![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/irs-foxbiz-getty1.jpg\")
article <\/p>\n article <\/p>\n
The IRS’ new regulations change 401(k) catch-up contributions for high earners starting in 2026. (J. David Ake\/Getty Images \/ Getty Images) <\/p>\n
A popular tax break for workers nearing retirement age to make extra catch-up contributions is changing next year, which will limit access to some high earners.<\/p>\n
The IRS issued new regulations last month to implement a provision of a 2022 law known as the SECURE 2.0 Act, which requires that high earners who earned $145,000 or more in gross income as an individual the prior year make\u00a0401(k) catch-up contributions<\/a> to after-tax Roth accounts starting with the 2026 tax year.<\/p>\n Under the rules that will remain in effect through the 2025 tax year, workers aged 50 and up were eligible to make their 401(k) catch-up contributions to either a before-tax traditional account or an\u00a0after-tax Roth<\/a> account, depending on their preference and what their retirement plan allows.<\/p>\n Making catch-up contributions on a before-tax basis allowed workers to receive an upfront tax break by using a deduction to reduce their taxable income \u2014 but the change means that high earners over the income threshold won’t have that option starting in the 2026 tax year.<\/p>\n TRUMP’S 401(K) EXPANSION ORDER: WHAT NEW INVESTMENT OPTIONS WILL BE AVAILABLE?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Catch-up contributions are made in addition to normal\u00a0contributions to 401(k) accounts<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2025, eligible workers over the age of 50 can make an extra $7,500 in contributions to their 401(k) in catch-up contributions in addition to the standard contribution limit of $23,500 for workers under 50.\u00a0<\/p>\n There’s also a higher limit for workers between the ages of 60 and 63, who can make up to $11,250 in catch-up contributions in 2025.<\/p>\n KEY GOP LAWMAKERS BACK TRUMP’S EXECUTIVE ORDER FOR CRYPTO, OTHER ALTERNATIVE ASSETS IN 401(K) PLANS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Workers whose employer-sponsored retirement plans don’t currently have Roth 401(k) options may be unable to make catch-up contributions until one becomes available.\u00a0<\/p>\n The\u00a0Wall Street Journal reported<\/a> that employers have been adding Roth 401(k) options, with Fidelity now including it as an option in 95% of managed plans, up from 73% two years ago, while 86% of Vanguard-managed 401(k) plans offer a Roth.<\/p>\n While savers who contribute to traditional 401(k) accounts receive the upfront tax break, they do owe income taxes for future withdrawals.\u00a0<\/p>\n By contrast, contributions to Roth accounts lack the initial tax break but have\u00a0tax-free growth<\/a> and withdrawals.<\/p>\n Read more from FOX Business<\/a><\/p>\n Money<\/a>Donald J. Trump<\/a>U.S.<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"article The IRS’ new regulations change 401(k) catch-up contributions for high earners starting in 2026. (J. David Ake\/Getty…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":299399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[64,77,6459,50,3546,255,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-299398","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-donald-j-trump","10":"tag-money","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-people","13":"tag-personal-finance","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115365792407896776","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}