Early October is when savers start asking what the next year’s retirement plan limits will be, and the Internal Revenue Service has not answered yet. The most senior figure on its 401(k) limits page is $83,250, the 2026 combined ceiling for workers aged 60 to 63 who take the enhanced catch-up. Nothing on that page, or in the IRS search results checked this week, gives a 2027 number.
Where the $83,250 comes from in the IRS 401(k) limits page
The figure sits in the section 415(c) line of the IRS’s 401(k) and profit-sharing plan contribution limits page. The agency’s wording is “$72,000 in 2026 ($80,000 including catch-up contributions or up to $83,250 for those age 60 to 63).”
That makes $83,250 a ceiling on total annual additions to a participant’s account, not on what a worker can defer from pay. Section 415(c) counts employee deferrals and employer contributions together. The $72,000 base applies to everyone. Adding the standard catch-up of $8,000, which the page says applies in 2026 to traditional and safe harbor 401(k) plans, gives the $80,000 figure for most savers aged 50 and over. Adding the higher catch-up of $11,250 produces $83,250.
The ages 60 to 63 catch-up under SECURE 2.0
The $11,250 amount applies only to a narrow cohort. The IRS page ties it to participants aged 60 to 63,. The arithmetic on the page is consistent: the $72,000 base plus $11,250 equals $83,250, while the $72,000 base plus the standard $8,000 equals $80,000. The $3,250 gap between the two top-line numbers is the entire advantage the 60-to-63 group holds under the 2026 rules.
The employee elective deferral limit for 2026 is $24,500, according to the same page, which adds that the figure is “subject to cost-of-living adjustments.” The IRS set the 2026 amounts in Notice 2025-67, titled “2026 Amounts Relating to Retirement Plans and IRAs.” That is the most recent such notice in the agency’s published record.
What the IRS cost-of-living adjustment record shows for 2027
The IRS maintains a landing page for cost-of-living increases for dollar limitations on benefits and contributions, and a search of IRS.gov for 2027 limits returned that page, the 2026 notice and older notices for 2025 and 2024. No 2027 announcement surfaced. The 401(k) page itself was last reviewed on April 8, 2026, so it predates any fall announcement by definition, and it shows no year later than 2026.
The IRA side is the same. The IRS’s IRA contribution limits page, reviewed more recently on September 23, 2026, still lists the 2026 limit of $7,500, or $8,600 for those aged 50 and over, with no 2027 amount.
The gap is not unique to retirement accounts. The Social Security Administration’s latest COLA page states that “the latest COLA is 2.8 percent for Social Security benefits and SSI payments,” and carries no 2027 adjustment either. Both agencies are, for now, showing last year’s cost-of-living results.
One caveat about the page itself: its review date of April 8, 2026 means the text was last checked six months ago. A page can sit unchanged for months and still be correct, as this one is for 2026, but it also means the page cannot be expected to show anything the IRS announces later in the year. The record to watch is the IRS notice, not the explainer page.
What a missing 2027 figure means for payroll deferral settings
Because no 2027 figure has been published, a worker or plan administrator setting next year’s deferral percentages has only the 2026 amounts to reference. Those amounts are inflation-indexed, and the IRS’s own 401(k) page flags that the deferral limit is subject to cost-of-living adjustments, so the 2027 numbers are not guaranteed to match the 2026 ones.
The $83,250 therefore describes 2026 only. Until the IRS publishes a notice covering 2027, any higher or lower figure quoted for next year is a projection by a third party, not an IRS number. The dependable test is simple: a 2027 limit exists only once it appears on IRS.gov, in a notice like 2025-67 for 2026.
For savers aged 60 to 63, the practical question is whether a plan allows the enhanced catch-up at all. The IRS page describes the higher amount as a feature of SECURE 2.0, but individual employer plans decide what they offer, and the plan’s own summary or administrator is the place to confirm it.
Headlines about the largest possible 401(k) contribution often blur two separate limits. The $24,500 elective deferral limit caps what a worker can put in from salary in 2026. The $83,250 figure is a different test, the section 415(c) ceiling on everything credited to the account in the year, including employer matching and profit-sharing money. Reaching it requires an employer contribution large enough to fill the space between the worker’s own deferral and the total.
The record as it stands on IRS.gov today
In sum, the agency’s own pages carry one set of numbers for the 60-to-63 group: $72,000 base, $80,000 with standard catch-up, $83,250 with the enhanced catch-up, all labeled 2026. The IRS has not yet issued the notice that would replace them.
Retirement account limits and the tax picture they feed
With the combined contribution limit for ages 60 to 63 still resting on 2026 numbers, the unfinished job is working out how larger contributions and later withdrawals interact with taxable income, which is a calculation that depends on each saver’s own figures.
The Retirement Tax & Withdrawal Planner is a 12-page planner with four calculators, including a provisional income calculator and a Roth bracket fill calculator, plus an account withdrawal order that lets a saver test how a retirement year’s income lines up.
Open the Roth bracket fill and provisional income calculators while 2027 limits are pending →
This article was written with AI assistance and verified line by line against the primary records linked in it.
David M. Keller is a finance writer based in Columbus, Ohio, covering personal finance and consumer-focused economic topics. He earned his degree in journalism from Ohio University and began his career reporting on local business and economic trends for a regional media outlet. Since then, he has contributed to a variety of online publications, focusing on clear, practical coverage of topics such as cost of living, debt, and everyday financial decision-making.
