403b Calculator

Enter your salary, the share of pay you defer and what your employer adds. The calculator works out your 2026 maximum with each catch-up shown separately, splits your own contribution between the basic limit and the catch-ups, and checks the limit on all contributions. It treats your salary before deferrals as your includible compensation, which is close for someone who worked the whole year.

For the projection it keeps your salary and the 2026 limits flat, adds contributions monthly and grows the balance at your return. It counts your years of service up each year, so the 15-year catch-up starts, and stops, when the rules say. It does not model taxes, and the IRS adjusts the limits for the cost of living.

If your plan allows it and you have at least 15 years of service with the same employer, and that employer is a public school system or other educational organization, a hospital, a home health service agency, a health and welfare service agency, or a church or convention or association of churches, your limit goes up by the least of three amounts:

• $3,000;
• $15,000, minus the 15-year catch-ups you made in earlier years, pre-tax and Roth; or
• $5,000 times your years of service with the employer, minus the elective deferrals you made to its 403(b), 401(k), SARSEP and SIMPLE plans in earlier years, including 15-year catch-ups but not age-50 catch-ups.

The third test limits people who have already deferred a lot with the employer. With 16 years of service and $78,000 of earlier deferrals, it gives $80,000 minus $78,000, so the catch-up is $2,000. Once your earlier deferrals reach $5,000 for every year of service, the test gives nothing.

Years of service are counted through the end of the year you are figuring. They do not need to be in a row, a full-time year counts as one and part-time or part-year work counts as a fraction, measured against the employer's normal work year. The catch-up only applies once you have deferred the full $24,500 basic limit.

From 50 you can use both, and the law sets the order: whatever you defer above $24,500 counts first as the 15-year catch-up, as far as it is available, and only the rest as the age catch-up. At 52 with the full 15-year catch-up available, a $30,000 deferral splits into $24,500 of basic deferral, $3,000 of 15-year catch-up and $2,500 of age-50 catch-up.

Because the 15-year catch-up is used first, it also uses up your $15,000 lifetime amount first, even in years you could have covered the same deferral with the age catch-up. With both available you can defer up to $35,500 at 50 to 59 and $38,750 in the years you turn 60 to 63.

A second limit covers everything that goes into your 403(b) accounts: your deferrals, any 15-year catch-up, your employer's contributions and any after-tax contributions. For 2026 it is the lesser of $72,000 and 100% of your includible compensation for your most recent year of service. The age-50 and age 60 to 63 catch-ups are not counted, so they sit on top: $80,000 in total from 50 and $83,250 in the years you turn 60 to 63.

If your employer puts in a lot relative to your pay, this limit can cut your own deferrals below $24,500. With pay of $40,000 and an employer contribution of $20,000, the limit on all contributions is $40,000, which leaves room for $20,000 of deferrals before any age catch-up. From 50 the age catch-up still comes on top, up to its dollar amount or, if less, your pay minus your other deferrals: $8,000 at 55 and $11,250 at 61 in this example.

From 2026, if your 2025 wages from the employer that sponsors the plan were over $150,000, your age-50 or age 60 to 63 catch-up has to go in as Roth contributions. Wages here means wages for Social Security (FICA) tax from that employer. If the plan has no Roth option, you cannot make an age catch-up at all. The rule applies to the age catch-ups under section 414(v) of the tax code; the 403(b) 15-year catch-up is a separate increase to your basic limit under section 402(g)(7), not an age catch-up.

The IRS transition period generally ended on December 31, 2025. The final regulations generally apply from 2027, or later for certain governmental and collectively bargained plans, and until then plans can follow a reasonable, good faith reading of the law, so ask your plan how it handles this.

Your $24,500 limit is personal and shared across every 403(b), 401(k), TSP, SIMPLE and SARSEP plan you are in during the year, even with different employers. A 457(b) plan has a separate limit, so many school and government employees can defer the full amount to both: see the 457b calculator.

Taking money out of a 403(b) before 59½ generally costs a 10% additional tax on the taxable part unless an exception applies; the 401(k) early withdrawal calculator lists the exceptions and the 72(t) calculator works out a series of equal payments. Required minimum distributions are worked out separately for each 403(b) you hold as an employee, but the total can be taken from any one or more of them; inherited 403(b)s cannot be combined with your own. See the RMD calculator.