{"id":220936,"date":"2025-10-13T07:01:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T07:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/220936\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T07:01:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T07:01:09","slug":"some-americans-will-lose-popular-401k-tax-break-in-major-retirement-rule-change-starting-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/220936\/","title":{"rendered":"Some Americans will lose popular 401(k) tax break in major retirement rule change starting 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/irs-foxbiz-getty1.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-v-7d0efd03=\"\"\/> article <\/p>\n<p data-v-7d0efd03=\"\">The IRS&#8217; new regulations change 401(k) catch-up contributions for high earners starting in 2026. (J. David Ake\/Getty Images \/ Getty Images) <\/p>\n<p data-v-6fc2855c=\"\">A popular tax break for workers nearing retirement age to make extra catch-up contributions is changing next year, which will limit access to some high earners.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6fc2855c=\"\">The IRS issued new regulations last month to implement a provision of a 2022 law known as the SECURE 2.0 Act, which requires that high earners who earned $145,000 or more in gross income as an individual the prior year make\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/category\/401k\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">401(k) catch-up contributions<\/a> to after-tax Roth accounts starting with the 2026 tax year.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6fc2855c=\"\">Under the rules that will remain in effect through the 2025 tax year, workers aged 50 and up were eligible to make their 401(k) catch-up contributions to either a before-tax traditional account or an\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/category\/taxes?page=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">after-tax Roth<\/a> account, depending on their preference and what their retirement plan allows.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6fc2855c=\"\">Making catch-up contributions on a before-tax basis allowed workers to receive an upfront tax break by using a deduction to reduce their taxable income \u2014 but the change means that high earners over the income threshold won&#8217;t have that option starting in the 2026 tax year.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6fc2855c=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/economy\/trumps-401k-expansion-order-what-new-investment-options-available\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">TRUMP&#8217;S 401(K) EXPANSION ORDER: WHAT NEW INVESTMENT OPTIONS WILL BE AVAILABLE?<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-v-6fc2855c=\"\">Catch-up contributions are made in addition to normal\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/category\/retire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">contributions to 401(k) accounts<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-6fc2855c=\"\">In 2025, eligible workers over the age of 50 can make an extra $7,500 in contributions to their 401(k) in catch-up contributions in addition to the standard contribution limit of $23,500 for workers under 50.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-6fc2855c=\"\">There&#8217;s also a higher limit for workers between the ages of 60 and 63, who can make up to $11,250 in catch-up contributions in 2025.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6fc2855c=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/politics\/key-gop-lawmakers-back-trumps-executive-order-crypto-other-alternative-assets-401k-plans\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">KEY GOP LAWMAKERS BACK TRUMP&#8217;S EXECUTIVE ORDER FOR CRYPTO, OTHER ALTERNATIVE ASSETS IN 401(K) PLANS<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-v-6fc2855c=\"\">Workers whose employer-sponsored retirement plans don&#8217;t currently have Roth 401(k) options may be unable to make catch-up contributions until one becomes available.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-6fc2855c=\"\">The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/personal-finance\/retirement\/high-earners-age-50-and-older-are-about-to-lose-a-major-401-k-tax-break-75572091?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=ASWzDAjZ_Dz59wpeMuBsbst5ZMyimqfwGr4DcLgXh3Y4fvpd5GMqOpcfNsP972AzCJs%3D&amp;gaa_ts=68e90cec&amp;gaa_sig=6CbqcAL0L-QPmIvpKY6J3BSVLLQMkAq95bDlOEzqyYiwpJhyHJl2i4ggkJiUt_Vyl_rS2ofnCVyr_ZHvwOszZQ%3D%3D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Wall Street Journal reported<\/a> that employers have been adding Roth 401(k) options, with Fidelity now including it as an option in 95% of managed plans, up from 73% two years ago, while 86% of Vanguard-managed 401(k) plans offer a Roth.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6fc2855c=\"\">While savers who contribute to traditional 401(k) accounts receive the upfront tax break, they do owe income taxes for future withdrawals.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-6fc2855c=\"\">By contrast, contributions to Roth accounts lack the initial tax break but have\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/category\/savings\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">tax-free growth<\/a> and withdrawals.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6fc2855c=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/economy\/some-americans-lose-popular-401k-tax-break-major-retirement-rule-change-starting-2026\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Read more from FOX Business<\/a><\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox6now.com\/tag\/money\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-6fc2855c=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Money<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox6now.com\/tag\/people\/donald-j-trump\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-6fc2855c=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Donald J. Trump<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox6now.com\/tag\/us\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-6fc2855c=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">U.S.<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"article The IRS&#8217; new regulations change 401(k) catch-up contributions for high earners starting in 2026. (J. David Ake\/Getty&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[28,1072,2066,3,3590,147,530,25],"class_list":["post-220936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-donald-j-trump","tag-money","tag-news","tag-people","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}