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Four-panel full-color finance explainer comic. Panel 1: a bright green SEP contribution jar stamped $72,000 for 2026, up from $70,000. Panel 2: a compensation measuring stick marked $360,000 maximum. Panel 3: a small floor tile labeled $800 minimum compensation. Panel 4: a classroom chalkboard listing IRA $7,500 and 401(k) elective $24,500 as same-table context, not the main jar.
Four panels: a SEP jar labeled $72,000, a compensation ruler to $360,000, a tiny $800 floor, and a side shelf of IRA/401(k) context numbers. Educational ceilings only. · Comic: Topics / Drew’s Comic Newsroom. Source: IRS.

Finance

2026 SEP contribution ceiling rises to $72,000 — educational COLA snapshot

What happened

The IRS cost-of-living adjustment table for retirement plan dollar limits puts the 2026 SEP maximum contribution at $72,000, up from $70,000 in 2025. The SEP maximum compensation figure used in the percentage formula is $360,000 for 2026. The SEP minimum compensation threshold is $800. Those are the three SEP lines this desk is filing today from the IRS COLA page for plan participants and sponsors.

Context from the same annual COLA cycle — not today’s focus jar — includes an IRA contribution limit of $7,500 and a 401(k) elective deferral limit of $24,500 for 2026. This package stays on the SEP ceiling so readers can find the small-business / self-employed number without mixing plan types. Ceilings are printed limits, not targets and not advice to fill every jar.

Why it matters

Educational finance here labels published caps so a reader can find them on IRS.gov instead of on a slideshow. No tickers. No “max this.” The comic is a $72,000 jar, a $360,000 compensation meter, an $800 minimum plaque, and a chalkboard that says ceiling not advice. Color on the piggy, the jar, the meter, the chalk. White gutters.

A SEP IRA is a different animal from a SIMPLE IRA and from a regular IRA. Prior days already filed other lids. Today’s board is the SEP maximum contribution and the compensation rails that sit beside it on the IRS table.

Conclusion

For 2026, the IRS SEP maximum contribution is $72,000, with maximum compensation $360,000 and minimum compensation $800, as printed on the COLA limits page. Source: https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/cola-increases-for-dollar-limitations-on-benefits-and-contributions

Source: IRS