Catch-Up Contribution Calculator
Your age, your prior-year wages, and what you plan to add
Your result will appear here
Fill in the fields and this updates as you type.
Know what this estimate is based on
- Jurisdiction
- United States — Internal Revenue Code contribution, distribution and early-withdrawal rules, and Social Security Act benefit rules
- Rules and time period
- Contribution limits, catch-up amounts, income phase-outs and RMD ages are the ones the calculator names. IRS dollar limits are re-set every year and Social Security amounts change each January, so check the year shown before relying on a figure.
- Scope and limitations
- Long-range scenario, not a guarantee or a distribution instruction. Returns, inflation, fees, taxes, Social Security, withdrawal order, sequence risk and longevity can each change the result materially, and plan documents can be stricter than the statutory maximum.
- Source links checked
- Sep 19, 2026
Built and regression-tested by Smart Tools Lab. It has not been individually reviewed by a licensed financial, tax, or legal professional.
How to use
- 01
Enter your age at the end of this year. The catch-up opens in the calendar year you turn 50 — you do not have to wait for the birthday — and there is a larger amount for ages 60 through 63 that replaces the standard one rather than adding to it.
- 02
Enter last year's Social Security wages from this employer: Box 3 of that W-2, not total compensation and not this year's salary. That single number decides whether your workplace catch-up is still a deduction.
- 03
Enter the catch-up you plan to add to the workplace plan and, separately, to an IRA. They are different amounts under different rules.
- 04
Add your marginal tax rate. It turns the lost deduction into a dollar figure, which is the only honest way to size what the Roth requirement costs.
- 05
Read the amount you can add, whether it has to be Roth, and the table comparing what the same dollars are worth taxed at each end.
Formula
Workplace catch-up = $8,000 if you reach 50 this year, replaced by $11,250 if you are 60 to 63, and back to $8,000 from 64. IRA catch-up = $1,100 from 50. Roth is mandatory for the workplace catch-up when prior-year Social Security wages from that employer exceeded $150,000. What the requirement costs this year = the catch-up you make × your marginal rate. What it is worth later = the same balance, untaxed on the way out rather than taxed at your retirement rate.
Example
Age 61, with $168,000 of Social Security wages from this employer last year. The workplace catch-up is $11,250 — the 60-63 amount, which replaces the $8,000 rather than adding to it — plus $1,100 in an IRA, $12,350 in all. Because $168,000 is $18,000 over the $150,000 threshold, the $11,250 has to be Roth: at a 24% bracket that is $2,700 of federal tax paid this year that a pre-tax catch-up would have deferred. Six years of $12,350 at 7% grows to about $88,300 on $74,100 contributed, and the workplace share of it comes out untaxed.
Definitions
- Catch-up contribution
- An extra amount you may contribute above the ordinary limit from the calendar year you reach 50. Section 414(v) for plans, section 219(b)(5)(B) for IRAs.
- Enhanced catch-up (60-63)
- $11,250 for 2026, available for ages 60 through 63 only. It substitutes for the $8,000 rather than adding to it, and it ends after 63.
- Box 3 wages
- Social Security wages on the prior year's W-2 from that employer. The figure the $150,000 Roth threshold is tested against — capped at the Social Security wage base, and it excludes anything above it.
- Designated Roth account
- The after-tax side of a workplace plan. Contributions are not deducted; qualified withdrawals, including all the growth, are not taxed.
- Elective deferral limit
- $24,500 for 2026 — the ordinary ceiling the catch-up sits on top of, shared across every 401(k), 403(b) and SIMPLE you hold, but never with a 457(b).
Good to know
A four-year window, and a figure that replaces rather than adds
The catch-up opens in the calendar year you reach 50 — not on the birthday, so someone turning 50 in December has it from January. For 2026 it is $8,000 in a 401(k), 403(b), governmental 457(b) or the TSP, on top of the $24,500 elective deferral limit, plus $1,100 in an IRA on top of the $7,500 IRA limit. SECURE 2.0 then added a larger amount for ages 60, 61, 62 and 63: $11,250 for 2026. The single most common error about it is treating that figure as additive. It is not. It REPLACES the $8,000, so a 61-year-old's workplace catch-up is $11,250 and never $19,250. It is also a window rather than a step: the year after you turn 63 you drop back to $8,000, a $3,250 cut in what you can shelter in one year, arriving at an age when most people are trying to shelter more rather than less. Whether a plan offers the enhanced amount at all is optional, and the IRA catch-up is now indexed for the first time — $1,100 is the first move off the $1,000 that stood unchanged from 2006 through 2024.
The 2026 rule that changes what a catch-up is
From 2026, a participant aged 50 or over whose Social Security wages from that employer in the prior year exceeded $150,000 must make any catch-up in that employer's plan as a designated Roth contribution. Section 414(v)(7), from SECURE 2.0. What this does is narrower and more specific than most coverage of it suggests, and the precision matters. The catch-up is not taken away. The amount does not shrink. What changes is that it stops being a deduction: the same $11,250 goes in, but it goes in after tax. At a 24% bracket that is $2,700 of federal tax paid in the year it starts that a pre-tax contribution would have deferred. Whether that is a loss at all depends on the rate you will face in retirement — the money now comes out untaxed, so a higher future rate makes the forced Roth a gift and a lower one makes it a cost. What is unambiguous is the cash-flow effect in the first year, because a household that budgeted for a pre-tax catch-up is suddenly short the tax on it.
The threshold is narrower than a salary
The test is on Box 3 of the prior year's W-2 — Social Security wages — from a single employer, and each of those words removes people from the rule. It is per employer, so someone with two jobs each paying under $150,000 is not caught, however large the total. It is prior-year, so a new employer who paid you nothing last year cannot trigger it in your first year there however large the salary. It is W-2 wages, so a partner in a partnership or a sole proprietor with self-employment income has no Box 3 figure at all and is outside it entirely. And because Box 3 is capped at the Social Security wage base, it excludes anything above that base — a fact that matters less at $150,000 but is the reason the figure on your W-2 will not match your salary. One hard edge to check before December rather than after: if the rule reaches you and your plan has no designated Roth option, you cannot make a catch-up contribution at all that year. The plan cannot take it pre-tax and has nowhere else to put it. Most plans added Roth for exactly this reason; not all did, and offering catch-ups is optional in the first place.
Every other plan does this slightly differently
The $8,000 / $11,250 pair is the 401(k), 403(b), governmental 457(b) and TSP answer. Four other regimes diverge. A SIMPLE IRA or SIMPLE 401(k) has its own smaller pair, $4,000 and $5,250 — and the age-50 figure drops to $3,850 where the employer runs the higher SIMPLE deferral limit, because that case sits at §414(v)(2)(B)(iii) rather than (ii), so the higher limit carries the smaller catch-up. A 403(b) has a second catch-up altogether, based on 15 years of service with one qualifying employer and worth up to $3,000 a year — and because it lives in section 402(g)(7) rather than 414(v), the Roth mandate does not reach it, so part of a long-serving teacher's catch-up can stay deductible while the rest cannot. A governmental 457(b) switches the age catch-up off entirely in any year its final-three-years catch-up applies, making them alternatives rather than a stack. And the IRA catch-up sits outside 414(v) completely, so the Roth mandate never touches it, though the ordinary deduction limits still do. One last thing no calculator can weigh for you: a catch-up dollar is not the most valuable dollar available to most people. An unmatched catch-up returns your investment return; an ordinary dollar that captures an employer match returns 50% or 100% the moment it lands. The match comes first, every time.
Frequently asked questions
How much extra can I contribute after 50 in 2026?
$8,000 into a 401(k), 403(b), governmental 457(b) or the TSP, on top of the $24,500 elective deferral limit — or $11,250 if you are 60, 61, 62 or 63. Plus $1,100 into an IRA, on top of the $7,500 IRA limit. A SIMPLE plan is different again, at $4,000 or $5,250 — and $3,850 rather than $4,000 where the employer's higher SIMPLE deferral limit is in use, which is a different paragraph of §414(v) and a smaller catch-up.
Do I get the $8,000 and the $11,250 if I am 61?
No. The larger amount REPLACES the smaller one. At 61 your workplace catch-up is $11,250, not $19,250. And it is a four-year window: the year after you turn 63 you drop back to $8,000, which is a real cut in what you can shelter in one year and worth planning around.
What is the Roth catch-up rule?
From 2026, if your Social Security wages from that employer in the prior year exceeded $150,000, any catch-up you make in that employer's plan must be designated Roth. Read what that does precisely: the catch-up is not taken away and the amount does not shrink. It stops being a deduction. At a 24% bracket an $11,250 catch-up that can no longer be deducted costs $2,700 of federal tax this year that a pre-tax contribution would have deferred.
Is the Roth requirement actually bad for me?
It is a timing change, not a confiscation. You pay tax on the money now at today's rate and the balance comes out tax-free later, so it is worse if your retirement rate will be lower than today's and better if it will be higher. What is unambiguous is the cash-flow hit in the year it starts: the same contribution now costs you the tax on it, so a household budgeting to the dollar needs to plan for that.
I earn well over $150,000 — does it definitely reach me?
Not necessarily. Three ordinary situations fall outside it. The test is per employer, so two jobs each paying under the threshold are not aggregated. A new employer paid you no prior-year wages at all, so your first year there is never caught however large the salary. And a partner or sole proprietor with self-employment income rather than W-2 wages has no Box 3 figure, so the rule does not reach them either.
Does the rule reach my IRA catch-up too?
No. Section 414(v)(7) is a plan provision and an IRA is not a plan, so the $1,100 IRA catch-up is untouched. Whether it is deductible still depends on the ordinary income limits that apply when you are covered by a workplace plan, which is a separate question.