Your guide to IRS contribution limits and catch‑up changes
In this edition of our Roth series, we’re focusing on how the IRS contribution limits work in the TSP and how the type of contributions you make—whether traditional, Roth, or a mix of both—affects your tax planning but not how much you're allowed to contribute.
Understanding IRS contribution limits
Each year, the IRS sets a limit on how much you can contribute from your paycheck to the TSP. These employee contributions, called elective deferrals, include both traditional (before-tax) and Roth TSP (after-tax), and they all count toward the same annual limit. For 2026, the elective deferral limit is $24,500. Now is a good time to check your TSP elections on your pay statements or through your agency’s or service’s payroll system.
Elective deferrals do not include Agency/Service Automatic (1%) or Agency/Service Matching Contributions. Just remember that the combined total of your traditional and Roth contributions cannot go over the annual elective deferral limit. If you’re uniformed services member making contributions from tax-exempt earned in a combat zone, the IRS limits and rules about traditional and Roth contributions are different.
Catch‑up contributions don’t count towards the elective deferral limit. They have their own separate limit, allowing participants age 50 or older to contribute over the elective deferral limit. For 2026, the catch-up limit is $8,000, which raises the total contribution limit to $32,500 this year. If you’re age 60, 61, 62, or 63, you may qualify for a higher catch‑up limit of up to $11,250 in 2026, for a total contribution limit of $35,750.
How elective deferral limits work
If you’re younger than age 50, your employee contributions will stop once you reach the elective deferral limit for the year, and the TSP will not process contributions above that amount. If you turn 50 or older during the year, once your traditional contributions reach the elective deferral limit, any additional amounts automatically start counting toward the IRS catch‑up limit. You don’t need to make a separate election.
Keep in mind that if you reach the elective deferral limit early, your Agency/Service Matching Contributions will also stop for the rest of the year. If you’re a FERS or BRS participant, consider spreading your contributions across all pay periods so you don’t miss out on free money from your agency or service.
Changes to catch-up contributions in 2026
Starting January 1, 2026, SECURE Act 2.0 requires some participants age 50 or older to make all catch‑up contributions as Roth. This applies if your prior‑year wages exceed the IRS wage threshold (for example, if you earned more than $150,000 in 2025). If this rule applies to you, your payroll office may automatically deposit your catch‑up contributions into your Roth balance, even if you normally contribute to traditional. This may change your take‑home pay and should be part of your tax plan for 2026.
How the Roth catch-up rule works
Once your traditional contributions reach the 2026 pre‑tax limit of $24,500, any additional contributions you make are treated as catch‑up contributions. If the Roth catch-up rule applies to you because of your prior-year income, your catch-up contributions must be Roth once your total traditional contributions reach the 2026 pre-tax limit of $24,500. The switch to Roth catch-up contributions happens automatically for most people. Others may need to check with their payroll office to make sure their contributions are designated as Roth. If you’ve already been making Roth contributions earlier in the year, those amounts count toward meeting the Roth catch‑up requirement.
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