For a narrow four-year window — the calendar years a worker turns 60, 61, 62, and 63 — the SECURE 2.0 Act unlocks a contribution level no other age group can reach. In 2026, that adds up to a potential $35,750 of 401(k) salary deferrals. The rule is real, the math is precise, and the conditions are easy to miss.
Where the $35,750 Number Comes From
The IRS set the 2026 employee deferral limit at $24,500. On top of that, workers age 50 or older may add a standard catch-up, which the IRS raised to $8,000 for 2026. But under SECURE 2.0, employees who turn 60, 61, 62, or 63 during the calendar year qualify for an enhanced "super catch-up" instead — set at $11,250 for 2026, the same level as 2025.
Add the regular limit and the super catch-up together and the result is $35,750. A worker who turns 64 mid-year falls back to the standard $8,000 catch-up, capping total deferrals at $32,500. The window genuinely closes.
The $11,250 figure was not picked at random. SECURE 2.0 set the super catch-up at the greater of $10,000 or 150% of the standard age-50 catch-up, indexed for inflation. With the standard 2026 catch-up at $8,000, 150% would equal $12,000, but the IRS held the super catch-up flat at $11,250 for the year.
The Roth Catch-Up Layer
Beginning January 1, 2026, the rules change again for higher earners. Any catch-up contribution — standard or super — must be made on a Roth (after-tax) basis if the worker's prior-year FICA wages from that employer exceeded $150,000. For 2026, that test looks at 2025 wages.
Practically, a 62-year-old earning $200,000 who wants the full $35,750 will route $24,500 into pre-tax (or Roth) salary deferrals and the entire $11,250 catch-up into a Roth source. Workers below the $150,000 threshold may still choose pre-tax catch-ups if the plan allows.
It Is Optional for the Employer
The super catch-up is a plan feature, not a mandate. Employers may decline to add it. If they do add it, the IRS's universal availability rule means the option must extend to all eligible employees in the controlled group, with a narrow carve-out that allows excluding collectively bargained workers.
That means two practical questions for any worker in the eligibility window: Does my plan offer the super catch-up at all? And does it support Roth catch-up contributions, which the high-earner rule now requires?
Planning Takeaways
Confirm the plan document. A summary plan description or HR confirmation is the only way to know whether the $11,250 is actually available.
Front-load if cash flow allows. Workers who hit the limit early in the year may miss employer match dollars under plans that match per-pay-period rather than truing up annually.
Coordinate with IRA strategy. The $7,500 IRA limit (plus $1,100 IRA catch-up) is separate, so a 62-year-old with the cash and the plan features can theoretically defer $44,350 across both accounts in 2026.
Watch the cliff at 64. The super catch-up disappears the year a worker turns 64, so the planning horizon is finite.
Sources: Internal Revenue Service, Kiplinger, Charles Schwab, Mercer, Treasury Department