Methodology and sources
Every number on this site, and the primary document it comes from.
Primary sources
- Match rates, thresholds, phase-out formula, per-spouse rules, withdrawal testing period, small-match election, non-Roth deposit rule, eligibility conditions: IRC §6433 (added by SECURE 2.0 Act §103) as operationalized by IRS Notice 2026-48 (August 7, 2026), including its Q&A examples, which this site's calculator reproduces in unit tests.
- 2026 Saver's Credit tiers used in the comparison tool: IRS Notice 2025-67 (November 13, 2025), the annual retirement-plan cost-of-living adjustments, applying §25B(b)(1).
- ABLE exception: OBBBA §70116, which preserves the Saver's Credit for ABLE contributions and removes it for plan/IRA contributions from 2027.
- Program timeline, Form 8880-A, provider portal: the IRS Saver's Match program page (updated September 29, 2026) and Executive Order 14403 (April 30, 2026).
Calculation decisions
- Phase-out flooring. Points removed = 50 × (MAGI − full-match line) ÷ range width, floored to an integer, matching §6433(b)(2) and the Notice's worked examples. No other rounding is applied to the rate; match amounts are computed in cents and rounded half-up only for display.
- Withdrawals and the cap. Testing-period distributions reduce contributions first, then the $2,000 cap applies: the statutory order in §6433(b)(2) and (b)(3).
- Joint returns. MAGI is the combined household figure; eligibility and the match itself are determined separately per spouse (Notice 2026-48, Q&A I-1).
- Comparison tool income. The dual-year comparison uses one income figure for both rules and labels it an estimate: the credit's MAGI (§25B(d)) and the match's MAGI (Notice Q&A B-3) add back slightly different items.
What is not final
Notice 2026-48 announces an intent to issue regulations; the proposed rules had not been published as of this page's review date. Open items the IRS has flagged: the operational path for directing match deposits to IRAs and employer plans (Notice Q&A E-2), the final Form 8880-A, the treatment of certain non-citizens under PRWORA following the November 2025 DOJ opinion, and Treasury's provider-portal standards. Where a page touches one of these, it says so and links here. Pages state Calculated under IRC §6433 and IRS Notice 2026-48; proposed regulations pending.
Update policy
When the IRS publishes proposed regulations, final regulations, the 8880-A form, or the 2028 inflation adjustments, every affected page is corrected and its dateModified updated; the threshold table lives in one data file that feeds every calculator and table site-wide, so a rule change is fixed in one place. Corrections of substantive errors are noted on the page where they occurred.