Dollar Almanac

Super Catch-Up Calculator, Ages 60 to 63

Updated

A four-year window that opens quietly, closes for good, and that nobody tells you about at either end.

In the four calendar years you turn 60 through 63, your 401(k) catch-up limit is $11,250 rather than $8,000, and it drops back the year you turn 64 whether or not you used it.

The age you turn during the calendar year, not your age today. Turning 60 in December counts for the whole year.

Plan type

A TSP or a governmental 457(b) follows the first option. The SIMPLE window is real but much smaller.

The catch-up portion only, not your total deferrals.

Used to pace the remaining room. Twenty-six for fortnightly pay, twelve for monthly.

Catch-up limit this year

$11,250.00

Ordinary catch-up at your age
$8,000.00
Extra from the window
$3,250.00
Room left this year
$11,250.00
Per remaining pay period
$937.50
Still ahead in the window
$9,750.00
Deferral ceiling including catch-up
$35,750.00

The window runs for four calendar years and is worth $13,000.00 in total at today's limits. Unused room does not carry forward.

warning: The larger catch-up is available to you this year

It closes for good after the year you turn 63. Unused room does not carry forward from one year to the next.

What this does not cover (4)

info: Age is the age you reach this year

Not your age today. Someone who turns 60 in December qualifies for the whole year, and someone who turns 64 in December has already lost it for that year.

info: Catch-up sits on top of the ordinary limit

It is not part of it. The figures here are the catch-up portion only, and the total ceiling shown includes both.

info: The multi-year figure holds today's limits flat

These limits are indexed and will almost certainly rise, by an amount nobody can know yet. Holding them flat makes the total a floor rather than a forecast.

info: An estimate, not advice

Your plan document governs what it permits, and plans vary in ways no calculator can see. Confirm with your administrator before changing an election.

What this assumes

Assumption set limits 2026

Age reached this year
61
Window
Ages 60 to 63, inclusive
Limits
Notice 2025-67, held flat
Limit year
2026

Limits from Notice 2025-67, read August 19, 2026

How this works

A catch-up contribution is the extra amount anyone aged 50 or over may put into a workplace retirement plan, on top of the ordinary limit. From 2025 there is a second, larger figure for a narrow band of ages, and it is the only part of the contribution rules that gives you something and then takes it back.

Three things about it are easy to get wrong, and each produces a plausible number:

  • It runs on age attained, not age today. The calendar year you turn 60 counts in full, from January, even if your birthday is in December. So does the year you turn 63. The year you turn 64 does not count at all.
  • Nothing carries forward. Each year is used or lost, and the window does not extend to compensate. The year you turn 63 is the last one, and there is no later year to shift the contribution into.
  • SIMPLE plans have their own, smaller figure. It comes from a different subsection, and the two are routinely swapped. Using the 401(k) figure in a SIMPLE plan overstates the room by thousands.

The calculator shows what applies this year, what is left after what you have already contributed, and how to pace the remainder across the pay periods you have left. It also totals what is still ahead of you in the window, because the decision most people are actually making is about the whole span rather than any single year.

That multi-year figure holds today’s limits flat. They are indexed and will almost certainly rise, by an amount nobody knows yet, so the total is a floor rather than a forecast. Projecting it forward on a guessed inflation rate would produce a number that looks far more precise than it could be.

Worked example

Ruth turns 61 this year and contributes to a 401(k). Her catch-up limit is $11,250 rather than the $8,000 that applied at 59, so the window is worth $3,250 to her this year:

$11,250 − $8,000 = $3,250 of extra room.

She has three window years left, counting this one, at ages 61, 62 and 63. Holding today’s limits flat, that is $3,250 × 3 = $9,750 of extra room still ahead of her, out of $13,000 across the full four years. None of it carries forward, so each year is used or lost.

The same age, a different plan

Daniel also turns 61, and contributes to a SIMPLE 401(k). His window is real and much smaller: $5,250 against the $4,000 that applies at 59.

$5,250 − $4,000 = $1,250 of extra room.

Across four years that is $5,000, against Ruth’s $13,000. The two figures come from different subsections of the same statute, and quoting the 401(k) one to a SIMPLE participant overstates their room by $6,000 a year. It is the single most common mistake made about this window, and nothing about the wrong number looks wrong.

What this does not tell you

Whether contributing the maximum is the right call for you, which depends on what else the money would do and on your rate now against your rate in retirement. What your plan document actually permits, which can be lower than the statute allows and varies in ways no calculator can see. Whether your catch-up has to be made as Roth, which is a separate rule with its own threshold and its own trap.

It also assumes your pay periods are evenly spaced and that you can change your election freely. Plans differ on both, and a plan that allows one change a year is a constraint worth knowing before you pace anything.

Sources

References used to explain this page. Listing a publisher is not a claim that they endorse it.

Figures are transcribed from these documents directly. Where a value has not been verified against its source, this page shows no number rather than an estimate.

Questions

Which ages does the larger catch-up apply to?
The calendar years in which you turn 60, 61, 62 and 63. It is four years, and both edges catch people out: the year you turn 60 counts in full even if your birthday is in December, and the year you turn 64 does not count at all even if your birthday is in December. Age on the day you contribute is not what the rule looks at.
Does unused room carry forward to next year?
No. Each year stands alone. Room you do not use in the year you turn 61 is gone, and the window does not extend to make up for it. That is why the year you turn 63 matters more than the others: it is the last chance at the larger figure, and there is no later year to shift it into.
Is this on top of the normal contribution limit?
Yes. Catch-up contributions sit on top of the ordinary elective deferral limit rather than inside it. The figures on this page are the catch-up portion only; the deferral ceiling shown in the results is both added together, which is the number your plan will actually stop you at.
What if I am in a SIMPLE plan?
There is a window for SIMPLE plans too, and it is much smaller. It comes from a different part of the statute, and confusing the two figures is the most common error in this area. Selecting your plan type above gives the right one. A SIMPLE IRA and a SIMPLE 401(k) use the same catch-up figures as each other here, though they differ under other rules.
Do I have to pay this as Roth?
Possibly, and it is a separate rule from this one. If your Social Security wages from this employer last year were above the threshold, catch-up contributions have to be made as Roth rather than pre-tax. That applies to the larger window amount exactly as it applies to the ordinary one. There is a calculator for it linked below.
Will these limits go up?
Almost certainly. They are indexed, and they have risen most years. The multi-year figure here deliberately holds today's limits flat rather than guessing at future increases, so treat it as a floor rather than a forecast. A projection built on invented inflation numbers would look more precise than it could possibly be.
My plan will not let me contribute this much. Why?
Plans may set their own limits below the statutory ones, and some have not updated their systems for the newer window. Your plan document governs what it will accept, whatever the law permits. If the figures here are higher than what payroll will take, that is the question to put to your plan administrator.
Where does what I type go?
Nowhere. The whole calculation runs in your browser. The figures are encoded into the address bar so a scenario can be shared or bookmarked, and nothing is sent anywhere or stored on a server.

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