2027 Contribution Limits: What the Projections Say Before the IRS Confirms

Every autumn the same question arrives before the answer does. People planning next year's savings rate want the 2027 contribution limits in September, and the IRS does not publish them until late October or early November, after the September CPI print.

What exists in the meantime is a projection, and it is a genuinely useful one — the limits are formula-driven, not discretionary, so most of next year's numbers are already knowable from published inflation data. But two of the 2027 figures are sitting exactly on a rounding boundary right now, which is worth understanding before you plan around either version.

Everything below labelled 2027 is a projection. It is not official, it is based on inflation data through July 2026, and it can move. The 2026 column is final.

The Numbers

The two bolded rows are the borderline cases, and they are borderline for a specific and unglamorous reason.

Why Two Numbers Are Still Undecided

The statutory limits are indexed to inflation and then rounded down to the nearest $500. That rounding is what makes the limits jump in steps rather than creeping up by $37 a year, and it is also what makes some years a coin flip.

The 401(k) deferral limit's indexed value for 2027 currently lands close enough to the $25,500 boundary that a slightly hotter August and September CPI pushes it over, while a cooler pair holds it at $25,000. Same story for the age-50 catch-up at the $8,500 line.

So when you see one credible source say $25,000 and another say $25,500, they are not contradicting each other. They are describing a number that genuinely has not been determined yet, and the September CPI release is what determines it.

The IRA limit is the opposite case and it is worth understanding as reassurance rather than uncertainty: it is projected to stay at $7,500 because the indexed value would have to reach $7,750 to trigger the next $500 step to $8,000, and it is nowhere near. The IRA limit has always moved in occasional steps rather than every year. A flat year is normal, not a policy signal.

The Change That Will Actually Affect People

The most consequential line in that table is not the headline 401(k) number. It is the Roth catch-up wage threshold moving from $150,000 to $155,000.

Since January 2026, if your prior-year FICA wages from the employer sponsoring your plan exceeded $150,000, your catch-up contributions must go in as Roth — after tax — rather than pretax. That is the SECURE 2.0 mandate, and the full mechanics, including the plan gap that can block your catch-up entirely, are in the Roth catch-up mandate guide.

A $5,000 increase in the threshold sounds trivial. It is not, for anyone sitting just above the line. If your 2026 FICA wages land between $150,000 and $155,000, you are inside the mandate for 2026 catch-ups and — on these projections — back outside it for 2027. That is a one-year swing in whether you get a deduction on $8,000 of contributions, and it is the kind of thing worth checking against your actual W-2 rather than your salary, since the threshold uses Social Security wages from one employer, not household income.

The 415(c) Line Matters More Than It Looks

The total annual additions limit — everything that can go into a defined contribution plan for you in a year, across your deferrals, employer match, and after-tax contributions — is projected to rise from $72,000 to $75,000.

Most people never touch this ceiling and can ignore it. If you are running a mega backdoor Roth, it is the number that defines your entire strategy, because the after-tax contribution space you can convert is what is left of 415(c) after your deferrals and match. A $3,000 increase is $3,000 of additional Roth space. The mechanics are in the mega backdoor Roth guide, and it is also the number to watch if you are self-employed with a solo 401(k), where you occupy both the employee and employer side of the limit.

What To Do Between Now and January

Plan with the projection. Do not file with it. A projection is enough to sketch your 2027 savings rate and decide whether maxing out is realistic. It is not enough to lock a payroll deferral election. The IRS number normally lands before open enrolment closes, so there is rarely a real conflict.

The genuinely time-sensitive item is 2026, not 2027. The 2026 limits are final and the elective deferral is use-it-or-lose-it on December 31 — unlike an IRA contribution, which you can make until the April filing deadline. If you are behind on the $24,500, the remaining pay periods of this year are the entire window, and that arithmetic is worth doing in September rather than in December when there are not enough paychecks left to fix it.

If you are near the Roth catch-up threshold, check your actual FICA wages rather than assuming. It determines whether $8,000 of contributions is deductible.

If you are within a few years of 60, note that the super catch-up is a four-year window — the calendar years you turn 60 through 63 — and then it ends. It is one of the more generous and least-used provisions in SECURE 2.0.

Whatever the final number is, the decision that matters more than the limit is where the money goes once it is in. That is the account-ordering question covered in asset location for tax efficiency and 401(k) vs Roth IRA, and the answer changes far less from year to year than the limits do.

When This Page Becomes Fact

The IRS typically publishes the official figures in late October or early November 2026, in a Notice covering all the indexed retirement numbers at once. When it lands, the two borderline rows resolve to a single value and this page will be updated to the official table.

Until then, treat the 2027 column as a well-informed forecast built on a public formula — which is a much better thing than a guess, and still not a fact.

This article is general information, not tax advice. Contribution limits and thresholds are set by the IRS and depend on your specific plan and circumstances. Confirm the official figures before making an election.