2027 SIMPLE IRA Contribution Limits

Updated · 2026 figures official · 2027 figures projected until the agency publishes

Projected 2027 SIMPLE IRA and SIMPLE 401(k) elective deferral limits, the SECURE 2.0 higher limit for small employers, and both catch-ups.

The 2027 SIMPLE IRA contribution limit is projected at $17,500, or $19,100 at employers eligible for the SECURE 2.0 higher limit. The age-50+ catch-up is projected at $4,000 ($3,850 at those employers), and the catch-up for ages 60 to 63 is projected at $5,250. The table below has every 2027 figure beside its 2026 value.

For 2026 the SIMPLE IRA limit is $17,000, or $21,000 at age 50 or older with the $4,000 catch-up and $22,250 at ages 60 to 63 with the $5,250 catch-up (IRS Notice 2025-67).

Projected  The agency has not published 2027 yet. Every 2027 figure below is our projection under the statutory formula (CPI-U, Q3-2026 average over each limit's base quarter, per IRC §415(d); +3.50% over Q3 2025), shown so you can plan before the announcement — and replaced here the day the official number lands.

Item20262027Status
SIMPLE elective deferral limitPer employee (standard limit) $17,000 $17,500 Projected
Higher SIMPLE deferral limit (SECURE 2.0 §117 eligible employers)Employers of 25 or fewer, or electing employers of 26–100 with the match/contribution bump $18,100 $19,100 Projected
SIMPLE catch-up, age 50+Per employee aged 50 or over (standard limit) $4,000 $4,000 Projected
Higher SIMPLE catch-up, age 50+ (SECURE 2.0 §117 eligible employers)Per employee aged 50 or over at eligible employers $3,850 $3,850 Projected
Higher SIMPLE catch-up, ages 60–63 (SECURE 2.0 §109)Per employee who attains age 60–63 during the year $5,250 $5,250 Projected

2026 figures as published by IRS Notice 2025-67 — source, retrieved 2026-09-19. Every figure on this page is read from a dataset at build time; none is typed into the page.

What a 2027 SIMPLE IRA contribution saves you in tax

Enter what you would defer pre-tax. The tax engine figures your 2027 federal and state return with and without it. Leave the amount blank for your maximum at your age.

2027 federal tax is the tax engine’s projection of the law as written, its dollar amounts indexed at the September 2025 to August 2026 chained-CPI window (+3.06% year on year) (until the official 2027 brackets replace it); the state line uses each state’s 2026 rules, the latest the state engine has. Your own wages only, no other income, the standard deduction. The cap is the projected 2027 limits (the official 2027 figures are not out yet) shown in the table above, with the age-50 catch-up and, in the years you turn 60 to 63, the higher catch-up.

No Social Security or Medicare tax is saved. An elective deferral “isn’t included in wages subject to income tax at the time contributed. However, it’s included in wages subject to social security and Medicare taxes” (IRS Publication 525) — unlike a health FSA or HSA through a cafeteria plan. A SIMPLE IRA is exempt from the Roth catch-up rule (26 U.S.C. §414(v), subsection (v)(7)(C)). The Saver’s Credit does not cover 2027 retirement contributions: from 2027 it is replaced by the Saver’s Match (26 U.S.C. §6433 (Saver’s Match)), a federal deposit into the account rather than a cut in your tax, which is not modelled here.

State treatment: Pennsylvania taxes employee contributions to any retirement plan as compensation (PA Personal Income Tax Guide: Gross Compensation); New Jersey excludes only 401(k) deferrals and taxes 403(b), 457, Thrift Savings Plan and SIMPLE IRA contributions (NJ Division of Taxation: NJ Income Tax – Wages). Those get no state saving here; every other state is treated as following the federal exclusion, and city or county income taxes are not included. Not modelled: employer contributions, and whether Roth would beat pre-tax for you, which depends on your tax rate in retirement.

Pre-tax now or Roth later? See the Roth Conversion Planner → Every dollar deferred here is taxed when it comes out; the planner works out the years and brackets that happens in.

Found the figure? It is one input among many — see what it does across your whole retirement, free →

Plan your 2026 contributions

Contributions for 2026 are still open: through payroll until 31 December for workplace plans, and until the April 2027 filing deadline for IRAs and HSAs. Free calculators:

Get the official 2027 figures the day the IRS publishes them

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A SIMPLE plan is usually a stepping stone — what it saves now only matters next to what it costs to unwind later. QuantCalc runs your whole retirement — withdrawals, taxes, Medicare surcharges — year by year, on 2026 and 2027 figures.

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Paid tool Deciding between pre-tax contributions now and Roth conversions later is a multi-year bracket problem: every dollar deferred today has to come out later, in a year whose bracket and Medicare surcharge you are also choosing. The Roth Conversion Planner works that schedule: how much to convert in each year from now to your plan end age, the federal and state tax it costs, the IRMAA tier that year’s MAGI sets two years later, and the ACA subsidy it affects — set beside the same years with no conversions at all, and downloadable as a PDF you keep. A planning tool, not advice: the numbers move when your assumptions do. Build my conversion schedule — Personal PRO ($49) → See what is included, and price this year free, first →

How this figure is set

Set under IRC §408(p)(2)(E)(i)(III),(iii)(I). Indexed to CPI-U (CUUR0000SA0), Q3 average. increase rounded down to the next lower $500 Base $10,000, Q3-2004 base quarter, $500 step: $17,500 (IRS Notice 2025-67, retrieved 2026-09-19) (CPI-U: BLS series CUUR0000SA0)

Common questions

What is the SIMPLE IRA contribution limit for 2027?

The 2027 SIMPLE IRA elective deferral limit is $17,500 (projected until the agency announces it), up from $17,000 in 2026. Employers eligible for the SECURE 2.0 higher limit have a larger one, shown in the table.

What is the 2027 SIMPLE IRA catch-up limit for age 50 and over?

$4,000 at most employers (projected until the agency announces it); the table shows the amounts at employers with the higher limit and for ages 60 to 63.

Are the 2027 simple ira / simple 401(k) figures final?

No. The agency publishes in the autumn. Until then the 2027 column here is a projection produced by applying the statutory indexing formula — CPI-U (CUUR0000SA0), Q3 average, increase rounded down to the next lower $500 — to the statute's own base-year amount, rounded once, not by growing the rounded 2026 figure; CPI-U amounts use the third-quarter average, and all three Q3-2026 months are published (+3.50% over Q3 2025, BLS CPI-U). It is labelled as a projection on every row, and this page is regenerated from the dataset the day the official figure lands.

When will the official 2027 SIMPLE IRA contribution limits be announced?

The IRS publishes the official 2027 SIMPLE IRA contribution limits in its annual cost-of-living notice for retirement plans. The 2026 figures came in Notice 2025-67, released on November 13, 2025 (IRS news release IR-2025-111). Until then, the 2027 figures on this page are our projection; the published figures replace them here.

What sets these numbers?

They are set under IRC §408(p)(2)(E)(i)(III),(iii)(I). Indexed to CPI-U (CUUR0000SA0), Q3 average. increase rounded down to the next lower $500 The 2026 figures are taken from the agency's own publication (IRS Notice 2025-67, retrieved 2026-09-19).

What changed from 2026?

The table shows both years side by side so the change is readable directly. Where a row says unchanged, that is a statutory result, not an omission.

Related

2027 SEP IRA contribution limits → 2027 IRA contribution limits → 2026 figures: SIMPLE IRA limits (official) →

A SIMPLE plan is usually a stepping stone — what it saves now only matters next to what it costs to unwind later — see the whole picture in the free planner →

Every figure here with its status and source: JSON. QuantCalc is calculation software, not tax advice.