If you change jobs before the end of 2026, your 401(k) contribution limit does not restart with the new employer. You must add your elective deferrals—salary placed in traditional or Roth accounts—across both employers and keep the combined amount within your annual limit. The basic 2026 limit is $24,500, according to the Internal Revenue Service's 2026 limits announcement. Your new payroll system may not know how much you contributed at your previous job, so you generally must reconcile the amounts yourself.
Table of Contents
- How much can you contribute at the new job?
- Which workplace plans share the limit?
- How do catch-up contributions change the calculation?
- Do employer contributions reduce your remaining room?
- What should you do after changing employers?
How much can you contribute at the new job?
Start with $24,500 and subtract your 2026 elective deferrals from the former employer's plan. The remainder is the most you can defer through your new employer, unless a catch-up limit applies. Suppose you contributed $15,000 before changing jobs.
You could contribute up to $9,500 through the new employer's plan for the rest of 2026. If you already contributed $24,500, your remaining basic-limit capacity is zero. Combine traditional pre-tax and designated Roth deferrals when doing this calculation. The IRS treats them as parts of one limit, rather than giving each account type its own $24,500 allowance.
Which workplace plans share the limit?
The federal elective-deferral ceiling follows you throughout the calendar year. The IRS says workers must aggregate deferrals across 401(k), 403(b), SIMPLE, and SARSEP plans. Review every 2026 pay statement or plan record that shows employee salary deferrals.
Do not rely only on the balance transferred during a rollover, because the relevant figure is what you deferred from pay during the year. A 457(b) plan is an important exception. Governmental and nongovernmental 457(b) plans generally have a separate limit, allowing an eligible participant to defer up to $24,500 in 2026 without combining that amount with 401(k) or 403(b) deferrals.
How do catch-up contributions change the calculation?
Participants age 50 or older can generally contribute an additional $8,000 in 2026, producing a combined limit of $32,500. For participants ages 60 through 63, the catch-up is $11,250, producing a $35,750 total. A worker covered by plans of unrelated employers must monitor the combined amount personally.
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Amounts above the $24,500 basic ceiling may be treated as catch-up contributions for an eligible worker even if one individual plan does not offer a catch-up feature. Your new plan can still restrict what payroll will accept. A plan may set a lower cap, limit highly compensated employees because of nondiscrimination testing, or prevent contributions above 100% of eligible compensation from that employer.
Do employer contributions reduce your remaining room?
Employer matching and nonelective contributions do not reduce your $24,500 employee deferral limit. Therefore, a $3,000 employer match does not shrink the amount you may contribute from salary. Those employer dollars instead count toward the annual-additions limit, which is generally $72,000 in 2026.
That limit applies across plans maintained by one employer and related employers, rather than automatically combining unrelated employers' plans. When planning contributions at the new job, also examine its matching formula. Spreading your remaining deferrals across available pay periods may matter if the plan calculates matches through payroll, but the plan's own terms control the result.
What should you do after changing employers?
Gather the year-to-date employee deferral total from your final pay statement and compare it with your plan records. Then give the new employer a payroll percentage or dollar election designed not to exceed your remaining room.
Use this checklist: If you exceed the combined limit, notify a plan administrator and request a corrective distribution. The IRS excess-deferral guidance sets April 15, 2027, as the deadline for distributing a 2026 excess; leaving it in the plan can cause taxation when deferred and again when later distributed.
- Add all 2026 pre-tax and designated Roth salary deferrals.
- Include deferrals made through other plans that share the federal limit.
- Subtract the total from $24,500, or from your applicable catch-up total.
- Account for the number and size of paychecks remaining in 2026.
- Recheck the total after bonuses, commissions, or payroll-election changes.
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