topic Has anyone else found a mistake for the maximum employee amount paid into an individual (401)k account? It does not allow contributions up to $26,000 for those age 55 in Retirement tax questions

Has anyone else found a mistake for the maximum employee amount paid into an individual (401)k account? It does not allow contributions up to $26,000 for those age 55

Brookemeister — Fri, 19 Mar 2021 15:05:34 GMT

This bug is preventing me from filing my tax return

Re: Has anyone else found a mistake for the maximum employee amount paid into an individual (401)k account? It does not allow contributions up to $26,000 for those age 55

SweetieJean — Fri, 19 Mar 2021 15:36:36 GMT

Per the IRS:

You must make a special computation to figure the maximum amount of elective deferrals and nonelective contributions you can make for yourself. When figuring the contribution, compensation is your “earned income,” which is defined as net earnings from self-employment after deducting both:

one-half of your self-employment tax, and
contributions for yourself.

Use the rate table or worksheets in Chapter 5 of IRS Publication 560, Retirement Plans for Small Business, for figuring your allowable contribution rate and tax deduction for your 401(k) plan contributions. See also Calculating Your Own Retirement Plan Contribution.

Re: Has anyone else found a mistake for the maximum employee amount paid into an individual (401)k account? It does not allow contributions up to $26,000 for those age 55

dmertz — Fri, 19 Mar 2021 16:36:22 GMT

TurboTax calculates the limit correctly. There are separate boxes for the $19,500 regular contribution and for the $6,500 catch-up contribution. As SweetieJean indicated, your maximum contribution is limited to net earnings from self-employment. Your net earnings from self-employment are net profit minus the deductible portion of self-employment taxes.