TSP Contribution Limits 2026 — and the G, F, C, S and I Funds
The official 2026 TSP elective deferral limit and both catch-ups — age 50+ and the SECURE 2.0 ages 60-63 higher catch-up.
The 2026 TSP contribution limit is $24,500 in employee elective deferrals. At 50 or older you can add an $8,000 catch-up ($32,500 in total), and in the years you turn 60 to 63 the catch-up is $11,250 instead ($35,750 in total). The IRS has not yet announced the 2027 TSP limits; it publishes them in its annual retirement-plan cost-of-living notice, which for 2026 came on November 13, 2025 (IR-2025-111). Until then the latest official limits are the 2026 figures above.
Official Published by the IRS for tax year 2026 (IRS Notice 2025-67). These are the figures for income earned in 2026, reported on the 2026 return filed in early 2027. Planning for 2027? See the 2027 figures →
| Limit | 2026 |
|---|---|
| TSP employee elective deferral limitAll your elective deferrals to this plan type, pre-tax and Roth combined | $24,500 |
| Catch-up contribution, age 50+Aged 50 or over by December 31 | $8,000 |
| Higher catch-up, ages 60 to 63Replaces the age-50 catch-up in the years you turn 60, 61, 62 or 63 | $11,250 |
| Maximum deferral at 50-59 or 64+Deferral limit plus age-50 catch-up | $32,500 |
| Maximum deferral at 60-63Deferral limit plus the higher catch-up | $35,750 |
The Thrift Savings Plan uses the same §402(g) elective-deferral limit as a 401(k) and a 403(b). Uniformed-service members in a combat zone can also receive tax-exempt pay contributions above this limit, up to the separate §415(c) annual-additions cap.
The TSP funds: G, F, C, S and I
| Fund | Invests in | Index tracked | 2025 expense ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| G Fund | Government securities | None: preserve capital and earn more than short-term U.S. Treasury securities | 0.034% |
| F Fund | Fixed income (bonds) | Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index | 0.035% |
| C Fund | Large U.S. companies | S&P 500 Index | 0.035% |
| S Fund | Small and mid-size U.S. companies not in the S&P 500 | Dow Jones U.S. Completion Total Stock Market Index | 0.051% |
| I Fund | International stocks | MSCI ACWI IMI ex USA ex China ex Hong Kong Index | 0.048% |
The S Fund tracks the Dow Jones U.S. Completion Total Stock Market Index — the U.S. companies not in the S&P 500 — so the C and S Funds together cover the whole U.S. market without overlap. An expense ratio of 0.035% is 35 cents a year per $1,000 invested. The lifecycle (L) Funds mix these five and have no expenses of their own (TSP: Expenses and fees (2025 expense ratios)).
Your 2026 TSP limit
Employee deferrals only. Your plan must offer catch-ups for you to use them.
What a 2026 TSP contribution saves you in tax
Enter what you would defer pre-tax. The tax engine figures your 2026 federal and state return with and without it. Leave the amount blank for your maximum at your age.
2026 federal and state returns as filed (the Tax Table where the form uses it), from the same tax engine as the federal income tax calculator. Your own wages only, no other income, the standard deduction. The cap is the 2026 limits 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. If your 2025 Social Security wages from the employer were over $150,000, catch-up contributions must be Roth (IRS Notice 2025-67; 26 U.S.C. §414(v), subsection (v)(7)), so that part saves no tax now. The Saver’s Credit (IRS Form 8880) is included: elective deferrals to a 401(k), 403(b), governmental 457(b), SIMPLE or the TSP count, on up to $2,000 per person, assuming you are 18 or older, not a full-time student, not claimed as a dependent and took no retirement distributions in the testing period.
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.
A TSP balance, a FERS pension and Social Security are one retirement: run them together in a tax-aware plan with 10,000 market paths — Personal PRO — Go PRO — $49 once →
The TSP is a 401(k) with a federal paycheck attached — the withdrawal-tax question is exactly the same one. QuantCalc runs your whole retirement — withdrawals, taxes, Medicare surcharges — year by year, on the 2026 figures above.
Run the free tax-aware simulation →Common questions
What is the TSP contribution limit for 2026?
The 2026 TSP contribution limit is $24,500 in employee elective deferrals. At 50 or older you can add an $8,000 catch-up ($32,500 in total), and in the years you turn 60 to 63 the catch-up is $11,250 instead ($35,750 in total). Source: IRS Notice 2025-67.
What is the 2026 catch-up for ages 60 to 63 in a TSP?
$11,250, in place of the $8,000 age-50 catch-up, for anyone who turns 60, 61, 62 or 63 in 2026 (IRS Notice 2025-67). With the $24,500 deferral limit that allows $35,750 of employee contributions.
What are the 2027 TSP limits?
The IRS has not yet published the 2027 TSP limits; until its annual notice comes out (the 2026 figures came in IRS Notice 2025-67), the latest official limit is $24,500, plus $8,000 at age 50 or $11,250 at ages 60 to 63 (IRS retirement plan COLA table). See the 2027 TSP contribution limits, with the status of each 2027 figure marked.
Sources
Every figure on this page is read at build time from QuantCalc’s tax constants, the same ones the planner runs on, and was checked against the text of the documents above. Every figure with its source: JSON. QuantCalc is calculation software, not tax advice.
Related
2026 403(b) contribution limits → 2026 457(b) contribution limits → 2026 401(k) contribution limits → Pension calculation formula: FERS and military →