I was cursed last year with the HCE designation from the >$155K (income in 2024) working for a small company and going thru hades to figure out how to avoid this again for next year. So far, looks like I got lucky in 2025 by reducing my hours down to 30-39hrs week but reading about this could change to my disadvantage at any time.
This year I need to avoid the $160K HCE limit (last year’s 2025 Box 12 code D was $8657.37 & likely will be my company matched funds of pre-tax dollars for 2026), my question is how much can I earn this year if I know ~$9k will be my company matched funds of pre-tax dollars for 2026? Is it my total salary? (note: nothing will go to 401k as a tax write off, although I do have my entire income going straight into ROTH up to this year’s maximum $80K limit).
One last note, this year I will strategically continue to convert my IRA to ROTH (cIRA2Roth) at 24%-37% MFJ taxes, as well as next year (but likely keep it below ~$200k to avoid IRMA 2+ years from then) which results in me not only avoiding RMD, but keeps me in 0% LTCG if I can keep that amount below $20K a year)
My moto is "He who dies paying Uncle Sam the least tax percentage, WINS!"
