HSA contribution limits 2026: your limit, month by month
The HSA limit depends on the kind of coverage you have, on how many months you were eligible and on what your employer already put in. The calculator applies the monthly rule of Publication 969, with the last-month rule as an option.
Your 2026 HSA limit
$4,400
You can still add $4,400 yourself.
| Coverage limit for your months | $4,400 |
| Catch-up at 55 | $0 |
| Employer contributions | $0 |
| HDHP minimum deductible | $1,700 |
Worked out by Radif Partners · How we calculate · limits read on irs.gov · not personal financial advice
For 2026 you can put up to $4,400 in a health savings account with self-only coverage under a high deductible health plan, or $8,750 with family coverage (Rev. Proc. 2025-19), plus $1,000 if you are 55 or older by the end of the year. The plan has to qualify: a deductible of at least $1,700 self-only or $3,400 family, and out-of-pocket costs capped at $8,500 and $17,000. The limit counts every dollar, yours and your employer's, and is earned month by month: someone covered from July 1 has $2,200, unless the last-month rule gives the full $4,400 in exchange for staying eligible through 2027. A family plan all year at 58 allows $9,750; if the employer adds $1,000 to a self-only account, you can add $3,400. Contributions stop once Medicare starts.
The 2026 HSA and HDHP figures
| Item | Self-only coverage | Family coverage |
|---|---|---|
| HSA contribution limit | $4,400 | $8,750 |
| Catch-up, 55 or older | $1,000 | $1,000 per eligible spouse |
| HDHP minimum annual deductible | $1,700 | $3,400 |
| HDHP maximum out-of-pocket | $8,500 | $17,000 |
The out-of-pocket ceiling covers deductibles, copays and coinsurance but not premiums. A plan with a lower deductible, or with a higher out-of-pocket maximum, is not an HDHP, even if the insurer calls it a "health savings plan". Preventive care can be covered before the deductible without breaking the rules. The 2027 amounts are already published: $4,500 and $9,000 (HSA limits 2027).
Who can contribute
Eligibility is tested on the first day of each month (Publication 969). You need to be covered by a qualifying HDHP on that day and to have no other health coverage that pays before the deductible: a general-purpose health FSA of your own or of your spouse, a spouse's low-deductible plan that covers you, or Medicare. Dental, vision, accident and long-term care coverage are allowed, and so is a limited purpose FSA. You also cannot be claimed as a dependent on someone else's return.
The monthly rule
Each month you are eligible on the 1st gives you one twelfth of the yearly limit for the coverage you had that month. Someone who starts an HDHP on July 1 at 40 has six eligible months and $2,200 of room. The catch-up is prorated the same way. If you switch from self-only to family coverage during the year, add the months of each: the engine computes one type at a time, so run it once per period and add the results.
Your limit if you joined the plan during the year
Your 2026 HSA limit
$2,200
| Coverage limit for your months | $2,200 |
| Catch-up at 55 | $0 |
| Employer contributions | $0 |
| HDHP minimum deductible | $1,700 |
The last-month rule and its testing period
If you are eligible on December 1, 2026, you may treat yourself as eligible for the whole year and contribute the full amount: $4,400 instead of $2,200 for the July case. The price is the testing period: you must stay eligible from December 1, 2026 through December 31, 2027. If you drop the HDHP, take a job with a regular health plan or enroll in Medicare before then, the extra amount you put in thanks to the rule is added to your income for the year you lose eligibility, plus an additional tax of 10 %. Death or disability ends the testing period without that cost.
Employer money counts
Unlike a 401(k), an HSA has one limit for everybody's money. Employer contributions, including pre-tax amounts you elect through a cafeteria plan, use the same $4,400 or $8,750. If your employer deposits $1,000 into a self-only account, you have $3,400 left. Payroll contributions also avoid FICA tax, which a deposit you deduct on your return does not; the limit is the same either way.
What is left after your employer’s deposit
Your 2026 HSA limit
$8,750
| Coverage limit for your months | $8,750 |
| Catch-up at 55 | $0 |
| Employer contributions | $1,500 |
| HDHP minimum deductible | $3,400 |
Age 55 and Medicare
The $1,000 catch-up applies from the year you turn 55, so for 2026 to anyone born in 1971 or earlier, and it is not reduced for a person who turns 55 in December. It ends with Medicare. From the first month you are enrolled in Medicare, Part A included, you cannot contribute at all, even though the money already in the HSA stays yours and can pay medical costs. A 65-year-old whose Medicare starts on June 1, 2026 has five eligible months and a limit of $2,250. Watch the retroactive start: Part A taken after 65 can be backdated up to six months, which can turn earlier contributions into excess contributions.
Married couples with family coverage
If either spouse has family HDHP coverage, both are treated as having family coverage, and they share a single family limit of $8,750. They can split it as they agree, half each by default. HSAs are individual accounts, so each spouse who is 55 or older puts his or her own catch-up into his or her own HSA. A couple aged 57 and 52 splitting evenly can contribute $5,375 and $4,375, $9,750 in all. If only one spouse is eligible, only that spouse has an HSA limit.
Deadline and excess contributions
Contributions for 2026 can be made until April 15, 2027. Anything above your limit is an excess contribution, taxed at 6 % for each year it stays in the account unless you withdraw it, with its earnings, by the due date of the return. Employer excesses are your problem too: check box 12, code W, of your W-2. Some pages still show last year's lower figures under a 2026 heading; the amounts on this page are the ones set by Rev. Proc. 2025-19.