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IRS Announces Higher 2019 Retirement Plan Contribution Limits For 401(k)s And More

By November 1, 2018Uncategorized

Get ready to save more for retirement in 2019! The Treasury Department has announced inflation-adjusted figures for retirement account savings for 2019, and there are a lot of changes that will help savers stuff these accounts.

After six years stuck at $5,500, the amount you can contribute to an Individual Retirement Account is being bumped up to $6,000 for 2019. The amount you can contribute to your 401(k) or similar workplace retirement plan goes up from $18,500 in 2018 to $19,000 in 2019. Catch-up contribution limits if you’re 50 or older in 2019 remain unchanged at $6,000 for workplace plans and $1,000 for IRAs.

That means that many high earners and super-savers age 50-plus can sock away $32,000 in these tax-advantaged accounts. If your employer allows aftertax contributions or you’re self-employed, you can save even more. The overall defined contribution plan limit moves up to $56,000, from $55,000.

Do these limits seem unreachable? During 2017, 13% of employees with retirement plans at work saved the then-statutory maximum of $18,000/$24,000, according to Vanguard’s How America Saves. In plans offering catch-up contributions,14% of those age 50 or older took advantage of the extra savings opportunity.

We outline the numbers below; see IRS Notice 2018-83 for technical guidance.

401(k)s. The annual contribution limit for employees who participate in 401(k), 403(b), most 457 plans, and the federal government’s Thrift Savings Plan, is $19,000 for 2019—a $500 boost over 2018. Note, you can make changes to your 401(k) election at any time during the year, not just during open enrollment season when most employers send you a reminder to update your elections for the next plan year.

The 401(k) Catch-Up. The catch-up contribution limit for employees age 50 or older in these plans stays the same at $6,000 for 2019. Even if you don’t turn 50 until December 31, 2019, you can make the additional $6,000 catch-up contribution for the year.

SEP IRAs and Solo 401(k)s. For the self-employed and small business owners, the amount they can save in a SEP IRA or a solo 401(k) goes up from $55,000 in 2018 to $56,000 in 2019. That’s based on the amount they can contribute as an employer, as a percentage of their salary; the compensation limit used in the savings calculation also goes up from $275,000 in 2018 to $280,000 in 2019.

Aftertax 401(k) contributions. If your employer allows aftertax contributions to your 401(k), you also get the advantage of the $56,000 limit for 2019. It’s an overall cap, including your $19,000 (pretax or Roth) salary deferrals plus any employer contributions (but not catch-up contributions). For how to rollover aftertax 401(k) money into a Roth IRA, see Roth Road To Riches.

The SIMPLE. The limit on SIMPLE retirement accounts goes up from $12,500 in 2018 to $13,000 in 2019. The SIMPLE catch-up limit is still $3,000. Here’s how a SIMPLE works in practice.

Defined Benefit Plans. UPDATE The limitation on the annual benefit of a defined benefit plan goes up from $220,000 in 2018 to $225,000 in 2018. These are powerful pension plans (an individual version of the kind that used to be more common in the corporate world before 401(k)s took over) for high-earning self-employed folks.

Individual Retirement Accounts. The limit on annual contributions to an Individual Retirement Account (pretax or Roth or a combination) is moving up to $6,000 for 2019, up from $5,500. The catch-up contribution limit, which is not subject to inflation adjustments, remains at $1,000. (Remember that 2018 IRA contributions can be made until April 15, 2019.)

Deductible IRA Phase-Outs. You can earn a little more in 2019 and get to deduct your contributions to a traditional pretax IRA. Note, even if you earn too much to get a deduction for contributing to an IRA, you can still contribute; it’s just nondeductible.

In 2019, the deduction for taxpayers making contributions to a traditional IRA is phased out for singles and heads of household who are covered by a workplace retirement plan and have modified adjusted gross incomes (AGI) between $64,000 and $74,000, up from $63,000 and $73,000 in 2018. For married couples filing jointly, in which the spouse who makes the IRA contribution is covered by a workplace retirement plan, the income phase-out range is $103,000 to $123,000 for 2019, up from $101,000 to $121,000.

For an IRA contributor who is not covered by a workplace retirement plan and is married to someone who is covered, the deduction is phased out if the couple’s income is between $193,000 and $203,000 in 2018, up from $189,000 and $199,000 in 2018.

Roth IRA Phase-Outs. The inflation adjustment helps Roth IRA savers too. In 2019, the AGI phase-out range for taxpayers making contributions to a Roth IRA is $193,000 to $203,000 for married couples filing jointly, up from $189,000 to $199,000 in 2018. For singles and heads of household, the income phase-out range is $122,000 to $137,000, up from $120,000 to $135,000 in 2018.

If you earn too much to open a Roth IRA, you can open a nondeductible IRA and convert it to a Roth IRA as Congress lifted any income restrictions for Roth IRA conversions. To learn more about the backdoor Roth, see Congress Blesses Roth IRAs For Everyone, Even The Well-Paid.

Saver’s Credit. The income limit for the saver’s credit for low- and moderate-income workers is $64,000 for married couples filing jointly for 2019, up from $63,000; $48,000 for heads of household, up from $47,250; and $32,000 for singles and married filing separately, up from $31,500. See Grab The Saver’s Credit for details on how it can pay off.

QLACs. The dollar limit on the amount of your IRA or 401(k) you can invest in a qualified longevity annuity contract remains unchanged at $130,000. See Make Your Retirement Money Last For Life for how QLACs work.