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 on the left and this updates as you type.
Know what this estimate is based on
- Jurisdiction
- General mathematical model
- Scope and limitations
- Long-range scenario, not a guarantee. Small changes in returns, inflation, fees, taxes, and withdrawal timing can materially change the result.
- Source links checked
- Jul 30, 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. 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.
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.
What if my plan has no Roth option?
Then you cannot make a catch-up contribution at all in a year the rule reaches you — the plan cannot take it pre-tax and has nowhere else to put it. Most plans added a Roth option precisely because of this, but not all did, and offering catch-ups is optional for a plan in the first place. It is worth checking before December rather than after.
When does this actually start?
The final regulations were issued in September 2025 and are formally applicable from 2027, with good-faith compliance expected through 2026. In practice your plan may already be administering it, may be using a reasonable interim approach, or may have switched your catch-up election to Roth automatically once your prior-year wages cleared the threshold. Check the election rather than assuming.