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Four-panel full-color educational comic. Panel 1: SIMPLE IRA piggy with $17,000 tape. Panel 2: age-50 catch-up +$4,000. Panel 3: ages 60-63 super catch-up +$5,250. Panel 4: chalkboard match up to 3% or 2% nonelective, ceilings not advice.
Four panels: a SIMPLE piggy wrapped in a $17,000 tape, a +$4,000 age-50 backpack, a +$5,250 ages 60–63 star, and a chalkboard of employer match or nonelective options. · Comic: Topics / Drew’s Comic Newsroom. Source: IRS. Educational, not advice.

Finance

The 2026 SIMPLE IRA deferral lid is $17,000

What happened

The IRS’s SIMPLE IRA contribution page for plan participants puts the 2026 employee salary-reduction limit at $17,000, subject to cost-of-living adjustments. If someone also defers into another employer plan that year, elective reductions across plans share the broader $24,500 elective-deferral lid for 2026. Catch-up contributions, if the SIMPLE plan allows them, are $4,000 for participants age 50 or older by year-end. Under SECURE 2.0, employees aged 60, 61, 62, or 63 get a higher SIMPLE catch-up of $5,250 for 2026. Those are ceilings printed by the IRS, not targets and not advice to fill every jar.

Employers generally must match salary reductions dollar-for-dollar up to 3% of compensation, or they may choose a 2% nonelective contribution for each eligible employee whether or not the worker defers. Compensation counted for the 2% formula is capped at $360,000 for 2026. A lower match of at least 1% is allowed for no more than two out of five years with notice. Deposit timing rules require salary reductions into the SIMPLE IRA within 30 days after the month the employee would have been paid, with matching or nonelective amounts due by the employer’s tax-return due date including extensions.

A SIMPLE IRA is a small-business plan under the code, separate from a regular IRA and separate from a 401(k). This desk already filed the IRA ceiling and the 401(k) elective number on other days. Today’s jar is only the SIMPLE deferral lid and the catch-up / employer lines as IRS.gov prints them. Educational finance only — no tickers, no product pitches, no “max this” homework.

Why it matters

Educational finance here labels published caps so a reader can find them on IRS.gov instead of on a slideshow. The comic is a $17,000 tape, a catch-up backpack, a 60–63 star, and a chalkboard of match versus nonelective. Color on the piggy, the trail, the star, the chalk. White gutters. Ceiling, not advice. Notice the employer line: match or nonelective is required plan design, not a tip to chase a fund.

Conclusion

For 2026, SIMPLE IRA salary reductions top out at $17,000, with a $4,000 catch-up at 50 and a $5,250 catch-up at ages 60–63, plus employer match or nonelective rules as the IRS prints them. Source: https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-simple-ira-contribution-limits

Source: Internal Revenue Service