2026 retirement plan limits, PBGC premiums, actuarial rates

The main 2026 IRS limits are $290,000 under 415(b), $72,000 under 415(c), $360,000 of pay under 401(a)(17) and $24,500 of deferrals under 402(g), set in Notice 2025-67 (Internal Revenue Bulletin 2025-49); the irs.gov summary page was last reviewed on August 24, 2026. The table lists the limits that actuaries and plan administrators use most, with the 2025 figure for comparison.

The ages 60 to 63 catch-up stays at $11,250 for 2026, so it is the one catch-up figure that did not move. The Roth catch-up threshold is set against the prior year's wages, so the $150,000 figure in the 2026 column applies to 2025 pay.

The limits cap what a plan can promise, pay or deduct, so they enter a valuation as constraints on the model rather than as inputs to it. The 415(b) limit caps the annual benefit a participant can accrue in a defined benefit plan, including a cash balance plan, once it is converted to an annuity. The 415(c) limit caps total annual additions to a participant's defined contribution accounts.

The 401(a)(17) compensation limit caps the pay that can be used to compute benefits or contributions, which matters most for owner-employees and highly paid participants. The highly compensated employee threshold of $160,000 and the key employee threshold of $235,000 decide who is tested in nondiscrimination and top-heavy checks, so a one-year change in either can move a plan from passing to failing.

Where a business sponsors both a defined benefit plan and a defined contribution plan, these limits interact with the combined deduction limit in section 404(a)(7). Finbryn prepares the limit checks and the supporting schedules for the plan's enrolled actuary, who reviews and signs the funding and deduction determinations.

PBGC's 2026 single-employer flat rate is $111 per participant and the variable rate is $52 per $1,000 of unfunded vested benefits (UVBs), capped at $751 per participant. The multiemployer flat rate is $40 per participant. PBGC's rates page, last updated October 14, 2026, adds the 2027 rates: $116 flat, $52 variable with a $783 cap, and $42 for multiemployer plans. The variable rate has stayed at $52 since 2024, while the flat rates and the cap keep rising.

A worked example, Illustrative and made up. A single-employer plan with 120 participants and $3,000,000 of unfunded vested benefits has a flat premium of 120 x $111 = $13,320. The uncapped variable premium is $3,000,000 / 1,000 x $52 = $156,000, but the cap is 120 x $751 = $90,120, so the variable premium is $90,120. The total is $13,320 + $90,120 = $103,440. Small-employer rules and plan-specific exemptions can change the result, so the PBGC instructions control.

For a calendar-year plan, the normal premium due date is October 15, the 15th day of the 10th full calendar month of the plan year, per PBGC's 2026 premium instructions. An enrolled actuary must certify the variable-rate premium calculation unless the plan is exempt from it or pays the maximum under the Small Employer Cap (PBGC 2026 instructions, item 21), so the numbers here feed a workpaper, not the filing itself.

The latest minimum present value segment rates in the IRS notices checked on 2026-10-02 are for August 2026: 4.65, 5.75 and 6.73 percent, published in Notice 2026-57. These are the spot segment rates under section 417(e)(3), used to compute minimum lump sums, and they are computed without a 24-month average. The IRS page for these rates was last reviewed on September 29, 2026.

A plan's stability period decides which month's rate applies to a given lump sum, so the plan document, not the latest month on this table, controls. Moving from July to August the first segment rose 3 basis points, the second 13 and the third 22. A change of that size can move a lump sum value for a participant with a long deferral period, which is why rate tables get a dated source line in every workpaper.

Notice 2026-57 gives the September 2026 24-month average segment rates under section 430(h)(2): 4.36, 5.32 and 6.02 before adjustment, and 4.75, 5.25 and 5.99 after adjustment for plan years beginning in 2026, and 4.75, 5.25 and 5.89 for plan years beginning in 2027. Section 430(h)(2) uses three 24-month average corporate bond segment rates to determine a plan's target normal cost and funding target, adjusted to sit within a corridor around 25-year averages.

The corridor is 95% to 105% of the 25-year average for plan years beginning in 2025, 2026 and 2027, and any 25-year average below 5% is deemed to be 5%. That floor is why the first segment adjusted rate of 4.75 is exactly 95% of 5.00. An election to use the monthly yield curve instead of segment rates is available under section 430(h)(2)(D)(ii). The IRS funding rates page had been reviewed July 1, 2026 and showed rates through June 2026, so use the notice for later months.

For valuation dates in 2026, small plans may use the static mortality tables in Notice 2025-40, Updated Static Mortality Tables for Defined Benefit Pension Plans for 2026, and other plans use the generational tables under the regulations. Notice 2025-40 also gives the modified unisex table for lump sums under section 417(e)(3) with annuity starting dates in stability periods beginning in 2026.

The regulation behind the tables is 26 CFR 1.430(h)(3)-1, which provides base mortality tables and mortality improvement rates for valuation dates on or after January 1, 2024. Notice 2025-40 says the 2026 static rates were built from the base mortality rates in that regulation and the mortality improvement rates it incorporates by reference. The unisex 417(e)(3) table is derived from the male and female tables under the procedure in Revenue Ruling 2007-67, which blends the two at 50% each.

Two practical points. The static tables are updated each year, so a 2027 valuation will use a new notice. And a plan can ask for approval to use substitute mortality tables under section 430(h)(3)(C); the notice confirms that option exists, and approval is the Secretary's to give. Where a workpaper cites a mortality basis, it should cite the notice number and the valuation date it applies to.

For plan year 2026, a calendar-year defined benefit plan owes quarterly installments on April 15, July 15 and October 15, 2026 and January 15, 2027, the PBGC premium by October 15, 2026, the minimum required contribution by September 15, 2027 and Form 5500 by July 31, 2027. The timeline puts the same dates in order, from the plan year start on January 1, 2026 to the extended Form 5500 date of October 15, 2027, and marks July 31, 2027, when the Schedule SB signed by the plan's enrolled actuary is due with Form 5500.

The required annual payment for the installments is the lesser of 90% of the current year's minimum required contribution or 100% of the prior year's, and the accelerated installment schedule applies to plans with a funding shortfall in the preceding plan year, under 26 CFR 1.430(j)-1. The IRS penalty for not filing the Form 5500 that section 6058 requires is $250 per day, up to $150,000. July 31, 2027 is a Saturday, so check the filing instructions for the weekend rule before relying on that date.

Use them as a dated checklist, not as a substitute for the notice. Every figure above belongs to a specific notice, month or plan year, and a valuation that mixes a 2026 limit with a 2027 segment rate is wrong even if each number is correct. Cite the notice and date in the workpaper, and rerun the numbers when the IRS publishes the next month's notice.

Finbryn prepares the calculations and the workpapers that use these figures, such as a cash balance plan design illustration, a funding valuation roll-forward or a PBGC premium calculation. The plan's enrolled actuary reviews and signs Schedule SB, the AFTAP certification and the PBGC variable-rate certification, and the engagement letter confirms who that is. An accountant or auditor reviews the financial statement side. Nothing in this guide is an actuarial opinion or tax or legal guidance for your situation.

For the accounting side of a pension, see ASC 715 valuation support.