2027 TSP Contribution Limits
Updated · 2026 figures official · 2027 figures projected until the agency publishes
Projected 2027 Thrift Savings Plan elective deferral and catch-up limits, including the SECURE 2.0 higher catch-up for ages 60-63.
The 2027 TSP contribution limit is projected at $25,500 for employee contributions, traditional and Roth combined. At age 50 and older, a catch-up of $8,500 raises it to $34,000; in the years you turn 60 to 63, a higher catch-up of $11,750 raises it to $37,250. The table below has every 2027 figure beside its 2026 value.
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.
| Item | 2026 | 2027 | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 401(k) / 403(b) / TSP elective deferral limitPer employee, all elective deferrals combined | $24,500 | $25,500 | Projected |
| 457(b) deferral limit (state/local government and tax-exempt plans)Per participant | $24,500 | $25,500 | Projected |
| Catch-up contribution, age 50+ (401(k)/403(b)/457/SARSEP)Per employee aged 50 or over by year-end | $8,000 | $8,500 | Projected |
| Higher catch-up, ages 60–63 (SECURE 2.0 §109)Per employee who attains age 60–63 during the year; replaces the age-50 catch-up in those years | $11,250 | $11,750 | Projected |
| Roth catch-up wage threshold (catch-ups must be Roth above it)Prior-year FICA wages: 2025 wages over the 2026 figure make 2026 catch-ups Roth; 2026 wages over the 2027 figure make 2027 catch-ups Roth | $150,000 | $155,000 | 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 TSP 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. If your 2026 Social Security wages from the employer were over $155,000, catch-up contributions must be Roth (the 2027 threshold is our projection; the 2026 rule is in IRS Notice 2025-67; 26 U.S.C. §414(v), subsection (v)(7)), so that part saves no tax now. 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.
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:
- Max 401(k) contribution calculator — your maximum 2026 contribution to a 401(k), 403(b) or TSP at your age, and the total with employer money.
- Catch-up contributions — the extra you can put in at 50 and older, and the higher catch-up at ages 60 to 63.
- Roth IRA calculator — how much you can put in a Roth IRA for 2026 at your income, what it grows to, and Roth versus traditional.
- Monte Carlo retirement calculator — whether your savings and contributions are enough: the success rate and the range of outcomes across simulated markets.
Thanks — you’re on the list. One email, once the official figures are on this page.
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 2026 and 2027 figures.
Run the free tax-aware simulation →How this figure is set
Set under IRC §402(g)(1),(4). Indexed to CPI-U (CUUR0000SA0), Q3 average. increase rounded down to the next lowest $500 Base $15,000 grown by the ratio of the Q3-2026 CPI-U average to the Q3-2005 average; the increase rounds down to a $500 step. With all three Q3-2026 months published the unrounded figure is $25,546, which rounds to $25,500 (IRS Notice 2025-67, retrieved 2026-09-19) (CPI-U: BLS series CUUR0000SA0)
Common questions
What is the TSP contribution limit for 2027?
The 2027 TSP elective deferral limit is $25,500 (projected until the agency announces it), for traditional and Roth TSP contributions combined. It was $24,500 in 2026.
What is the maximum TSP contribution for 2027 with catch-up?
$34,000 for an employee aged 50 or over (projected until the agency announces it): the elective deferral limit plus the age-50+ catch-up. Employees who turn 60 to 63 in 2027 use the higher catch-up instead; the summary at the top of this page gives that total.
Are the 2027 employer plan elective deferrals, catch-up contributions 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 lowest $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 TSP contribution limits be announced?
The IRS publishes the official 2027 TSP 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 §402(g)(1),(4). Indexed to CPI-U (CUUR0000SA0), Q3 average. increase rounded down to the next lowest $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 catch-up contributions (ages 50+ and 60–63) → 2027 401(k) contribution limits → 2027 403(b) contribution limits → 2027 457(b) contribution limits → 2026 figures: TSP limits (official) → 2027 federal pay raise (GS) →
Every figure here with its status and source: JSON. QuantCalc is calculation software, not tax advice.