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Personal FinanceAnalysisPast Article

A Placeholder Is Not a 2027 Limit

Draft Publication 571 for January 2027 prints the elective-deferral limit as a blank after $24,500. The published 2026 limit, from IR-2025-111, is still $24,500.

By Claire Ng, Retirement Columnist

Washington1 min read

grocery store aisle with stocked shelves
grocery store aisle with stocked shelvesPhoto by Franki Chamaki on Unsplash

The employee deferral limit for 2026 is $24,500. The Internal Revenue Service set that figure in IR-2025-111, dated November 13, 2025, up from $23,500 for 2025. The release covers 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans, governmental 457 plans, and the Thrift Savings Plan. The IRA contribution limit in the same release is $7,500, up from $7,000. The COLA table on IRS.gov still ends at 2026. There is no 2027 column on it.

Publication 571, the agency's guide to 403(b) plans, is posted as an early-release draft revised January 2027. The cover says "DRAFT—NOT FOR FILING." The catalog line is dated October 22, 2026. Under "What's New for 2027," the draft says the limit on elective deferrals has increased from $24,500 to $xx,xxx. It says the limit on annual additions has increased from $72,000 to $xx,xxx.

The same section does state two 2026 figures and then leaves 2027 blank again. The higher catch-up for a participant who attains age 60, 61, 62, or 63 is $11,250 for 2026, and $xx,xxx for 2027. A participant who earned more than $150,000 in 2025 must make 2026 catch-up contributions as Roth contributions. The wage amount that would apply to 2027 catch-ups is another blank. The saver's credit lines do the same thing: the draft starts from the 2026 amounts in the release, $80,500, $60,375, and $40,250, and prints $xx,xxx as the 2027 figures.

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