The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) recently announced the limits on the amount that federal employees can contribute to the TSP during calendar year 2026. These contribution limits include:
(1) “Regular” contributions (“elective deferrals”) which are contributions that all employees (no matter their age) can make; and
(2) “Catch-up” contributions that employees aged 50 and older can make, in addition to the “regular” contributions. Also, one of the provisions passed as part of SECURE Act 2.0 will allow employees aged 60, 61, 62 or 63 to contribute a larger TSP catch-up contribution amount starting in 2025.
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This column discusses how employee regular contributions and catch-up contributions made to the TSP affect employee agency matching contributions made to the TSP account of employees covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). As part of the discussion, it will be explained how a FERS-covered employee could lose agency matching contributions if the employee were to accelerate the regular contributions and catch-up contributions during the calendar year. Employees should note that with respect to TSP contributions, there is a difference between the “leave year” and the calendar year. The 2026 leave year for most federal employees starts January 11, 2026 and ends January 9, 2027. The 2026 calendar year starts January 1, 2026 and ends December 31, 2026.
FERS-covered Employee TSP Contributions and How They Affect Agency Matching Contributions
All employee contributions to the TSP (“regular” and “catch-up”) are made via payroll deductions. Traditional TSP contributions are deducted from an employee’s gross salary, before federal and state income taxes are deducted. All Roth TSP contributions are deducted from an employee’s after-taxed salary, after federal and state income taxes are deducted. Employees younger than age 50 are limited in their TSP contributions to the total amount of their traditional TSP and Roth TSP regular contributions made during the calendar year. Employees aged 50 and older are limited in their TSP contributions (“regular” and “catch-up”) to the total amount of their traditional TSP and to the Roth TSP during the calendar year.
The following are employee TSP contribution limits for calendar year 2026:
• Employees younger than age 50 throughout 2026 are limited to contribute to their combined total of traditional and Roth TSP to $24,500.
• Employees aged 50 and older throughout 2026 (employees born before January 1, 1977) can contribute a combined total to the traditional TSP and the Roth TSP of $32,500 ($24,500 regular contributions plus $8,000 catch-up contributions).
• Employees aged 60, 61, 62 or 63 during 2026 can contribute a combined total to the traditional TSP and Roth TSP of $35,750 ($24,500 regular contributions plus $11,250 catch-up contributions).
Note that for FERS-covered employees, an employee’s agency automatic (1 percent of the employee’s SF 50 salary) and agency matching TSP contributions are not included in the $24,500, $32,500 and $35,750 limits.
When a FERS-covered employee younger than age 50 during 2026 reaches the $24,500 regular contribution limit, or a FERS-covered employee aged 50 or older reaches the $32,500 limit ($35,750, if aged 60, 61, 62, or 63 during 2026), the employee is prohibited from contributing to his or her TSP account for the remainder of calendar year 2025. The TSP system does not allow employees to make excess contributions to the TSP once they have reached the limit for the calendar year ($24,500, $32,500 or $35,750 during 2026, depending on the employee’s age).
Those FERS-covered employees who reach the $24,500, $32,500 or $35,750 limits sometime during 2026 (before their final pay date during calendar year 2026), will also have their agency matching contributions suspended for the remainder of 2026. This is because agency matching contributions are based on the amount of employee contributions make each pay date. In particular, for a FERS-covered employee to receive the maximum agency TSP maximum contributions of 4 percent during calendar year 2026, the employee must contribute at least 5 percent of their salary to the traditional TSP, to the Roth TSP or a combination of both TSP accounts, each pay date throughout calendar year 2026. If there are no employee contributions on a particular pay date, then there will be no agency TSP matching contributions. The only agency TSP contribution on behalf of the FERS-covered employee will be the automatic 1 percent of the employee’s annual salary (the employee’s SF 50 salary). FERS-covered employees certainly do not want to miss any agency matching contributions. The next section explains how a FERS-covered employee can contribute to the TSP during 2026 and not miss any agency matching contributions.
How FERS-covered Employees Can Maximize Agency Matching Contributions During 2026
The general rule for FERS-covered employees to receive the maximum agency TSP matching contribution (4 percent) is that the employee must contribute at least 5 percent of their salary to the traditional TSP, to the Roth TSP, or to a combination of both TSPs each pay date. The following three worksheets – one worksheet for employees younger than age 50 throughout 2026, one worksheet for employees aged 50 to 59 and older than age 63 throughout 2026, and one worksheet for federal employees aged 60, 61, 62, or 63 during 2026 are to be used by FERS-covered employees to determine their maximum TSP contribution amount each pay date in order for the employee not to miss any agency matching contribution during calendar year 2026.
Worksheet 1. FERS-covered Employees Younger than Age 50 Throughout 2026
Worksheet 2. FERS-covered Employees Older than Age 50 (But Not Aged 60, 61, 62,63 during 2026) Throughout Calendar Year 2026
Worksheet 3. FERS-covered Employees Aged 60, 61, 62 or 63 During 2026
How the TSP Applies the Contribution Limits for a Federal Employee Contributing to Both a Civilian TSP Account and a Uniformed Services TSP Account
The $24,500, $32,500 and the $35,750 TSP contribution limits during 2026 apply to the total contributions a federal employee makes to a civilian and a uniformed services TSP account. The TSP will apply the appropriate limit to each account separately and will not allow an employee to contribute a total amount for the year that exceeds $24,500, $32,500 or $35,750 for the year 2026.
The only exception to this total contribution limit is for contributions made to the traditional TSP by a uniformed service member deployed in a designated combat zone. These contributions coming from tax-exempt compensation do not count towards the $24,500, $32,500 or $35,750 limits. But any Roth TSP contribution made by a uniformed service member serving in a combat zone will count towards the $24,500, $32,500 or $35,750 limits.