The US article assumes a table you do not have — one with an age column, an income gate, and a vehicle per row. This is the dated version: every 2026 contribution limit in one table, each row tied to the IRS document that sets it, and beside each US row the vehicle that actually does the work on this side of the border, with its room named.
I have spent 28 years in the Canadian benefits and pension world, and since 2021 I have written the Canadian Vehicle — the RRSP, the TFSA, the pension, and what each actually does here. That is why this page keeps a second column. A US limit without the vehicle that holds it in Canada is half a number, and the room is the number that matters.
The 2026 table, all of it
The dated document for the 2026 retirement limits is IRS Notice 2025-67, issued with the 2026 cost-of-living adjustments on November 13, 2025. The HSA contribution figures come from Rev. Proc. 2025-32 (October 9, 2025), and the high-deductible-plan definition from Rev. Proc. 2025-19 (May 1, 2025). Every figure in the table below is a 2026 number from one of those three documents.
| US vehicle | What it does | 2026 limit, dated | The vehicle on this side of the border, and its room |
|---|---|---|---|
| 401(k) plan | Employer plan. The deferral is pre-tax or designated Roth; it grows tax-deferred and is taxed on withdrawal — or, if Roth, nothing is taxed at the door. | Base $24,500 (up from $23,500 in 2025). Catch-up at 50+: $4,000 — that is the notice’s 401(k) row; the $8,000 figure is the 403(b)/457(b) row, at the bottom of the table. Ages 60–63: +$5,250 on the 401(k) row. Employee maximum $33,750. $72,000 including employer money (IRC 415(c)). — Notice 2025-67 | The RRSP — the deduction now, the tax on withdrawal; it does the same pre-tax work as the 401(k) with no employer inside. 2026 room: 18% of 2025 earned income, capped at $33,810, minus the pension adjustment where a pension is in the picture. The room is the number that matters, and this is the number. |
| IRA, traditional or Roth | Your own account; no employer in it. The traditional IRA takes the deduction now and taxes the growth later; the Roth IRA takes the tax now and leaves the growth and the withdrawal tax-free. The deduction is not the growth — this row holds both ends of the distinction. | $7,500 (up from $7,000). Catch-up at 50+: $1,100. Ages 60–63: +$1,000, fixed and not indexed. Maximum $9,600. The Roth IRA income gate: phase-out $153,000–$168,000 for a single filer, $242,000–$252,000 for a married couple filing jointly. — Notice 2025-67 | The traditional IRA is the RRSP, your own account, no employer. The Roth IRA is the TFSA — 2026 room $7,000, the carry-forward unlimited, no age row at all. |
| Backdoor Roth | A mechanism, not a vehicle: contribute to a traditional IRA inside the room, convert to Roth the same year. It is the named route for the high earner above the Roth IRA income gate. | No separate limit — the $7,500 / $1,100 IRA room above is the limit; the $168,000 single phase-out cap is the gate that makes it the named route. | The US vehicle does not exist here. There is no same-year conversion; the deduction side is the RRSP, the growth side is the TFSA, and you pick the vehicle — not the door. |
| 529 plan | Education vehicle for a named beneficiary: post-secondary costs, and K-12 tuition since the 2017 tax act. | No federal limit. Some state programs cap the per-beneficiary contribution; the amount varies by state program. | Canada’s education vehicle is the RESP, with the Canada Education Savings Grant inside it; Quebec’s RIE holds the grant role for Quebec residents — the education lane keeps the detail. |
| HSA | Health account tied to a high-deductible plan. The triple benefit: deductible contribution, tax-free growth, tax-free qualified-medical withdrawal. | $4,400 self-only / $8,750 family (up from $4,300 / $8,550 in 2025). The 55+ catch-up: $1,000 — the age row no one puts in the mental table. Maximum $5,400 / $9,750. The high-deductible minimum: $1,700 self / $3,400 family. — Rev. Proc. 2025-32 and Rev. Proc. 2025-19 | No single vehicle with the triple benefit. The deduction side is the RRSP, the tax-free side is the TFSA (room $7,000), and the health-specific part — the account that only pays for medical — does not exist here. |
| 403(b) / 457(b) / TSP — SIMPLE alongside | The other plan rows. This is where the $8,000 and $11,250 catch-ups live. SIMPLE runs alongside: $17,000 base, $4,000 at 50+ ($3,850 on the certain applicable plans), $5,250 at 60–63. | $24,500 base; $8,000 at 50+; $11,250 at 60–63; employee maximum $43,750; $72,000 including employer money (IRC 415(c)). — Notice 2025-67 | The group pension plan is the workplace layer on this side of the border — and its room mechanic is the one a Canadian reader must not skip: the pension adjustment. It does not add room. It takes room from the RRSP. |
One note on the 401(k) catch-up, because the two IRS documents disagree by design. The news release that accompanied the notice (IR-2025-111, the same day) carries the catch-up as $8,000 and the 60–63 addition as $11,250 in a combined row covering “401(k), 403(b), profit-sharing plans, etc.” Notice 2025-67 splits that row: the 401(k) plan gets $4,000 and $5,250; the 403(b) and 457(b) row gets $8,000 and $11,250. The notice is the document, and the split — which plan actually gets which catch-up — is worked through in the 401(k) vs. Roth IRA article on this site.
The rows people miss
The base limit is the row everyone has. These are the rows that change the number.
- The 60–63 row. SECURE 2.0 added the higher catch-up for ages 60, 61, 62 and 63. In 2026 it is $11,250 on the 403(b)/457(b) row, $5,250 on the 401(k) row, and a flat $1,000 on the IRA. If the age fits, the row is not optional — it is part of the limit.
- The wage threshold that re-routes the catch-up. If your 2025 wages from an employer exceeded $150,000 — the threshold the notice raised from $145,000 — your 2026 catch-up to that plan must be designated Roth. Above that line the pre-tax catch-up is gone from the plan; the vehicle is the same, the designation is not. (Notice 2025-67.)
- The HSA 55+ row. The $1,000 catch-up for age 55 and over sits inside the HSA limit — $5,400 self-only / $9,750 family in 2026. It is the only age row in the table with no pension behind it.
- The row that does not move. The IRA’s 60–63 addition is $1,000, fixed by SECURE 2.0 and not indexed — it does not move with the inflation table around it. Every other catch-up in the table is indexed; this one is the floor.
- The Saver’s Credit income caps. For the low- and moderate-income contributor, the credit (the Retirement Savings Contributions Credit) is capped at $40,250 single, $60,375 head of household, $80,500 joint in 2026 — the notice’s own row, moved with the same table. (Notice 2025-67.)
- The Canadian row: the pension adjustment. In the US table the room is a fixed annual number with an age column. In Canada the room is 18% of last year’s earned income — and a group pension in the picture reduces it by the pension adjustment, reported on the T4 and carried into the RRSP deduction limit on the notice of assessment. The room is the number that matters, and the PA is the one line in the Canadian column that changes it without the income moving. That is the row a US table will never show, because the US vehicle does not have it.
The 2027 outlook — an outlook, not a fact
Flag it the way the topic says: the table above is fact, dated to the notice. What follows is outlook: projections from the inflation data, carried by secondary sources, ahead of the official document. The IRS released the 2026 figures in its November 13, 2025 notice; the 2027 cost-of-living notice is expected in November 2026. When it lands, this table is updated — and the notice is the document, not the projection.
| Limit | 2026 (the notice) | 2027 projection (secondary, pre-notice) |
|---|---|---|
| 401(k)/403(b) employee base | $24,500 | $25,500 |
| Catch-up, 50+ | $4,000 (401(k) row) / $8,000 (403(b) row) | $8,500 |
| Addition, ages 60–63 | $5,250 / $11,250 | $11,750 |
| IRA | $7,500 (+$1,100 at 50+, +$1,000 at 60–63) | flat: $7,500 (+$1,100) |
| HSA, self-only / family | $4,400 / $8,750 | $4,500 / $9,000 |
| Total including employer money (IRC 415(c)) | $72,000 | $75,000 |
| Roth-only catch-up wage threshold | $150,000 | $155,000 |
The income gates index in the same notice — the Roth IRA phase-out and the traditional-IRA deduction ranges — and the secondary sources project them up; the 2027 figures land with the notice. On the Canadian side the 2026 numbers are in force — the RRSP cap $33,810, the TFSA room $7,000 — and the 2027 TFSA figure is projected at $7,500, not yet announced; the CRA’s announcement is the document when it lands.
Where the limits sit in the bigger plan
The limit is the room — the dated number that decides what may move into the vehicle this year. It is not the decision. The decision is the next one: the vehicle. The 401(k) deferral and the traditional IRA take the deduction now; the Roth takes the tax now and keeps the growth. The deduction is not the growth, and the bracket is the question that picks — which is the whole of the 401(k) vs. Roth IRA article on this site, where the flip is shown at three 2026 incomes. And when the vehicle is funded and the room is spent, the number that has to pay for the retirement is next: the retirement number, with its dated assumptions.
So the table, the rows, and the room, stated for the vehicle that actually exists here: the RRSP holds the deduction, its room 18% of earned income capped at $33,810 and reduced by the pension adjustment; the TFSA holds the growth, its room $7,000 with no age row; and every US limit above it is a number to check against, not a default. The room is the number that matters. This year’s is dated.