn any particular return.
Correction — September 24, 2026: The earlier article labeled 2025 contribution limits as 2026 limits, including $23,500 for a 401(k), $7,000 for an IRA, and $4,300 / $8,550 for an HSA. Its “$1 million in 30 years” framing, combined-capacity total, guaranteed-sounding strategy order, and accumulation tables were not adequately supported by disclosed assumptions. We removed those projections and retired their image cards. This page now presents checked limits and decision boundaries, not a personalized plan or human expert review.
Keep the 2026 limits in separate columns
The IRS’s 2026 retirement-account announcement and 2026 HSA revenue procedure give these general federal ceilings:
| Account | 2026 base amount | Conditional additions or constraints |
|---|---|---|
| Employee 401(k) elective deferral | $24,500 | If the plan permits, generally +$8,000 catch-up at 50+, or +$11,250 at ages 60–63; see the Roth check below |
| Traditional and Roth IRAs combined | $7,500 | +$1,100 catch-up at 50+; taxable compensation and Roth income rules still apply |
| HSA, self-only qualifying coverage | $4,400 | Eligibility by month and any employer contributions count toward the limit |
| HSA, family qualifying coverage | $8,750 | Same caveats; an eligible HSA holder aged 55+ may generally add $1,000 |
A 401(k) employer contribution is not part of the employee elective-deferral number in the table. The separate 2026 defined-contribution annual-additions ceiling is generally $72,000 (excluding eligible catch-up contributions); it covers certain employee and employer amounts, and is not another $72,000 an employee may defer from pay. Your plan may impose tighter rules. See IRS Notice 2025-67. Likewise, a person cannot put $7,500 in a Roth IRA and another $7,500 in a traditional IRA as though each had a separate basic limit. HSA contributions from an employer are not extra room on top of the HSA ceiling. These distinctions matter more than a dramatic combined dollar total.
Three eligibility questions before using the table
- 401(k): Does your employer offer a plan, what matching formula and vesting terms apply, and does it permit catch-up contributions? A match can be valuable, but “always max it first” is not a universal rule for someone with high-interest debt or no emergency cash.
- IRA: Do you have eligible compensation, and does your modified adjusted gross income allow a direct Roth contribution? For 2026, the IRS lists a Roth phase-out of $153,000–$168,000 for single filers and $242,000–$252,000 for married joint filers. Other filing statuses and traditional-IRA deductibility have different rules. A contribution and a tax deduction are not the same thing. A so-called “backdoor Roth” is not a separate contribution allowance or automatically tax-free: the IRS says a conversion can tax previously untaxed traditional IRA amounts and is reported on Form 8606.
- HSA: Do you have qualifying coverage, no disqualifying coverage, and eligible months? IRS Publication 969 describes these tests, the $1,000 age-55 catch-up, and treatment of employer contributions. A general-purpose health FSA can generally prevent HSA contributions, while a limited-purpose FSA may be compatible; check your plan’s actual coverage. Medicare enrollment can stop new HSA contribution eligibility. Money taken out for qualified medical expenses can be tax-free; after 65, nonmedical withdrawals avoid the additional 20% HSA tax but remain subject to income tax.
Catch-up: check Roth too
The catch-up ceiling does not tell you its tax treatment. The IRS catch-up guidance says that, starting in 2026, participants in plans with Roth features offering catch-ups must use the Roth basis when their prior-year wages with the plan sponsor exceeded $150,000. For a 2026 contribution, that means checking 2025 wages—not this year’s salary estimate or the modified adjusted gross income used for a Roth IRA test.
A designated Roth account is part of the employer plan, not a separate Roth IRA. Its contributions are included in current gross income. Do not assume the entire amount in the table will reduce this year’s taxable income.
Before changing payroll, ask the plan administrator:
- Which prior-year wage figure and employer apply to me?
- Does this plan offer catch-ups and a Roth feature, and how will payroll apply the rule?
- Which part of my election is regular deferral versus catch-up, and what will the paycheck show?
Exactly $150,000 is not over $150,000; that boundary alone does not settle every plan rule. New employers, special plan arrangements and missing Roth features need plan-specific guidance. Our savings calculator cannot make that determination, and no paycheck or plan document was reviewed here.
Added October 14, 2026: The earlier guide stated catch-up amounts but omitted this 2026 Roth condition. The September corrections and worked account-room examples remain below and above; this addition is not a recommendation to change contributions.
Three checks for the room you actually have left
The published ceilings are a starting point, not an amount to enter automatically into payroll. These examples assume the stated eligibility and no other contributions; your plan and tax records can change the result.
- One IRA limit across accounts. Suppose an under-50 worker has at least $7,500 of eligible compensation, is allowed to contribute directly to a Roth IRA, and has already put $4,000 into a traditional IRA for 2026. Under the IRS’s shared IRA limit, at most $3,500 of the $7,500 basic room remains across the worker’s IRAs—not another $7,500 for the Roth account. Whether the traditional contribution is deductible and whether a direct Roth contribution is allowed are separate income-and-filing-status questions.
- A new employer does not restart employee deferrals. Suppose an under-50 worker deferred $10,000 at one job and $9,000 at another in 2026. That is $19,000 of employee deferrals, leaving at most $5,500 under the ordinary $24,500 employee ceiling, before either plan’s own restrictions. The IRS says to aggregate elective deferrals across participating plans. An employer match is not a second personal employee-deferral allowance.
- Employer HSA deposits use the same room. Suppose an eligible under-55 worker has qualifying self-only HDHP coverage for all of 2026 and no other HSA deposits. The 2026 self-only ceiling is $4,400; if the employer contributes $1,000, at most $3,400 remains for the worker’s own contributions. IRS Publication 969 says employer contributions reduce the amount the individual may add. Coverage changes, other contributions, and the last-month rule can alter the actual limit, so check Form 8889 or a qualified adviser before making a consequential contribution.
None of the remaining-room figures is a tax-refund estimate. In particular, a Roth IRA deposit is not a current federal tax deduction. Do not add account ceilings together and call the sum “tax savings.”
Why the old million-dollar table was not a plan
A contribution cap is an upper bound, not a suggested payment and not a return. For example, $24,500 divided by 12 is about $2,041.67 per month for a full-year employee 401(k) deferral. That arithmetic does not tell you whether your paycheck, plan, match, debt, medical costs or other priorities make that amount sensible. It also says nothing about how an invested account balance will move.
The old article mixed employee amounts, a hypothetical employer match, an HSA family amount and a fixed return into one number without clearly keeping salary, eligibility, tax, market volatility and fees consistent. Even a transparent compound-interest projection is only a what-if, not a forecast. The SEC’s calculator asks you to provide the initial balance, monthly additions, time and assumed rate; changing any of them changes the result. Do not treat a chart that reaches $1 million as evidence that the accounts guarantee it.
Where PiPi’s interest tool helps—and where it does not
PiPi’s interest tool can compare hypothetical cash-savings balances when you enter a starting amount, monthly deposit, term and assumed rate. For example, use it to test how a separate cash reserve might respond to a $100 monthly deposit at two assumed savings rates. Enter rates as scenarios, not as a claim about today’s bank offers. Its tax toggle is simplified.
It does not read your employer plan, verify IRA/HSA eligibility, apply Roth phase-outs, model investment losses, optimize a retirement withdrawal order, or estimate Social Security. For the first three, check your plan document and IRS sources above. For Social Security, use your own SSA account. If a large contribution or conversion depends on your tax position, consult a qualified professional with your actual records. None of these limits or examples is individualized investment or tax advice.
Update — September 28, 2026: We folded the separately published 2026 IRA/401(k)/HSA contribution-room guide into this corrected page so the same limits and eligibility question do not compete across two PiPi pages. Its old address now leads here. The earlier September 24 correction remains visible above; this update adds worked room checks, not a new tax recommendation or human specialist review.