401(k) Match Calculator

How to read a 401(k) match formula, tier by tier

A match formula is one sentence in your summary plan description, and each part of it maps to a field above. Take "100% of the first 3% and 50% of the next 2%." The first tier means your employer puts in a dollar for every dollar you defer, on deferrals up to 3% of your pay. The second tier adds 50 cents per dollar on the next slice of pay, from 3% to 5%. Past 5%, the match stops growing.

The default numbers work out like this. On $60,000 of pay, a 4% deferral is $2,400 a year. Tier 1 matches the first 3% in full: $1,800. Tier 2 matches half of the 1% that falls between 3% and 5%: $300. Your employer adds $2,100, about $80.77 per biweekly check. At 5% the match would be $2,400, so deferring 4% leaves $300 a year unclaimed.

Watch the words "of the next." They name a slice that starts where the previous tier ends, not a ceiling counted from zero. For "50% of the next 2%", enter 2 in the tier 2 field, not 5. The line under the tiers shows where matching ends, so a mistake is easy to spot: if it says "matched up to 8%" for a plan you expected to stop at 5%, the band went in as a ceiling.

Two figures sum up any formula. The most your employer adds is each tier's rate times its width, added up: 100% of 3% plus 50% of 2% is 4% of pay. The deferral that earns it is the top of the last tier, 5% here. Both are figured on the pay your plan counts, which your summary plan description defines. It may be base salary only, or it may include overtime, bonuses or commissions. If you're the employer, the employer payroll cost calculator takes the match as a percent of wages: enter the "most your employer adds" figure to price full participation.

Safe harbor and automatic-enrollment match formulas

The Treasury regulations spell out two match formulas. Under the basic safe harbor formula, the employer matches 100% of deferrals up to 3% of pay, plus 50% of deferrals above 3% that don't exceed 5% (26 CFR 1.401(k)-3(c)(2)). That's the default preset above, worth 4% of pay at a 5% deferral.

A qualified automatic contribution arrangement (QACA), the automatic-enrollment form of safe harbor, can use a smaller formula: 100% of deferrals up to 1% of pay, plus 50% of deferrals from 1% to 6% (1.401(k)-3(k)(2)). On $50,000 of pay, a 6% deferral earns $1,750 a year, or 3.5% of pay. A 3% deferral earns $1,000, so the step from 3% to 6% is worth $750 a year in match.

A safe harbor plan can also use an enhanced formula, such as 100% of the first 4%. It has to pay at least as much as the basic formula at every deferral rate, and the match can't rise as a share of your deferral as you put in more (1.401(k)-3(c)(3)).

Vesting is the other difference. Safe harbor matching contributions are 100% vested as soon as they go in. A QACA's required employer contributions must be fully vested after no more than 2 years of service. Plans outside safe harbor set their own formula and their own vesting schedule within IRS limits, so check yours before you count the match as money you keep.

When the match is figured: each paycheck or the whole year

A plan may figure the match separately for each payroll period (26 CFR 1.401(k)-3(c)(5)(ii)) or once on the year's totals. If every check carries your full deferral, both give the same total. The timing chips above only change the answer when the yearly limit cuts your deferral short on some paycheck.

Say you earn $120,000 on 24 semi-monthly checks, your plan matches 100% of the first 4%, and you defer 25%. Each $1,250 deferral earns a $200 match. On check 20 your deferrals reach the $24,500 limit and stop. A plan that matches each paycheck stops matching too, so the year's match is $4,000. The yearly formula pays 4% of $120,000, or $4,800. A plan with a year-end true-up pays the $800 difference after the year ends.

Your age moves the stop point. Catch-up contributions raise the 2026 limit to $32,500 at 50 to 59 or 64 and over, and to $35,750 at 60 to 63. At $200,000 with a 15% deferral and a match of 100% of the first 6%, an under-50 worker's deferrals stop on check 22 of 26. With the standard catch-up they run all year, so a plan that matches catch-up contributions pays the full $12,000 without a true-up.

High pay changes the math too. For 2026 a plan can count at most $360,000 of your pay. On a $500,000 salary under "50% of the first 6%", the match is figured on $360,000: the full match is $10,800, and a 4.32% deferral earns it. The calculator spreads the capped pay evenly over your checks. Your plan may apply the cap another way, and with a true-up the year's total comes out the same.

To pace a max-out from what you've deferred so far this year, use the 401(k) max-out per paycheck calculator.

Where the 401(k) match shows up on a pay stub

Your deferral and your employer's match sit in different places. Your deferral is a deduction: a 401(k) line under pre-tax deductions, or a Roth 401(k) line under after-tax deductions, taken out of your gross pay. The match is an employer contribution. It isn't part of your gross pay and doesn't reduce your net pay.

Tax treatment follows the same split. IRS Publication 15 lists employer contributions to a qualified plan as exempt from income tax withholding, Social Security and Medicare tax, and FUTA. A pre-tax deferral is generally exempt from income tax withholding but still subject to Social Security and Medicare. The pre-tax vs post-tax deduction calculator shows what that does to a paycheck. Your plan account statement is the record of what your employer actually deposited, true-up included.

If you make or keep your own pay stubs, Payslip44 has a 401(k) Match label under Employer Contributions. Type the amount your employer put in for that check: it prints on the stub and leaves net pay alone. Your deferral goes under Pre-tax Deductions as 401(k), or After-tax Deductions as Roth 401(k). If your plan counts all of your gross pay, the Percent of gross helper fills in that amount from your deferral rate.