2027 401(k) and IRA limits: what’s official so far
Every autumn, a wave of articles quotes “the 2027 401(k) limit” before the IRS has published one. As of October 27, 2026, the IRS has not announced the 2027 limits for 401(k) plans or IRAs. One 2027 limit is already official, though: the HSA. This post separates what is confirmed from what is pending, shows the 2026 numbers that serve as the baseline, and explains the mechanism so you can tell a rule from a guess.
What’s confirmed for 2027: the HSA
Revenue Procedure 2026-24, issued May 29, 2026, sets the 2027 inflation-adjusted amounts for Health Savings Accounts.
| HSA item | 2027 (official) |
|---|---|
| Contribution limit, self-only HDHP coverage | $4,500 |
| Contribution limit, family HDHP coverage | $9,000 |
| HDHP minimum deductible, self-only / family | $1,750 / $3,500 |
| HDHP out-of-pocket maximum, self-only / family | $8,700 / $17,400 |
The same revenue procedure notes that the new direct primary care arrangement allowance, added by the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act, is $150 a month ($300 for arrangements covering more than one person) and is inflation-adjusted for months beginning after December 31, 2026. The HSA is the account that the HSA retirement strategy guide covers in depth, and its 2027 ceiling is a fixed number you can plan around today.
What’s not confirmed: 401(k) and IRA
The 401(k) and IRA limits come from a separate annual notice. Last year the IRS issued it on November 13, 2025 (release IR-2025-111). The calendar for this year follows the same pattern: the figures are expected after the inflation data they depend on is in. Until the release appears, treat every 2027 401(k) or IRA figure, including ones on calculator and finance sites, as an estimate.
The useful thing to hold in the meantime is the confirmed 2026 baseline.
The 2026 baseline
From IRS release IR-2025-111 and Notice 2025-67:
| Item | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| 401(k), 403(b), governmental 457, TSP deferral | $23,500 | $24,500 |
| Catch-up, age 50+ | $7,500 | $8,000 |
| “Super” catch-up, ages 60–63 | $11,250 | $11,250 (unchanged) |
| IRA contribution | $7,000 | $7,500 |
| IRA catch-up, age 50+ | $1,000 | $1,100 |
| Defined contribution plan limit (section 415(c)) | $70,000 | $72,000 |
| Plan compensation limit (section 401(a)(17)) | $350,000 | $360,000 |
| Highly compensated employee threshold | $160,000 | $160,000 (unchanged) |
Two observations from this table. First, the increases are not proportional: the 401(k) limit rose about 4.3% while the IRA limit rose about 7.1% off a smaller base. Second, several amounts did not move at all. The notice sets each amount through its own rules, so one year’s headline number says little about the others.
Income limits that matter for IRAs
The 2026 income thresholds are what decide whether an IRA contribution is deductible, or whether a Roth contribution is allowed at all:
| 2026 threshold (modified AGI) | Range |
|---|---|
| Traditional IRA deduction, single, covered by workplace plan | $81,000–$91,000 |
| Traditional IRA deduction, married filing jointly, contributing spouse covered | $129,000–$149,000 |
| Roth IRA eligibility, single or head of household | $153,000–$168,000 |
| Roth IRA eligibility, married filing jointly | $242,000–$252,000 |
These move too. The Roth range for singles started at $150,000 in 2025 (now $153,000), and the traditional-deduction range for singles started at $79,000 (now $81,000). The married-filing-separately range of $0–$10,000 does not adjust. If a 2027 change nudges your income across one of these lines, the traditional vs Roth IRA guide and the backdoor Roth and pro-rata rule guide explain what the options are.
How the adjustment works
Section 415 of the Internal Revenue Code sets limits on plan benefits and contributions. Section 415(d) requires the Treasury to adjust them each year for cost of living, using procedures similar to those that set the Social Security COLA under section 215(i)(2)(A) of the Social Security Act. Notice 2025-67 says other deferred-compensation amounts use “a variation of the methodology” from section 415(d).
In plain terms: the limits are tied to a measure of consumer price inflation, and they change only when the accumulated adjustment is large enough to move an amount to its next step. That is why a year of modest inflation can leave some amounts flat, as the age 60–63 catch-up and the highly compensated employee threshold were in 2026, while others rise.
The Social Security side of the same autumn is already settled. The 2027 COLA of 3.6% was announced October 14, and our post on the math walks through it. That figure doesn’t determine the 401(k) or IRA limits, since the methods differ, but it shows the same inflation environment in the news.
What to do with this in a plan
Nothing here is a recommendation; this is how the rules and the calendar line up.
- Contributions that follow a limit. If a payroll deduction is set as a percentage, it rises with pay and may hit the cap earlier in the year. If it is set as a dollar amount, it will need a manual change once the 2027 limit is known.
- HSA. The 2027 limits are fixed now, so a projection can use $4,500 or $9,000 for 2027 rather than a placeholder.
- Projections. A retirement projection that assumes the contribution limit grows with inflation will be close to how the rules behave over time, but not year by year. cinder.fi’s US retirement calculator and FIRE calculator let you set savings by year and test different assumptions side by side.
- Watch for the release. When the IRS publishes, the IR release lists the 401(k), IRA, catch-up and income-threshold figures in one place, and the accompanying IRS notice lists the full set (for 2026 that was Notice 2025-67).
The short version
The 2027 HSA limits are official ($4,500 self-only, $9,000 family). The 2027 401(k) and IRA limits are not, as of today. The 2026 numbers are the baseline: $24,500 for 401(k) deferrals, $8,000 age-50 catch-up, $11,250 for ages 60–63, and $7,500 for IRAs.
Figures are from IRS release IR-2025-111, Notice 2025-67 and Revenue Procedure 2026-24. Educational content, not financial or tax advice; confirm against irs.gov before acting.