2026 US retirement and tax figures
The numbers a US retirement plan actually needs for 2026 — contribution limits, income phase-outs, federal brackets, the Social Security wage base and COLA, Medicare premiums and IRMAA, and the age at which required minimum distributions start. Every figure below is taken from the agency that published it, and the same data is available as JSON.
Contribution limits
| Limit | 2026 |
|---|---|
| Employee elective deferral | $24,500 |
| Catch-up, age 50 and over | $8,000 |
| Catch-up, ages 60–63 (instead of the age-50 amount) | $11,250 |
| Total annual additions (employee + employer) | $72,000 |
| Annual compensation limit | $360,000 |
| Highly compensated employee threshold | $160,000 |
| Defined benefit annual benefit limit | $290,000 |
Source: IRS, Notice 2025-67 / IR-2025-111 and the COLA limits table.
| Limit | 2026 |
|---|---|
| IRA contribution (traditional and Roth combined) | $7,500 |
| IRA catch-up, age 50 and over | $1,100 |
| SIMPLE plan employee deferral | $17,000 |
| SIMPLE deferral, plans using the higher limit | $18,100 |
| SIMPLE catch-up, age 50 and over | $4,000 |
| SIMPLE catch-up, ages 60–63 | $5,250 |
Source: IRS, Notice 2025-67 / IR-2025-111.
| Limit | 2026 |
|---|---|
| HSA contribution, self-only coverage | $4,400 |
| HSA contribution, family coverage | $8,750 |
| HSA catch-up, age 55 and over (fixed by statute) | $1,000 |
| HDHP minimum deductible, self-only | $1,700 |
| HDHP minimum deductible, family | $3,400 |
| HDHP maximum out-of-pocket, self-only | $8,500 |
| HDHP maximum out-of-pocket, family | $17,000 |
| Health FSA salary reduction limit | $3,400 |
| Health FSA maximum carryover | $680 |
Sources: IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-19 (HSA and HDHP), Publication 969 (the age-55 catch-up, which is set at $1,000 by statute and is not indexed), and Rev. Proc. 2025-32 (health FSA).
Income phase-outs
Phase-out ranges are modified adjusted gross income. Below the start of a range the full amount is available; above the end, none of it is.
| Filing status | Phase-out begins | Fully phased out |
|---|---|---|
| Single or head of household | $153,000 | $168,000 |
| Married filing jointly | $242,000 | $252,000 |
| Married filing separately (lived with spouse) | $0 | $10,000 |
| Situation | Phase-out begins | Fully phased out |
|---|---|---|
| Single or head of household, covered by a plan | $81,000 | $91,000 |
| Married filing jointly, contributor covered by a plan | $129,000 | $149,000 |
| Married filing jointly, only the spouse is covered | $242,000 | $252,000 |
| Married filing separately, covered by a plan | $0 | $10,000 |
| Filing status | Maximum AGI |
|---|---|
| Married filing jointly | $80,500 |
| Head of household | $60,375 |
| Single or married filing separately | $40,250 |
Source: IRS, Notice 2025-67 / IR-2025-111.
Federal income tax
| Filing status | 2026 |
|---|---|
| Single | $16,100 |
| Married filing jointly | $32,200 |
| Married filing separately | $16,100 |
| Head of household | $24,150 |
| Rate | Single | Married filing jointly |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | $0 – $12,400 | $0 – $24,800 |
| 12% | $12,400 – $50,400 | $24,800 – $100,800 |
| 22% | $50,400 – $105,700 | $100,800 – $211,400 |
| 24% | $105,700 – $201,775 | $211,400 – $403,550 |
| 32% | $201,775 – $256,225 | $403,550 – $512,450 |
| 35% | $256,225 – $640,600 | $512,450 – $768,700 |
| 37% | $640,600 and above | $768,700 and above |
Source: IRS, Rev. Proc. 2025-32. Thresholds are taxable income, after the standard or itemised deduction.
| Item | 2026 |
|---|---|
| Social Security tax rate | 6.2% |
| Social Security wage base | $184,500 |
| Medicare tax rate (no wage cap) | 1.45% |
| Additional Medicare tax rate | 0.9% |
| Additional Medicare tax threshold, single | $200,000 |
| Additional Medicare tax threshold, married filing jointly | $250,000 |
Sources: IRS Topic no. 751 (rates and thresholds) and SSA, Cost-of-Living Increase and Other Determinations for 2026 (wage base). The Additional Medicare tax thresholds are set in statute and are not indexed.
Medicare premiums and IRMAA
| Item | 2026 |
|---|---|
| Part B standard monthly premium | $202.90 |
| Part B annual deductible | $283 |
| Part A inpatient hospital deductible | $1,736 |
| Part D base beneficiary premium | $38.99 |
| Single MAGI | Married filing jointly MAGI | Total Part B premium | Part D surcharge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to $109,000 | Up to $218,000 | $202.90 | $0.00 |
| $109,000 – $137,000 | $218,000 – $274,000 | $284.10 | $14.50 |
| $137,000 – $171,000 | $274,000 – $342,000 | $405.80 | $37.50 |
| $171,000 – $205,000 | $342,000 – $410,000 | $527.50 | $60.40 |
| $205,000 – $500,000 | $410,000 – $750,000 | $649.20 | $83.30 |
| $500,000 and above | $750,000 and above | $689.90 | $91.00 |
Source: CMS, 2026 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles. IRMAA uses a two-year lookback, so 2026 premiums are set by 2024 MAGI. The Part D surcharge is added to whatever the chosen plan charges. Married-filing-separately brackets differ and are on the CMS page.
Required minimum distributions
| Year of birth | Applicable age |
|---|---|
| 1951 – 1959 | 73 |
| 1960 or later | 75 |
Source: IRS, T.D. 10001, final regulations on required minimum distributions. The first distribution is due by 1 April of the year after the applicable age is reached, and every later one by 31 December. Roth IRAs require no distributions during the owner's lifetime, and since 2024 neither do designated Roth accounts inside 401(k) and 403(b) plans.
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(updated 27 July 2026).Fetch the JSON
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Schema
Stable, additive contract: fields are added, never silently renamed or
repurposed. A breaking change would ship under a new
version. All money amounts are US dollars as numbers (no
symbols, no separators), and all rates are decimal fractions
(0.062 means 6.2%).
- year, version, publishedAt, lastUpdated
- Tax year, dataset version, ISO timestamp of first publication, and the date of the latest verification.
- sources
- Map of source id to
{ title, publisher, url, retrieved }. Every data section carries asourcefield naming its key here. - federal.brackets.{single,marriedJoint}
- Array of
{ min, rate }, ascending bymin. Each entry's rate applies to taxable income fromminup to the next entry'smin. - federal.standardDeduction
single,marriedJoint,marriedSeparate,headOfHousehold.- fica
- Employee-side payroll tax rates, the Social Security wage base, and the Additional Medicare tax thresholds.
- socialSecurity
- COLA rate, wage base, quarter-of-coverage amount, and the retirement earnings test exempt amounts.
- medicare
- Part A and B deductibles, the Part B standard premium, the Part D base beneficiary premium, and IRMAA tiers by filing status. Each tier gives
magiMin(an inclusive lower bound),partBTotalMonthlyPremiumas published by CMS, andpartDMonthlySurcharge. - contributionLimits
employerPlans,ira,simple,hsa,hdhp,healthFsa.- phaseOuts
rothIra,traditionalIraDeductionas{ start, end }MAGI ranges, andsaversCreditas maximum AGI by filing status.- rmd
applicableAgesas{ bornFrom, bornTo, age }(bornTo: nullmeans open-ended), plus the required beginning date rule.- states
- State income tax presets used by the Planomy planner, either
{ kind: "flat", rate }or{ kind: "brackets", brackets }. These are planner defaults and are not part of the verified figures on this page.
Questions
How much can I put in a 401(k) in 2026?
$24,500 of your own salary. If you are 50 or older you can add a $8,000 catch-up, and if you turn 60, 61, 62 or 63 during the year the catch-up is $11,250 instead. Employer contributions do not count against that limit, but everything together is capped at $72,000.
How much can I put in an IRA in 2026?
$7,500 across all your traditional and Roth IRAs combined, plus $1,100 if you are 50 or older. Roth contributions start phasing out at $153,000 of modified AGI for single filers and $242,000 for married couples filing jointly.
What is the Social Security wage base for 2026?
$184,500. Earnings above that are not subject to the 6.2% Social Security tax, though the 1.45% Medicare tax has no cap. Benefits rose 2.8% in the 2026 cost-of-living adjustment.
When do required minimum distributions start?
At 73 if you were born between 1951 and 1959, and at 75 if you were born in 1960 or later. The first distribution can be delayed to 1 April of the following year; after that each year's is due by 31 December.
How often is this updated?
Whenever the agencies publish. Retirement plan limits normally arrive in late October or early November for the following year, HSA figures in the spring, and Medicare premiums in November. The date at the top of this page is when the figures were last checked against their sources.
Social Security
Source: SSA, Cost-of-Living Increase and Other Determinations for 2026. Below full retirement age, $1 of benefits is withheld for every $2 of earnings above the limit; in the year full retirement age is reached, $1 for every $3, counting only the months before that birthday.