Excess 401(k) Deferral Correction Calculator 2026

Already over the limit, not future room

Enter your 2026 pre-tax employee elective deferrals from every 401(k) employer. Do not enter employer match. This narrow tool assumes you are under 50 and have no Roth, SIMPLE, SARSEP or other shared-limit deferrals. The 2026 basic limit is $24,500. Use the multiple-plan tool instead when coordinating future contributions across plan types.

Ask for an actual corrective distribution

After finding an excess, contact the administrator and obtain its allocable earnings or loss calculation. The tool does not estimate earnings from an investment return. Enter the actual corrective distribution date: an instruction or request alone does not satisfy the April 15, 2027 deadline. Administrator processing deadlines can be earlier.

Worked correction: $15,000 plus $12,000

Two employers’ deferrals total $27,000, creating a $2,500 excess. Administrator earnings of $100 produce a $2,600 corrective payment. If made on April 15, 2027, the timely principal belongs to the 2026 deferral year and earnings to 2027. With a $100 allocable loss, the modeled payment is $2,400 instead. Keep the plan’s records and information returns for reporting.

Correction date	Deadline classification	Timely earnings year
December 31, 2026	By deadline	2026
April 15, 2027	By deadline	2027
April 16, 2027	Late risk	Do not use timely treatment

Timely versus late reporting

Timely correction separates excess-principal and earnings years. If the excess is not corrected by the deadline, the principal can be taxed again on later distribution; this page flags that risk rather than calculating a final tax bill. Filing extensions do not move the April deadline. Catch-ups, ADP-test corrections, designated Roth tax treatment and IRA excess-contribution excise taxes are different procedures and are not calculated here.

Build an employee-deferral ledger across employers

The first task is to identify the amounts sharing the employee elective-deferral limit. Use the year and employee pre-tax plus designated Roth deferrals from the relevant employer-plan records. Employer matching contributions and other employer contributions are not the same category. Mixing them into the employee total can create a false excess; leaving out a second job can hide a real excess. After-tax employee contributions that are not designated Roth deferrals also need their own classification rather than being assumed to be the same thing.

Suppose two covered employers show $15,000 and $12,000 of employee deferrals. The combined ledger contains $27,000 before any age-based rule or selected-year limit is applied. This does not establish an excess by itself: compare it with the actual limit branch in the tool. It illustrates why a provider screen showing “under our plan limit” is not a complete household-year check. Keep each plan amount and record source so an administrator can trace which contribution you mean.

Do not confuse a correction with an ordinary withdrawal

A correction of excess employee deferrals follows a different administrative process from simply taking money out of a 401(k). Ask the plan about the procedure and its document deadline, and identify the year, excess amount and related earnings it needs to calculate. The correction calculator identifies a potential excess from the inputs and provides a timing reminder; it does not submit a request, authorize a distribution, compute earnings or produce corrected tax forms.

The date displayed by the tool is not a guarantee that a plan can process a request on the last day. A plan may need your records or election earlier. A cash payment received through an ordinary distribution route can have different consequences from a properly designated corrective distribution. Do not assume that the same dollars leaving an account means the excess was correctly resolved. Keep the administrator’s confirmation of what was corrected and for which year.

Separate the limits this tool does not test

The annual additions limit for employee and employer amounts is a separate test from the employee deferral ceiling. A nondiscrimination-test refund is another distinct process, not automatically evidence that an employee exceeded the statutory deferral amount. A governmental 457(b) arrangement also cannot simply be combined with every 401(k) entry using the same category. Use the supported plan scope on this page and verify an unfamiliar plan type before adding it to the ledger.

Age-based catch-up rules can change a covered employee’s permitted amount. The selected year and age branch must match the record you are reviewing; copying last year’s higher-limit result is not evidence that the current year has the same ceiling. This model does not decide highly compensated employee status, mandatory Roth catch-up treatment, plan-specific availability, payroll correction entries, amended return requirements or the additional tax effects of leaving an excess uncorrected.

What to take to the administrator

Prepare the selected-year deferral totals, which plans they came from, the contribution categories, your relevant age, and the potential excess computed. Ask which plan can process a correction, what earnings calculation it uses, what deadline applies to the request, and which tax documents follow. Keep a copy of the record after correction so a later calculator run does not double-count money already returned. If reporting a site issue, provide a made-up two-plan example and source rather than uploading a pay stub or Social Security number.

Explanation maintained by the site operator. Methodology and limitations · Report a calculation issue.

Official sources

Rules checked October 5, 2026. Publication 590-A and Publication 560 use 2025 mechanics; indexed 2026 limits use Notice 2025-67.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does my filing extension move the deadline?

No. For this 2026 excess-deferral correction, the ordinary deadline remains April 15, 2027.

Can the tool calculate investment earnings?

No. Use allocable earnings or loss supplied by the plan administrator.

Is the penalty automatically 6%?

No. IRA excess-contribution excise tax is a different rule. This tool flags 401(k) late-correction double-tax risk.

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