Find the two-tier match window with the selected tax year visible
A two-tier formula applies the first match rate through its first salary band and the second rate only to the additional band through the second cumulative limit. The optimizer looks for an employee contribution range that captures the available match without double-counting the same dollar. It then screens that range against the selected 2025 or 2026 employee deferral and age-based catch-up amount.
For 2026, the ordinary employee deferral limit is $24,500, the general age-50 catch-up is $8,000, and the higher ages-60-through-63 catch-up is $11,250 when applicable. Payroll frequency, plan compensation, true-up provisions, eligibility dates, highly compensated employee rules, and contributions to another plan can alter the actual match. A displayed range is therefore a plan-document audit aid, not an election recommendation.
For an employer-established non-elective arrangement governed by annual-additions rules, switch to the 401(a) contribution screen rather than assuming the 401(k) deferral and catch-up framework applies.
Build the 401(k) projection without pretending future limits are known
The accumulation module follows the salary percentage, two employer-match tiers, retirement ages, salary growth, return, inflation, and opening balance entered. It separates employee contributions, employer match, and investment growth, then expresses the ending amount in nominal dollars and today's modeled purchasing power. The annual path is deterministic; market sequence, fees, plan changes, job moves, and future contribution law remain outside it.
Long-range results intentionally do not impose guessed future IRS caps. A constant contribution percentage can eventually exceed a limit that Congress has not yet set, so the output should be read as a declared savings-rate scenario rather than a payroll forecast. Review both the nominal balance and inflation-adjusted value, and rerun lower-return, higher-inflation, and interrupted-contribution cases before treating the central path as meaningful.
A Roth IRA uses a separate contribution and eligibility regime, which can be explored with the Roth IRA growth comparison without treating an IRA limit as additional 401(k) payroll space.
Keep 401(k) arithmetic outside individualized retirement advice
A higher projected balance does not establish an appropriate contribution rate or asset allocation. Liquidity needs, debt, risk capacity, plan fees, vesting, taxes, and employer concentration may matter. Likewise, a modeled withdrawal does not authorize a distribution, and capturing a match does not ensure that every dollar will vest or remain invested.
Confirm 2026 United States limits against IRS Notice 2025-67 and the current plan materials. Ask the administrator about match tiers, annual true-ups, payroll cutoffs, Roth and after-tax sources, loans, distributions, and related-plan coordination. This calculator is educational and intentionally bounded; it cannot replace the plan administrator, a tax professional, a fiduciary adviser, or legal counsel.
Itemize an early 401(k) distribution by taxable share and jurisdiction
The withdrawal module begins with the distribution and the portion entered as taxable, then applies separate federal, state, and local income-tax assumptions. It can add the modeled 10% additional tax to the taxable share. That percentage is not the same as withholding, and the result is not the final tax on a return; basis, Roth status, other income, and actual jurisdiction can change it.
The additional-tax estimate is removed only for the supported confirmed condition, such as reaching age 59½ or an entered disability, separation-at-55, or other applicable exception. The calculator cannot prove the exception, identify plan-specific distribution rights, or apply every statutory nuance. Keep the plan's 1099-R coding, distribution record, basis evidence, and authoritative exception guidance with the scenario before relying on the displayed net amount.
To test whether a retirement balance supports a chosen monthly draw rather than a contribution rate, use the withdrawal-duration calculator and examine constant-return sensitivity separately.