This first issue collects the official figures that changed for 2026, most of them set by the IRS last autumn and by the tax law passed in July 2025. If you haven't adjusted your contributions or withholding for this year, there are still a few weeks. We also list the Yom Tov dates through Simchas Torah 5788, and the tools we added this month.
Retirement and HSA limits
| Account | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| 401(k), 403(b), TSP: employee contribution | $23,500 | $24,500 |
| 401(k) catch-up, age 50 and over | $7,500 | $8,000 |
| 401(k) catch-up, ages 60 to 63 | $11,250 | $11,250 |
| IRA (Roth and traditional combined) | $7,000 | $7,500 |
| IRA catch-up, age 50 and over | $1,000 | $1,100 |
| Roth IRA income phase-out, single | $150,000–$165,000 | $153,000–$168,000 |
| Roth IRA income phase-out, married filing jointly | $236,000–$246,000 | $242,000–$252,000 |
| HSA, self-only cover | $4,300 | $4,400 |
| HSA, family cover | $8,550 | $8,750 |
What it means: a couple who both max out their IRAs can now put away $15,000 a year between them, up from $14,000. A family on a high-deductible plan can put $200 more into an HSA. Lower-income savers may also get the Saver's Credit, available in 2026 up to an AGI of $80,500 for married couples filing jointly. The IRS usually announces the 2027 limits in late autumn; they had not been published when this issue went out.
Read: How to open a Roth IRA.
Standard deduction and charity
| Standard deduction | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Single | $15,750 | $16,100 |
| Married filing jointly | $31,500 | $32,200 |
| Head of household | $23,625 | $24,150 |
Two changes for charitable giving start with the 2026 tax year:
- If you take the standard deduction, you can also deduct cash gifts to qualified charities, up to $1,000 for a single filer or $2,000 for a married couple filing jointly. Gifts to donor-advised funds don't count.
- If you itemize, only charitable gifts above 0.5% of your adjusted gross income are deductible.
For families who give maaser to registered charities, keep the receipts: any single gift of $250 or more needs a written acknowledgment from the charity. The annual gift tax exclusion stays at $19,000 per recipient.
Read: Maaser: how to work out a tenth, and where it can go.
529 plans and K–12 tuition
From January 1, 2026, a 529 plan can pay up to $20,000 a year per child for K–12 tuition, including yeshiva and day school, up from $10,000. The list of qualified K–12 costs also grew to include books and curricular materials, outside tutoring, and certain test fees.
Check your state before you rely on it. New York, for one, treats K–12 tuition withdrawals as non-qualified for state tax and recaptures the state deduction on those contributions. The federal benefit still applies.
Read: How to open a 529 plan.
Trump accounts
Trump accounts, a new kind of savings account for children created by the 2025 tax law, opened to contributions on July 4, 2026. The main rules, from the IRS:
- A one-time $1,000 federal contribution for a US-citizen child with a Social Security number born after December 31, 2024 and before January 1, 2029. The account has to be elected or claimed to receive it.
- Family and others can contribute up to $5,000 a year in total. The $1,000 federal contribution doesn't count toward that.
- An employer can contribute up to $2,500 a year for an employee's children, within the $5,000.
- Parents elect with IRS Form 4547, with their tax return or online at trumpaccounts.gov.
How a Trump account compares with a 529 or a custodial account depends on what the money is for. Our new Kids savings compared tool sets them side by side.
Social Security
| 2025 | 2026 | 2027 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wage base (most earnings subject to Social Security tax) | $176,100 | $184,500 | $192,300 |
| Benefit increase from January | 2.8% | 3.6% |
The 2027 figures were announced on October 14, 2026. If you earn above $184,500, your paychecks stop carrying the 6.2% Social Security tax once your 2026 earnings pass that amount; next year the cut-off is $192,300.
Yom Tov dates for the year
Dates outside Israel. Each Yom Tov begins at sundown the evening before the first date shown.
| Yom Tov | Begins at sundown | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Chanukah | Friday, December 4, 2026 (first candle) | December 5–12, 2026 |
| Purim | Monday, March 22, 2027 | Tuesday, March 23 |
| Pesach, first days | Wednesday, April 21 (first Seder) | Thursday–Friday, April 22–23 |
| Pesach, last days | Tuesday, April 27 | Wednesday–Thursday, April 28–29 |
| Shavuos | Thursday, June 10 | Friday–Shabbos, June 11–12 |
| Tisha B'Av | Wednesday, August 11 | Thursday, August 12 |
| Rosh Hashanah 5788 | Friday, October 1 | Shabbos–Sunday, October 2–3 |
| Yom Kippur | Sunday, October 10 | Monday, October 11 |
| Sukkos | Friday, October 15 | Shabbos–Sunday, October 16–17 |
| Hoshana Rabbah | Friday, October 22 | |
| Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah | Friday, October 22 | Shabbos–Sunday, October 23–24 |
For the budget: the first days of Pesach run straight into Shabbos, so Thursday, Friday and Shabbos are three days of Yom Tov and Shabbos meals in a row. Rosh Hashanah, Sukkos, Shavuos and Shemini Atzeres all begin on Friday night, so each one starts with a Shabbos. The Yom tov budget tool works out a per-Yom Tov total.
Tools updated this month
Nine new tools:
- Budget planner: monthly take-home against every category, and what's left.
- Net worth: what you own minus what you owe, and the change since your last snapshot.
- Credit card cost: months and interest at the minimum versus a fixed payment.
- Simcha savings timeline: every bar and bat mitzvah and wedding from your children's ages, and one monthly amount that covers them.
- Supporting a married child: the yearly and five-year cost, and the effect on your own retirement savings.
- Year in Israel: tuition, flights, spending and phone for a seminary or yeshiva year, and a monthly savings target.
- Life insurance needs: income replacement, tuition through school and the mortgage, minus savings and existing cover.
- Rent vs buy: two net-worth paths and the year buying pulls ahead, if it does.
- Kids savings compared: a 529, a custodial account and a Trump account side by side.
Two new ways to use them together: the checkup, five questions that fill in your numbers and suggest three next steps, and My plan, which keeps every result you save in one place on your device.
Sources
- IRS, 401(k) limit increases to $24,500 for 2026, IRA limit increases to $7,500: retirement limits, Roth phase-outs, Saver's Credit.
- IRS, Internal Revenue Bulletin 2025-21 (Rev. Proc. 2025-19): 2026 HSA limits; Rev. Proc. 2024-25: 2025 HSA limits.
- IRS, Tax inflation adjustments for tax year 2026: standard deduction, gift exclusion.
- IRS Topic 506, Charitable contributions and IRS Publication 505: the 2026 charitable deduction changes.
- IRS, Written acknowledgments: gifts of $250 or more.
- IRS Topic 313, Qualified tuition programs: $20,000 K–12 limit and expanded K–12 expenses.
- NY 529 Direct Plan, 2026 federal tax updates: New York treatment of K–12 withdrawals.
- IRS, Instructions for Form 4547: Trump account election, $1,000 pilot contribution, $5,000 and $2,500 limits, July 4, 2026 start.
- US Treasury, July 6, 2026 release: the launch of Trump accounts.
- Social Security Administration, 2026 COLA fact sheet: wage base and 2.8% increase.
- Social Security Administration, 2027 COLA fact sheet and announcement of October 14, 2026: 3.6% increase and $192,300 wage base.
- Hebcal, Jewish holidays 2026–2027: Yom Tov dates (diaspora).
Figures checked November 8, 2026. General education, not financial, tax or halachic advice. Questions or a correction: contact us. Read how we check our numbers.