Is 401K employee contribution limit separate for income from an employer and income from self-employment? In other words, is it 18K combined or 18k for each income source

[salsify]

I was under the assumption that employee 401K contribution limit is $18K total for income from ALL sources. I have entered a W2 with $11K of deferred income to an employer's 401K plan. As the same time, Turbo Tax allows me to have the maximum 401K contribution of $53K ($18K employee + $35K employer). Is this correct?

[KenH1]

Yes. Although your employee contribution is limited to $18k per year ($24k if over 50), the combined employer/employee limit is $53k. Note that the employer contribution is not reported anywhere on your tax return,

[dmertz]

The $18,000 annual limit is per individual.  TurboTax is incapable of enforcing the $18,000 per-individual limit for elective deferrals and Roth contributions to an Individual 401(k) when you have also made such contributions to employer plans.

As a workaround in TurboTax, do not mark the Maximize box for an Individual 401(k).  Instead, enter only the remaining $7,000 of elective deferral or Roth 401(k) contribution on the Individual or Roth 401(k) page, then on the following pages mark the Maximize box for a Keogh Profit Sharing Plan.  This will cause TurboTax to calculate and include the maximum permissible deductible employer contribution.