By Ian Berger, JD
IRA Analyst
We continue to get lots of questions about the new “super catch-up” contribution for retirement plan and SIMPLE IRA participants who are ages 60-63. Here are answers to your top 12 questions:
1. When does the super catch-up contribution rule become effective?
It became effective for the 2025 calendar year.
2. Is the super catch-up only available for 2025?
No, it will continue for years after 2025.
3. To which plans does it apply?
The super catch-up applies to 401(k), 403(b) and governmental 457(b) plans. It also applies to SIMPLE IRA plans. However, it does not apply to traditional or Roth IRAs.
4. Are those plans required to offer it?
No, the super catch-up is optional for plans to offer.
5. Who is eligible for the super catch-up?
Participants in covered plans who turn age 60, 61, 62 or 63 during the year are eligible for that year.
6. If I turn age 60 during the year, can I contribute the full super catch-up?
Yes, the limit is not pro-rated in the year you turn age 60. So, for example, if you turn age 60 on July 1, 2025, and your plan offers the super catch-up, you can contribute up to the full limit for 2025 – not just ½ of the full limit.
7. If I turn age 64 during the year, am I eligible for the period when I was age 63?
No, you are not eligible. That’s the case even if you don’t turn age 64 until December 31.
8. Why ages 60, 61, 62 and 63?
That’s one question we can’t answer. No one seems to know why Congress settled on those ages.
9. Is the super catch-up in addition to, or instead of, the “regular catch-up” for ages 50 and older?
It’s instead of the age-50 catch-up.
10. What is the 2025 super catch-up limit?
For 401(k), 403(b) and governmental 457(b) plans, the 2025 limit is $11,250. That figure results from multiplying $7,500 (the 2024 regular catch-up limit) by 150%. So, an age 60-63 employee in a plan that allows catch-ups can defer up to a total of $34,750 ($23,500 + $11,250) for 2025.
11. What about SIMPLE IRAs?
You’ll be sorry you asked. The super catch-up contribution is available for SIMPLE IRA employees. The 2025 limit is $5,250. SIMPLE IRA participants age 50 or older (but not ages 60, 61, 62 or 63) are also eligible for the “regular” catch-up. That catch-up is either $3,850 or $3,500 for 2025. It’s $3,850 for plans with 25 fewer employees or plans with more than 25 employees where the company has agreed to make a larger-than-normal employer contribution. (That’s because of a 10% bump-up to the SIMPLE IRA contributions that became effective in 2024.) The 2025 age 50-or-older catch-up is $3,500 for larger plans where the employer hasn’t agreed to make the higher contribution. So, for 2025, there are three SIMPLE IRA catch-up contribution limits.
12. Why are the SIMPLE IRA catch-up rules so un-SIMPLE?
Ask your congressperson.
If you have technical questions you would like to have answered, be sure to submit them to mailbag@irahelp.com, to be answered on an upcoming Slott Report Mailbag, published every Thursday.
https://irahelp.com/slottreport/12-super-catch-up-contribution-questions-answered/