Roth Catch-Up Impact
Calculator 2026
Earned over $150,000 last year? From January 1, 2026 your 401(k) catch-up contributions must be Roth — see exactly what that costs now and saves later.
Do I have to make my 401(k) catch-up contributions Roth in 2026?
Yes — if you are 50 or older and your 2025 Social Security (FICA) wages from your current employer exceeded $150,000, all $8,000 of your 2026 catch-up ($11,250 at ages 60-63) must be Roth. At $150,000 or below, nothing changes — you keep the pre-tax choice. The rule is SECURE 2.0 §603, enforced from January 1, 2026 after the IRS transition period, and if your plan offers no Roth option, affected employees get no catch-up at all.
Last updated: July 2026 · IRS final regulations, September 15, 2025
Sources: SECURE 2.0 §603 (IRC §414(v)(7)) · IRS Notices 2023-62 & 2025-67 · 2026 limits: $24,500 deferral · $8,000 catch-up · $11,250 super catch-up (60–63) · $1,100 IRA catch-up
📋 Educational tool only. Not financial, tax, or investment advice. Consult a qualified tax professional or financial planner for personalised guidance.
Standard $8,000 catch-up at 55. The $11,250 super catch-up kicks in at 60-63 — your projection includes it.
⚠ AFFECTED — prior-year wages exceed $150,000: all 2026 catch-ups must be Roth
Tested per employer against LAST year's Social Security wages. Self-employed/partners with no FICA wages and first-year hires at a new employer are exempt.
The calculator contributes the applicable catch-up every year until then — including 4 super catch-up years at $11,250.
Default 7% nominal (conservative). S&P 500 long-run nominal average ≈ 10%.
2026 catch-up that must be Roth
$8,000
standard catch-up, age 50+
Extra tax in 2026
$1,920
$8,000 × 24% current rate
Roth bucket in 10 yrs
$134,789
$93,000 in + $41,789 growth
Tax avoided at retirement
$29,654
$134,789 × 22% — never owed on Roth
Extra tax paid NOW (Roth mandate)
$22,320
$93,000 of catch-ups over 10 years × 24% current marginal rate. Pre-tax catch-ups would have deducted this from your taxable income; Roth catch-ups do not — this is the up-front cost of the mandate.
This year alone: $8,000 × 24% = $1,920
Tax saved LATER (never taxed)
$29,654
Your projected $134,789 Roth bucket is withdrawn 100% tax-free. The same dollars in a pre-tax account would owe $134,789 × 22% = $29,654 at your expected retirement rate — and face RMDs from age 73/75.
Roth 401(k) accounts have no lifetime RMDs (SECURE 2.0 §325, since 2024).
Net verdict: a real cost for you — about $2,696 at retirement
Your expected retirement rate (22%) is below today's (24%), so prepaying tax at 24% to avoid tax at 22% loses money: had the prepaid tax been invested at the same 7% return it would reach $32,349, versus $29,654 of tax avoided — a gap of $2,696 (projected balance × rate difference). Softeners: tax-free growth hedges future rate rises, and Roth balances have no RMDs.
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Roth bucket in 10 yrs
$134,789
Extra tax in 2026
$1,920
Extra tax paid now
$22,320
Tax avoided at retirement
$29,654
⚠ No Roth option in your plan = NO catch-up at all
The law does not force your employer to add a Roth feature — but if the plan has none, affected high earners cannot make ANY catch-up contribution in 2026: your ceiling drops to the $24,500 deferral limit and you lose $8,000 of annual tax-advantaged space. Check your plan today, and if there is no designated Roth source, ask your employer — it is a routine plan amendment.
The $150,000 cliff
The test is all-or-nothing on prior-year FICA wages: at $149,999 of 2025 Social Security wages the rule does not apply and every catch-up dollar can stay pre-tax; at $150,001 all of it must be Roth. There is no phase-in. Near the line, year-end items that hit Box 3 — bonuses, exercised options, deferral timing — can flip your entire next-year catch-up between pre-tax and Roth. The threshold is indexed, so 2027 will use a higher figure against 2026 wages.
Year-by-year growth of the Roth catch-up bucket
| Year | Age | Catch-up (Roth) | Growth | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 55 | $8,000 | $560 | $8,560 |
| 2027 | 56 | $8,000 | $1,159 | $17,719 |
| 2028 | 57 | $8,000 | $1,800 | $27,520 |
| 2029 | 58 | $8,000 | $2,486 | $38,006 |
| 2030 | 59 | $8,000 | $3,220 | $49,226 |
| 2031 | 60★ super | $11,250 | $4,233 | $64,710 |
| 2032 | 61★ super | $11,250 | $5,317 | $81,277 |
| 2033 | 62★ super | $11,250 | $6,477 | $99,004 |
| 2034 | 63★ super | $11,250 | $7,718 | $117,971 |
| 2035 | 64 | $8,000 | $8,818 | $134,789 |
★ Ages 60-63 use the $11,250 super catch-up (SECURE 2.0 §109); all other years use the $8,000 standard catch-up. 2026 limits held constant — both are indexed in law, so real future limits will be higher.
Assumptions in this projection
- • The full applicable catch-up ($8,000, or $11,250 at ages 60-63) is contributed at the start of each year from 2026 until retirement, on top of regular deferrals (the $24,500 limit is not modeled here — catch-ups sit above it).
- • Returns compound annually at a constant nominal rate with no volatility; real returns vary year to year. Plan fees are not modeled.
- • 2026 dollar limits and the $150,000 wage threshold are held constant. In law all three are indexed for inflation, so future limits and thresholds will be higher, and your affected/not-affected status is re-tested every year against the prior year's wages.
- • "Extra tax now" = contributions × current marginal rate (the deduction a pre-tax catch-up would have produced). "Tax avoided later" = projected balance × expected retirement marginal rate. The net verdict assumes prepaid tax would otherwise have been invested at the same return, which simplifies to balance × (retirement rate − current rate).
- • Marginal rates are federal only — state income tax, NIIT, IRMAA surcharges and Social Security taxation effects are excluded; qualified Roth withdrawals assume the 5-year rule and age 59½ are met.
Roth catch-up vs pre-tax catch-up in 2026
| Feature | Roth catch-up (mandated over $150K) | Pre-tax catch-up (under $150K only) |
|---|---|---|
| Who can use it in 2026 | Everyone 50+ whose plan offers Roth; MANDATORY if prior-year FICA wages > $150,000 | Only savers 50+ whose prior-year FICA wages from that employer were $150,000 or less |
| Tax on contribution | Taxed now at your current marginal rate (e.g., $8,000 × 32% = $2,560) | Deducted now — reduces this year's taxable income dollar-for-dollar |
| Tax on growth | None — qualified growth is never taxed | Deferred — taxed as ordinary income at withdrawal |
| Tax on withdrawal | Qualified withdrawals (59½ + 5-year rule) are 100% tax-free | Entire balance taxed as ordinary income at your retirement marginal rate |
| RMDs | None during your lifetime — designated Roth RMDs eliminated from 2024 (SECURE 2.0 §325) | Required minimum distributions from age 73 (75 for those born 1960+) |
| 2026 amounts | $8,000 standard / $11,250 super (60-63) — on top of the $24,500 deferral limit | Same limits — the mandate changes tax character, not the dollar caps |
| Break-even | Wins if your retirement marginal rate ≥ today's rate; also hedges future rate rises | Wins if your retirement rate is well below today's (classic high-earner assumption) |
| If plan has no Roth option | Not available — and the law then forbids ANY catch-up for affected high earners | Still available, but only to those under the wage threshold |
| IRA catch-up ($1,100) | Outside this rule — IRA catch-ups are never forced to Roth | Outside this rule — traditional IRA catch-up still allowed (deductibility limits apply) |
Who is affected: the two-part test
You are subject to mandatory Roth catch-ups in 2026 only if BOTH are true: (1) you are 50 or older and making catch-up contributions to a 401(k), 403(b) or governmental 457(b), and (2) your Social Security (FICA) wages from the employer sponsoring that plan exceeded $150,000 in 2025 — the figure in Box 3 of your 2025 W-2, per the final regulations issued September 15, 2025 (explicitly not Box 5 Medicare wages). The test is per employer and always looks one year back, so a job-switcher has $0 prior-year wages at the new employer and escapes the mandate for their first year. People with no FICA wages at all are exempt regardless of income: self-employed individuals and partners whose earnings are self-employment income, and state or local government employees whose positions sit outside Social Security. Regular deferrals up to $24,500 keep their pre-tax option for everyone. Source: IRS final regulations (Sept 15, 2025); irs.gov newsroom.
The no-Roth-option trap
The sharpest edge of §603 is what happens when a plan simply has no designated Roth account. The law does not require employers to add one — it only requires that affected high earners' catch-ups, if made, be Roth. In a plan without Roth there is no compliant destination for those dollars, so the affected participant loses the catch-up entirely: their 2026 ceiling is the $24,500 deferral limit, forfeiting $8,000-$11,250 of annual tax-advantaged space — over $112,000 of contributions across a 50-to-64 career even before growth. Most large plans added Roth ahead of the deadline, but smaller-employer plans lag. The fix is administrative, not legislative: a plan amendment adding a designated Roth source. If you are 50+ and earned over $150,000 in 2025, confirm your plan's Roth status now and ask your employer to amend if it is missing — payroll needs lead time before the deferral election takes effect. Source: IRS final regulations (Sept 15, 2025); Fidelity plan-sponsor FAQ (2025).
How it interacts with the 60-63 super catch-up
Two SECURE 2.0 provisions collide at ages 60-63. Section 109 raises the catch-up limit in those four years to the greater of $10,000 or 150% of the standard catch-up — $11,250 for 2026, versus $8,000 at ages 50-59 and 64-plus. Section 603 then dictates the tax character: if your prior-year FICA wages topped $150,000, the entire super catch-up must be Roth too — there is no carve-out. The combination front-loads tax exactly when contributions peak: a 61-year-old in the 35% bracket making the full $11,250 pays about $3,938 more current-year tax than the old pre-tax treatment, but banks the largest possible tax-free bucket in the final stretch before retirement. Note the cliff at 64: the limit falls back to $8,000, so the 60-63 window is a use-it-or-lose-it maximum. This calculator switches limits automatically by age in every projection year. Source: SECURE 2.0 §109 and §603; IRS Notice 2025-67 (2026 limits); Schwab catch-up guide (2025).
The Roth-vs-pre-tax math, honestly
Strip away the noise and one comparison decides everything: your marginal tax rate today versus in retirement. Contribute $8,000 Roth and you forgo an $8,000 deduction — at a 32% rate, $2,560 of extra tax now. Contribute $8,000 pre-tax and the identical investment produces the identical balance, but every withdrawal is taxed at your retirement rate. If the prepaid tax would otherwise have been invested at the same return, the net Roth advantage at retirement equals the projected balance times (retirement rate minus current rate): rates equal, dead even; retirement rate higher, Roth wins; lower, Roth loses — which is why the mandate genuinely costs peak-earning-years savers who expect to drop from 37% to 22%. Roth still carries unpriced perks: tax-free compounding hedges future rate increases, designated Roth accounts have had no lifetime RMDs since 2024 (SECURE 2.0 §325), and tax-free withdrawals do not inflate provisional income for Social Security taxation or IRMAA. Educational math, not advice. Source: standard Roth equivalence math; IRS final regulations (Sept 15, 2025).
What the rule does NOT touch
The mandate is narrower than headlines suggest. It does not touch regular deferrals — the first $24,500 you defer in 2026 can stay fully pre-tax at any income. It does not touch IRAs — the $1,100 IRA catch-up is outside §603 entirely, because IRA catch-ups are not employer-plan catch-ups (traditional IRA deductibility and Roth IRA income phase-outs apply on their own terms, as always). It does not touch anyone at or below $150,000 of prior-year FICA wages, the self-employed and partners without FICA wages, first-year employees, or non-governmental 457(b) plans. And it does not cap what you can save — the dollar limits are unchanged; only the tax character of catch-up dollars flips for those above the threshold. Timing matters too: final regulations apply in full for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2027, with 2026 governed by a reasonable, good-faith compliance standard — but the Roth requirement itself is live from January 1, 2026. Source: IRS final regulations (Sept 15, 2025); IRS Notice 2025-67.
2026 quick reference: 401(k)/403(b)/457(b) deferral limit $24,500 · standard catch-up (50+) $8,000 · super catch-up (60-63) $11,250 · IRA catch-up $1,100 (never forced to Roth) · Roth-mandate wage threshold $150,000 of 2025 FICA wages. Source: IRS Notice 2025-67.
Last reviewed 10 October 2026 by the Richify AI agent team.
Reviewed by Felix, Richify's AI CFO — an AI author, presented as one.
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SECURE 2.0 Act §603 (IRC §414(v)(7)) rewires catch-up contributions for high earners starting January 1, 2026, after the IRS two-year transition period (Notice 2023-62) and final regulations issued September 15, 2025:
- The $150,000 prior-year wage test — if your Social Security (FICA) wages from your employer exceeded $150,000 in 2025 (W-2 Box 3; threshold indexed from the statutory $145,000), every catch-up dollar you contribute in 2026 to a 401(k), 403(b) or governmental 457(b) must be designated Roth. At $149,999 or below, nothing changes — you keep the pre-tax choice.
- All catch-ups, including the super catch-up — the mandate covers the $8,000 standard catch-up (age 50+) and the $11,250 super catch-up (ages 60-63). Regular deferrals up to $24,500 are unaffected, and IRA catch-ups ($1,100) are outside the rule entirely.
- No Roth option = no catch-up — plans are not required to add a Roth feature. If yours has none, affected employees simply lose the catch-up: their ceiling drops to the $24,500 deferral limit.
- Exemptions — no prior-year FICA wages from that employer means no mandate: self-employed individuals and partners with only self-employment income, certain government employees outside Social Security, and anyone in their first year with a new employer.
The calculator contributes the applicable catch-up each year until retirement, compounds the Roth bucket at your chosen return, and compares the extra tax paid now (contributions × current marginal rate) against the tax avoided at retirement (projected balance × expected retirement rate). Because a dollar of prepaid tax invested alongside would grow at the same rate, the net verdict simplifies to the projected balance times the rate difference — a win whenever your retirement rate is at or above today's. Source: IRS final regulations (Sept 15, 2025); IRS Notice 2025-67; irs.gov newsroom.
How to use this calculator
- Set your age (50-75). Catch-up contributions require age 50+; in any year you are 60-63 the calculator automatically applies the $11,250 super catch-up instead of the $8,000 standard amount (2026 limits, IRS Notice 2025-67).
- Enter your 2025 Social Security (FICA) wages from the employer sponsoring your plan — W-2 Box 3. The badge shows whether the mandatory Roth rule applies to you in 2026: it does only if those prior-year wages exceeded $150,000.
- Pick your current marginal federal tax rate (22-37%) and the marginal rate you expect in retirement (10-32%). The gap between these two rates decides whether mandatory Roth is a net win or a net cost.
- Set years until retirement and an expected annual return (default 7% nominal). The calculator contributes the applicable catch-up every year until retirement and compounds the Roth bucket annually.
- Read the results: the amount forced into Roth, the extra tax you pay now, the tax you avoid at retirement on the projected balance, the net verdict, and the year-by-year growth table. Then check the no-Roth-option and $150K-cliff callouts below.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Who does the mandatory Roth catch-up apply to?
The rule (IRC §414(v)(7), added by SECURE 2.0 Act §603) applies to participants in 401(k), 403(b) and governmental 457(b) plans who are age 50 or older AND whose Social Security (FICA) wages from the employer sponsoring the plan exceeded $150,000 in the PRIOR calendar year — 2025 wages, W-2 Box 3, for catch-ups made in 2026. The $150,000 figure is indexed for inflation (the statutory base was $145,000).
If both tests are met, every dollar of catch-up contribution — the $8,000 standard amount and the $11,250 super catch-up at ages 60-63 — must go in as designated Roth, meaning after-tax money with tax-free qualified withdrawals. Regular deferrals up to the $24,500 limit are untouched and can stay pre-tax.
The rule was statutorily effective in 2024, but IRS Notice 2023-62 created a two-year administrative transition period, so enforcement begins January 1, 2026; final regulations were issued September 15, 2025, with 2026 as a good-faith compliance year. Source: IRS final regulations, September 2025; irs.gov newsroom.
What if my plan has no Roth option?
Then affected high earners get no catch-up contributions at all — not pre-tax, not Roth, nothing. SECURE 2.0 §603 does not force employers to add a Roth feature; it only says that if a participant crossed the $150,000 prior-year wage threshold, their catch-ups MUST be Roth.
A plan with no designated Roth account has no compliant way to accept those dollars, so the affected participant's contribution ceiling drops to the regular $24,500 deferral limit for 2026 — a loss of $8,000 (or $11,250 at ages 60-63) of annual tax-advantaged space. Most large plans added Roth ahead of the 2026 deadline (Fidelity and Vanguard both reported the large majority of their plans offer Roth), but smaller plans lag.
If yours has no Roth option, ask your employer or plan administrator now — adding a designated Roth source is a routine plan amendment, and every year without it costs affected employees five figures of sheltered savings. Under the final regulations, plans that keep catch-ups for lower earners generally must offer affected high earners the Roth route or none.
Source: IRS final regulations, September 2025; Fidelity plan-sponsor FAQ, 2025.
Does the $150,000 test use this year's or last year's wages?
Last year's. Whether your 2026 catch-up contributions must be Roth depends on your 2025 Social Security (FICA) wages — as defined in IRC §3121(a) and reported in Box 3 of your 2025 W-2 — from the employer that sponsors the plan.
Your 2026 pay is irrelevant for 2026; it will matter for 2027 (against an inflation-indexed threshold). Three consequences follow.
First, the test is knowable on January 1: you and your payroll department already know your 2025 Box 3 number. Second, wages are counted per-employer, not aggregated — if you switched jobs and earned $200,000 at your old employer in 2025, you have $0 of prior-year FICA wages from your NEW employer, so the mandate does not apply to you in 2026 in the new employer's plan.
Third, people with no FICA wages at all — self-employed individuals and partners with only self-employment income, and some state and local government employees outside Social Security — are exempt regardless of income, because the final regulations confirmed the test uses Social Security wages, not Medicare wages or total compensation. Source: IRS final regulations, September 2025.
Does it apply to the super catch-up for ages 60-63?
Yes. The mandatory Roth rule covers ALL catch-up contributions to an employer plan, including the enhanced 'super' catch-up that SECURE 2.0 §109 created for participants who are 60, 61, 62 or 63 at the end of the year.
For 2026 the super catch-up is $11,250 — the greater of $10,000 or 150% of the standard catch-up, indexed — versus the $8,000 standard amount at ages 50-59 and 64+. That makes the Roth mandate bite hardest exactly in the 60-63 window: an affected saver in the 35% bracket making the full $11,250 super catch-up pays about $3,938 more tax in that year than a pre-tax catch-up would have cost, versus about $2,800 on a standard $8,000 catch-up.
Note the age quirk: at 64 the limit drops back to $8,000. The two provisions are independent — the super catch-up is available to everyone 60-63 whose plan allows catch-ups; the Roth mandate only controls the tax character for those over the $150,000 prior-year wage threshold.
Source: IRS Notice 2025-67 (2026 limits); IRS final regulations, September 2025; Schwab catch-up contribution guide, 2025.
Does it apply to IRA catch-up contributions?
No. SECURE 2.0 §603 amends the rules for employer-sponsored plans only — 401(k), 403(b) and governmental 457(b). The IRA catch-up ($1,100 in 2026 for savers 50+, on top of the $7,500 IRA limit) is a different provision and is completely untouched: a high earner subject to mandatory Roth catch-ups at work can still make a traditional IRA catch-up contribution.
Two separate caveats apply on the IRA side, though, and both pre-date this rule. First, traditional IRA deductibility phases out for active plan participants above income limits, so a $150,000+ earner covered by a 401(k) usually cannot deduct traditional IRA contributions anyway.
Second, direct Roth IRA contributions have their own income phase-out (which is why the backdoor Roth exists). So in practice the IRA catch-up is rarely a pre-tax escape hatch for someone hit by the workplace Roth mandate — but the mandate itself simply does not reach IRAs.
Source: IRC §414(v)(7); IRS Notice 2025-67; IRS Publication 590-A rules.
Is mandatory Roth catch-up actually bad for me?
It depends almost entirely on your marginal tax rate now versus in retirement — and for many people it is neutral-to-good. The mechanics: a Roth catch-up costs you extra tax today equal to the contribution times your current marginal rate (e.g., $8,000 × 32% = $2,560), but the entire bucket — contributions plus decades of growth — comes out tax-free, and Roth accounts in employer plans have no lifetime required minimum distributions (RMDs on designated Roth accounts were eliminated from 2024 by SECURE 2.0 §325).
If your retirement marginal rate ends up equal to or higher than today's rate, the mandate is a mathematical win: you prepaid tax at a rate no worse than the one you avoided, and had the tax been invested alongside, the net advantage at retirement is roughly the projected balance times the rate difference. If you expect a much lower rate in retirement — say 37% now, 22% then — the mandate is a real cost, quantified by this calculator.
The genuinely bad outcomes are the edge cases: no Roth option in your plan (no catch-up at all) and cash-flow strain from the lost current-year deduction. Educational math, not advice.
Source: IRS final regulations, September 2025; standard Roth-vs-pre-tax equivalence math.
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