2022 401(k) Catch-Up Contribution
The 2022 401(k) Catch-Up Contribution is +$6,500.
Effective 2022-01-01Source: Notice 2021-61 (IRS)Verified 2026-09-01
Compared with 2021
Every figure on this page is unchanged from 2021.
| Item | 2021 | 2022 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catch-up limit, age 50 and over | +$6,500 | +$6,500 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
Who it applies to
Participants in applicable employer plans under section 414(v) who are age 50 or older during the calendar year
What changed this year, and why
The catch-up contribution limit for applicable employer plans (under section 414(v)(2)(B)(i)) for participants aged 50 and over remains at $6,500 for 2022.
Common questions
- What is the catch-up contribution limit for applicable employer plans in 2022?
- For 2022, the catch-up contribution limit for participants aged 50 or over is $6,500. This amount is in addition to the regular elective deferral limit and applies to applicable employer plans under section 414(v)(2)(B)(i), other than SIMPLE plans or SARSEPs.
- Does this catch-up limit apply to SIMPLE plans?
- No. The $6,500 catch-up limit applies to plans other than those described in section 401(k)(11) or section 408(p). A separate, lower catch-up limit applies to SIMPLE plans.
Your plan has to allow it, and you must turn 50 by year end
A 401(k) plan does not have to offer catch-up contributions. The plan document must affirmatively permit them for participants who are age 50 or over at the end of the calendar year. If the plan does not include this provision, workers cannot make catch-up contributions regardless of their age or income. Eligibility is determined by reaching age 50 by December 31 of the year for which the contribution is made. When a plan does permit catch-up contributions, the catch-up contribution limit is $6,500 for 2022. This limit applies in addition to the regular elective deferral limit for the year. However, even in a plan that allows catch-ups, the catch-up contributions a participant can make for a year can't exceed the lesser of the stated catch-up contribution limit or the excess of the participant's compensation over the elective deferrals that aren't catch-up contributions. In other words, your actual pay for the year, minus your regular deferrals, sets a ceiling on how much catch-up you can contribute.
Catch-up contributions. A 401(k) plan can permit par- ticipants who are age 50 or over at the end of the calendar year to also make catch-up contributions. The catch-up contribution limit is $6,500 for 2022 and increases to $7,500 for 2023.
Publication 560 (2022), Retirement Plans for Small Business (SEP, SIMPLE, and Qualified Plans) (IRS)
The catch-up sits outside the overall contribution limit
A defined contribution plan has an overall annual additions limit. For 2022, the annual contributions and other additions (excluding earnings) to a participant's account cannot exceed the lesser of 100% of the participant's compensation or $61,000. This cap applies to the combined total of employer contributions, employee contributions, and forfeitures allocated to the participant's account. However, catch-up contributions (discussed later under Limit on Elective Deferrals) aren't subject to the above limit. This means that when a participant age 50 or over makes catch-up contributions, those amounts are excluded from the $61,000 annual additions cap. The catch-up contributions sit outside the overall limit, allowing older participants to save more without reducing the space available for employer matching or profit-sharing contributions. This special treatment ensures that catch-up contributions do not count against the annual additions limit that applies to all other plan contributions.
1. 100% of the participant's compensation. 2. $61,000 for 2022 ($66,000 for 2023). Catch-up contributions (discussed later under Limit on Elective Deferrals) aren't subject to the above limit.
Publication 560 (2022), Retirement Plans for Small Business (SEP, SIMPLE, and Qualified Plans) (IRS)
Your pay can cap the catch-up below the stated limit
A participant's catch-up contributions for a year can't exceed the lesser of the stated catch-up contribution limit or the excess of the participant's compensation over the elective deferrals that aren't catch-up contributions. This means your actual pay for the year sets a ceiling on how much you can contribute as catch-up. If your compensation after subtracting your regular (non-catch-up) elective deferrals is less than the catch-up contribution limit of $6,500 for 2022, then your catch-up contribution is capped at that lower amount. The catch-up contribution limitation for defined contribution plans other than SIMPLE plans is $6,500 for 2022, but this stated limit is always subject to the compensation cap. In practical terms, you cannot contribute more in catch-up than you have earned in compensation for the year after accounting for your regular deferrals. This rule prevents participants from using catch-up contributions to shelter income they did not actually earn from employment.
A participant's catch-up contributions for a year can't exceed the lesser of the following amounts. • The catch-up contribution limit. • The excess of the participant's compensation over the elective deferrals that aren’t catch-up contributions.
Publication 560 (2022), Retirement Plans for Small Business (SEP, SIMPLE, and Qualified Plans) (IRS)
The plan document itself must enforce the deferral limit
Every retirement plan must include a provision that prevents employees from exceeding the elective deferral limit for the year. Your plan must provide that your employees can't defer more than the limit that applies for a particular year. The basic limit on elective deferrals is $20,500 for 2022. This limit applies to all salary reduction contributions and elective deferrals across all plans in which the employee participates. If, in conjunction with other plans, the deferral limit is exceeded, the difference is included in the employee's gross income. The plan document itself must enforce this limit through administrative controls, payroll system edits, or other mechanisms that prevent excess deferrals from being accepted in the first place. Plan administrators are responsible for monitoring deferrals and ensuring that employees do not exceed the annual limit, whether they work for one employer or multiple employers during the year.
Limit on Elective Deferrals There is a limit on the amount an employee can defer each year under these plans. This limit applies without re- gard to community property laws. Your plan must provide that your employees can't defer more than the limit that applies for a particular year. The basic limit on elective de- ferrals is $20,500 for 2022 and increases to $22,500 for 2023. This limit applies to all salary reduction contribu- tions and elective deferrals. If, in conjunction with other plans, the deferral limit is exceeded, the difference is in- cluded in the employee's gross income.
Publication 560 (2022), Retirement Plans for Small Business (SEP, SIMPLE, and Qualified Plans) (IRS)
What to do when you defer too much across two jobs
If the total of an employee's deferrals is more than the limit for 2022, the employee can have the difference (called an excess deferral) paid out of any of the plans that permit these distributions. The employee must notify the plan by April 15, 2023 (or an earlier date specified in the plan), of the amount to be paid from each plan. The plan must then pay the employee that amount, plus earnings on the amount through the end of 2022, by April 15, 2023. This situation commonly arises when an employee works for two or more employers during the year and makes elective deferrals at each job, causing the combined total to exceed the annual limit. The excess deferral must be distributed by the deadline to avoid double taxation. If the employee takes out the excess deferral by April 15, 2023, it is not reported again by including it in the employee's gross income for 2023, since it was already taxable when deferred.
If the total of an employee's deferrals is more than the limit for 2022, the employee can have the difference (called an excess deferral) paid out of any of the plans that permit these distributions.
Publication 560 (2022), Retirement Plans for Small Business (SEP, SIMPLE, and Qualified Plans) (IRS)
You do not elect a catch-up: your deferrals become one
Nothing on a payroll form is labelled catch-up. A participant makes one election - defer this much of my pay - and what it produces are ordinary elective deferrals until they pass a ceiling: the annual deferral limit, $20,500 for 2022, or the plan's own lower limit where it sets one, or the ADP test limit a plan is held to under the nondiscrimination rules. Whatever runs past whichever of those is reached first is what counts as the catch-up, up to $6,500 for 2022. Two things follow. Someone who defers less than $20,500 across the year never reaches the catch-up at all, however old they are, because there is nothing above the ceiling to reclassify. And someone who does reach it makes no second election to claim it: the reclassification is the plan administrator's arithmetic. The catch-up is the last money in, not the first.
Elective deferrals aren't treated as catch-up contributions for 2022 until they exceed the $20,500 limit ($22,500 limit for 2023), the ADP test limit of section 401(k)(3), or the plan limit (if any).
Publication 560 (2022), Retirement Plans for Small Business (SEP, SIMPLE, and Qualified Plans) (IRS)
How each figure was verified
Each number below was read from a stored copy of the document named beside it, and checked to occur word for word in the quoted sentence. The digest is of that stored text.
Notice 2021-61 (IRS)
- Catch-up limit, age 50 and over
The dollar limitation under section 414(v)(2)(B)(i) for catch-up contributions to an applicable employer plan other than a plan described in section 401(k)(11) or section 408(p) for individuals aged 50 or over remains unchanged at $6,500.