For high-earners who are laser-focused on maximizing their retirement savings, sometimes the annual contribution limits enforced by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) can feel like a barrier to saving in the most tax-efficient manner.
For others, it’s all too common to focus on other obligations during your career that years or decades go by without giving high priority to retirement savings.
Regardless of which camp you fall into, catch-up contributions to your retirement accounts can be a game changer for building a nest egg capable of supporting the retirement lifestyle you are dreaming of.
Let’s start with the basics: what are the limits for 2025? These limits are typically announced toward the end of the calendar year, and were just recently made public for 2025.
In 2025, the elective deferral limit is $23,500 for 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and 457 plans. This doesn’t mean you are limited to only save this amount in total, but it does mean that the fully tax-advantaged vehicles specific to retirement savings do have a ceiling. But that’s not the full story if you’re in the later years of your career approaching retirement.
For more than 20 years, the IRS has set an additional contribution limit for Americans over the age of 50 to give them an opportunity for an increased catch-up on their tax-advantaged retirement savings. In 2025, that catch-up contribution amount is $7,500, in addition to the regular limit of $23,500.
Here’s where things get interesting: For the 2025 tax year, the IRS has announced new “super catch-up contributions” for those aged 60-63 to significantly boost what they can save in a tax-advantaged manner.
This new catch-up provision allows eligible plan participants to contribute even more money to their retirement plans, helping them secure a more comfortable future. Let’s dive into the details.
What Are Super Catch-Up Contributions?
Under the SECURE 2.0 Act, the IRS has introduced enhanced catch-up contribution limits specifically for individuals aged 60-63. These contributions are designed to provide a substantial boost to retirement savings during these critical years.
For 2025, the super catch-up contribution limit is set at $11,250, significantly higher than the standard catch-up contribution limit of $7,500 for those aged 50 and older.
Why Are Super Catch-Up Contributions Important?
The introduction of higher catch-up contribution limits allows older workers who may have fallen behind on their retirement savings to make up for lost ground.
By allowing higher contributions, the IRS is providing a valuable opportunity to make up for lost years of retirement savings in a tax-advantaged method. Although these contributions won’t have decades to grow, supercharging your retirement nest egg in the final few years can still make a big impact in your income replacement capabilities.
How Do Super Catch-Up Contributions Work?
Starting in 2025, individuals aged 60-63 can take advantage of the super catch-up contribution limits in their 401(k), 403(b), and governmental 457 plans.
If you fall within the age range and are actively contributing to any of these plan types, you can contribute up to $11,250 in addition to the standard annual deferral limit of $23,500.
Catch-up contributions are made in the same way as your standard elective deferral contributions—via payroll deductions.
When working with our corporate retirement planning clients, we find that most employees break up their limit evenly throughout the full calendar year, but you can also adjust your deferral election at any point throughout the year to have larger amounts go in.
And if you’re inclined to look for loopholes in the IRS language about catch-up contributions, we hate it break it to you, but you can’t double dip. If you are aged 60-63, your catch-up limit is $11,250, not $7,500 for being over age 50 and an additional $11,250 for being 60-63.
Eligibility and Income Ranges for Super Catch-Up Contributions
As stated above, to be eligible for super-catch contributions, you must be aged 60-63 and participate in a retirement plan that offers this feature.
The income ranges for determining eligibility to make deductible contributions to traditional IRAs, contribute to Roth IRAs, and claim the Saver’s Credit have also increased for 2025.
The phase-out rules refer to the gradual reduction of the amount you can contribute or deduct based on your income. Essentially, if your income falls within a certain range, the amount you can contribute or deduct will decrease as your income increases, until it is completely phased out at the upper end of the range.
This means that if your income is below the lower limit of the range, you can make the full contribution or deduction. However, if your income exceeds the upper limit, you cannot make any contributions or deductions.
For example, if you are a single taxpayer covered by a workplace retirement plan, and your income falls within the specified range, the amount you can deduct for your IRA contributions will gradually decrease until it is completely phased out at the upper limit of the range. This ensures that higher-income individuals receive less of a tax benefit compared to those with lower incomes.
Next Steps
Super catch-up contributions can significantly enhance your pretax retirement savings, whether you’re using them to truly catching up on missed growth over the years, or if you’re bringing home a high income today and looking for tax-advantaged ways to leverage your earnings for the future.
Regardless of which bucket you fall into—if you’re reading this article and researching how super catch-up contributions can benefit you, it’s safe to say the health of your overall financial plan is a top priority for you, and you hope to leave no opportunity unturned when it comes to building wealth and securing your future.
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You’ll receive curated results and resources personalized to you that will help maximize your money, extract opportunities you may not be thinking of, and build confidence in your plan.
