What Is the 415(c) Limit? The $72,000 Cap on Total 401(k) Contributions
The 415(c) limit caps the total contributions that can go into your 401(k) account in a year from all sources, meaning your deferrals, employer matching, profit sharing, and after-tax contributions added together. For 2026 it is $72,000, up from $70,000 in 2025, or 100% of your compensation if you earn less than that. Catch-up contributions don’t count against it.
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$72,000
Or 100% of compensation, whichever is less · applies per employer’s plan · catch-up contributions excluded ($80,000 possible at 50+, $83,250 at ages 60–63)
Source: IRC §415(c); IRS Notice 2025-67
What counts toward the 415(c) limit?
The law uses the phrase “annual additions,” which sounds technical but means something simple. It is everything credited to your account for the year except investment growth. Money someone put in counts, and money the market gave you does not.
Four categories make up the total.
- Your elective deferrals, pre-tax and Roth alike. These are the same dollars measured by the 402(g) limit, counted a second time here against a bigger ceiling.
- Employer contributions, meaning both matching money and profit-sharing money.
- After-tax (non-Roth) contributions. These skip the 402(g) limit entirely but count in full here, and that combination is exactly the room the mega backdoor Roth strategy uses.
- Forfeitures allocated to your account. When employees leave before they are fully vested, the employer money they leave behind can be reallocated to the people still in the plan. If some of it lands in your account, it counts.
My 415(c) limit for 2026
| Your elective deferrals, pre-tax and Roth, not counting catch-up | $_______ |
| Employer matching contributions | +$_______ |
| Profit-sharing or other nonelective employer contributions | +$_______ |
| After-tax (non-Roth) contributions, if your plan offers them | +$_______ |
| Forfeitures allocated to your account, if any | +$_______ |
| A. Your total annual additions | $_______ |
| B. Your limit, the lesser of $72,000 or 100% of your pay from this employer | $_______ |
| C. Room left in the plan for this year (B − A) | $_______ |
Leave your catch-up contributions out of line A entirely, because 415(c) ignores them. Rollovers from an old plan, loan repayments, and investment gains also stay out of the calculation. Line C is the space an after-tax contribution could fill, if your plan allows after-tax contributions at all. Most plans do not, so check your summary plan description before you count on that room.
Amounts excluded from the limit
Plenty of money can enter or grow inside your account without ever counting as an annual addition. These four exclusions are the ones that matter most in practice.
- Catch-up contributions. The $8,000 age-50 catch-up, or the $11,250 super catch-up at ages 60–63, sits on top of the $72,000 rather than inside it. That is how a 50-year-old’s account can legally receive $80,000 in 2026.
- Rollovers. Money you move in from a former employer’s plan or from an IRA is not a contribution, so it is not an annual addition. You can roll in $300,000 and still fill the full $72,000 the same year.
- Investment earnings. Growth on your balance never counts against any contribution limit. The caps govern what goes in, not what your money does once it is there.
- Loan repayments. Paying back a plan loan restores your own money to your own account. It is a repayment, not a contribution.
Is the 415(c) limit per person or per employer?
It applies per employer’s plan, and that is the big structural difference from the 402(g) deferral limit, which follows you personally across every plan you touch. If you work for two genuinely unrelated employers, each plan carries its own separate $72,000 limit (IRC §415).
Your own deferrals still share the single $24,500 cap across both jobs, because that limit belongs to you. But employer contributions and after-tax contributions are counted plan by plan, starting over at each employer.
The practical consequence is real money. Someone with two unrelated jobs, or a day job plus a solo 401(k) built on genuine self-employment income, can receive well over $72,000 in total contributions across the two accounts. Filling after-tax room in both plans is how that usually happens.
The 100%-of-compensation cap
The real limit is the lesser of $72,000 or 100% of your compensation from that employer (IRC §415(c)(1)). For most savers the dollar figure is the number that binds, and the compensation half of the test never comes up.
It matters a great deal for part-time, part-year, and lower-wage workers, where the compensation cap bites first. If you earn $30,000 from an employer in 2026, then no more than $30,000 in total annual additions can go into that plan for you, no matter how generous the profit-sharing formula looks on paper.
402(g) vs. 415(c): the key differences
Here are the two limits side by side, since almost every question about one is really a question about how it relates to the other.
| 402(g) | 415(c) | |
|---|---|---|
| What it caps | Your salary deferrals (pre-tax + Roth) | All annual additions: deferrals + employer money + after-tax + forfeitures |
| 2026 amount | $24,500 | $72,000 (or 100% of pay) |
| 2025 amount | $23,500 | $70,000 |
| Applies | Per person, all plans combined | Per employer’s plan |
| Catch-up counts? | No | No |
| If exceeded | Excess deferral; refund by April 15 or double-taxed | Excess annual addition; plan must correct under IRS procedures |
The $47,500 gap between the two 2026 limits is the space employer contributions and after-tax contributions occupy. If your employer contributes modestly and your plan has no after-tax feature, most of that gap will simply go unused, and that is the normal outcome for most people.
| Employee deferrals (402(g) max) | $24,500 |
| Employer match, 5% of pay | +$7,500 |
| Profit-sharing contribution | +$10,000 |
| Subtotal | $42,000 |
| Room left under 415(c) | $30,000, usable for after-tax contributions if the plan allows them |
Exceeding the 415(c) limit
An “excess annual addition” is a plan-compliance failure rather than a personal tax event like an excess deferral. That difference matters emotionally as much as technically. The plan has to fix it, not you, and the fix runs through the IRS Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System, usually shortened to EPCRS.
The usual correction order refunds your unmatched after-tax and elective contributions first, along with the earnings on them. Anything left over in excess employer money typically moves to an unallocated account the plan uses for future contributions. Refunded deferrals become taxable income to you in the year you receive them.
In practice this is rare, because payroll and recordkeeping systems monitor the limit and cut off contributions before an excess can occur. The excesses that do happen usually come from a large year-end profit-sharing allocation or from a mid-year drop in compensation that shrinks the 100%-of-pay ceiling after the fact.
Why the limit rises most years
Section 415(c) is inflation-indexed and adjusted in $1,000 increments, which moved the limit from $70,000 in 2025 to $72,000 in 2026 (IRS Notice 2025-67). The IRS announces each year’s figure in its fall cost-of-living notice, alongside the rest of the 401(k) limits. If you are planning after-tax contributions for the coming year, that notice is the one to watch each November.
Frequently asked questions
What is the 415(c) limit for 2026?
$72,000, up from $70,000 in 2025, or 100% of your compensation from the employer if that is less. Catch-up contributions are excluded from the count, so totals can reach $80,000 at age 50 and older, and $83,250 at ages 60–63. The source is IRS Notice 2025-67.
Does the employer match count toward the $72,000?
Yes. All employer money, both matching and profit sharing, counts as an annual addition under §415(c). None of it counts toward your personal $24,500 deferral limit, which is why a big match never costs you contribution room of your own.
Do catch-up contributions count toward the 415(c) limit?
No. Catch-ups are excluded from annual additions entirely. That is why a 60-year-old’s account can receive the full $72,000 plus an $11,250 super catch-up in 2026.
I have a 401(k) at two jobs. Do I get two 415(c) limits?
If the employers are genuinely unrelated, yes. Each plan carries its own $72,000 limit for 2026, while your own deferrals across both plans still share one $24,500 cap. Employers under common ownership are aggregated and share a single limit.
What’s the difference between the 402(g) limit and the 415(c) limit?
402(g) caps only your salary deferrals at $24,500 in 2026 and follows you across all plans. 415(c) caps everything entering your account from every source at $72,000 in 2026 and applies separately at each unrelated employer.
Does the 415(c) limit include investment gains?
No. Only contributions and allocated forfeitures count. Your account balance can grow far past any limit, because the caps govern what goes in each year rather than what your money earns.
Related reading
- All 401(k) contribution limits for 2026
- The 402(g) deferral limit explained
- After-tax 401(k) contributions and the mega backdoor Roth
Sources: IRC §415 · IRS Notice 2025-67 (2026 limits) · IRS 401(k) Fix-It Guide: §415 excesses