Super catch-up 60-63 in 2026: who gets it and for how long

Birth year by birth year

The test is the age reached by the end of the year, as for every catch-up, so the month of your birthday does not matter. A person born in December 1966 turns 60 in the last weeks of 2026 and may use the higher amount from the first paycheck in January. Because the provision started in 2025, people born in 1962 had only one year of it (2025) and people born in 1961 or earlier had none: they had turned 63 before it began. Those born in 1963 get two years, 2025 and 2026; people born in 1965 and later get all four.

Back to the standard catch-up at 64

The extra amount is tied to the years you turn 60 through 63, not to "age 60 and over". In the calendar year you turn 64 your catch-up falls back to the regular amount, $8,000 in 2026. Someone born in 1962 turns 64 this year and has a limit of $32,500, $3,250 less than a colleague born a year later. Payroll systems sometimes miss this: if your rate was set to reach $35,750 last year, check that the plan stops you at the right amount, because an excess deferral has to be paid back by April 15 of the next year.

Where the $11,250 comes from

The law sets this tier at the greater of a fixed amount or 150 % of the standard catch-up for 2024. That catch-up was $7,500, which gives $11,250. Indexing for inflation began after 2025, in $500 steps rounded down, and for 2026 the result still rounds to the same figure: $11,250 in 2025, $11,250 in 2026. As the standard catch-up rose to $8,000, the gap between the two tiers narrowed from $3,750 to $3,250. The 2027 amount is not announced yet; the IRS publishes it mid-November 2026. The 2026 figures are in Notice 2025-67.

SIMPLE plans have their own version

In a SIMPLE IRA or SIMPLE 401(k), the age 60 to 63 catch-up is $5,250, against $4,000 for other savers 50 and over in an ordinary SIMPLE and $3,850 in one that uses the higher deferral limit. A 61 year old in an ordinary SIMPLE can therefore defer $22,250 in 2026. The Roth requirement for high earners does not apply to SIMPLE IRAs (SIMPLE IRA limits).

Your plan has to offer it

Catch-up contributions are optional for employers, and the age 60 to 63 tier needed plan changes from payroll providers and recordkeepers. Many plans adopted it for 2025, but some smaller plans, and some 403(b) and 457(b) plans run by local employers, have not. If yours does not offer it, you are limited to the standard $8,000 in that plan, even in the years you qualify. A plan that offers catch-ups generally has to make them available to every eligible participant; it cannot pick and choose among employees. The questions to ask HR are short: does the plan allow the higher catch-up, and does payroll switch to it automatically in the year I turn 60?

The Roth catch-up rule applies to this tier too

From 2026, if your 2025 Social Security wages from the employer that sponsors the plan were above $150,000, the whole catch-up, including the larger $11,250, has to be made as Roth. You still get the same dollar amount; what changes is that it is taxed now instead of later. For a saver in the 24 % bracket the Roth treatment of $11,250 means about $2,700 more federal income tax for 2026. The Roth catch-up page explains the wage test and what happens in a plan with no Roth option.

Making the most of four years

Four years at the higher tier add up. In 2026 alone the extra room is $3,250, and later years will be set each November by the IRS. Saved in a 401(k) at the edge of retirement, those amounts reduce taxable income in years that are often the highest paid of a career, or build Roth money if the Roth rule applies to you. If you are close to retiring, keep in mind that deferrals only come from pay: a person who stops working in mid 2026 can only use the tier on the paychecks received before leaving. The IRA has no equivalent tier: its catch-up is $1,100 at any age from 50 (all catch-up amounts).