Saver's Credit 2026: Income Limits, Form 8880 and the 2027 Saver's Match
Figures checked November 14, 2026 against primary sources
The Saver's Credit (official name: the retirement savings contributions credit) is a federal tax credit for lower- and moderate-income people who put money into an IRA, a 401(k) or a similar plan. It is worth 50%, 20% or 10% of up to $2,000 of contributions per person, depending on your adjusted gross income (AGI), so the most it can be is $1,000, or $2,000 for a married couple filing jointly. For 2026 no credit is allowed once AGI is over $40,250 for single filers, $60,375 for heads of household and $80,500 for joint filers. Tax year 2026 is also the last year it works this way: from 2027 the IRS replaces it, for retirement contributions, with the Saver's Match, a payment into your retirement account.
Table of Contents
The Short Answer
- What it is: a tax credit of 50%, 20% or 10% of your contributions to an IRA, a workplace plan or an ABLE account, counting up to $2,000 per person.
- Maximum: $1,000 per person; $2,000 if married filing jointly (IRS Form 8880).
- 2026 income ceiling (AGI): $80,500 married filing jointly, $60,375 head of household, $40,250 for all other filers (IRS Notice 2025-67).
- 2025 return ceiling (AGI): $79,000 joint, $59,250 head of household, $39,500 others (Form 8880, 2025).
- It cannot be more than your tax. The IRS calls it "a nonrefundable tax credit that cannot exceed the amount of an individual's tax liability."
- From tax year 2027: retirement contributions earn the Saver's Match instead, up to 50% of $2,000 paid into your retirement account, even with no tax owed. The credit stays only for ABLE account contributions.
Saver's Credit Income Limits for 2026
The rate depends on your AGI and filing status. IRS Notice 2025-67 set these limits for tax year 2026 (the return you file in 2027):
| Credit rate | Married filing jointly (AGI) | Head of household (AGI) | All other filers (AGI) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50% | Up to $48,500 | Up to $36,375 | Up to $24,250 |
| 20% | Over $48,500, up to $52,500 | Over $36,375, up to $39,375 | Over $24,250, up to $26,250 |
| 10% | Over $52,500, up to $80,500 | Over $39,375, up to $60,375 | Over $26,250, up to $40,250 |
| No credit | Over $80,500 | Over $60,375 | Over $40,250 |
The bands are steps, not a slope: one dollar of AGI over a band edge drops you to the next rate. A married couple with $52,000 of AGI gets 20%; at $53,000 they get 10%.
Income Limits for Your 2025 Return
If you are filing your 2025 return in early 2026, the limits are lower. They come from the line 9 table on Form 8880 (2025):
| Credit rate | Married filing jointly (AGI) | Head of household (AGI) | All other filers (AGI) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50% | Up to $47,500 | Up to $35,625 | Up to $23,750 |
| 20% | Over $47,500, up to $51,000 | Over $35,625, up to $38,250 | Over $23,750, up to $25,500 |
| 10% | Over $51,000, up to $79,000 | Over $38,250, up to $59,250 | Over $25,500, up to $39,500 |
| No credit | Over $79,000 | Over $59,250 | Over $39,500 |
Which Contributions Count
Form 8880 lists five kinds. You may be able to take the credit if you, or your spouse if filing jointly, made:
- contributions (other than rollover contributions) to a traditional or Roth IRA;
- elective deferrals to a 401(k), 403(b), governmental 457(b), SEP, SIMPLE, or the federal Thrift Savings Plan (TSP);
- voluntary employee contributions to a qualified retirement plan, as defined in section 4974(c) (including the federal TSP);
- contributions to a 501(c)(18)(D) plan; or
- contributions, as a designated beneficiary of an ABLE account, to the ABLE account.
Employer contributions, such as a 401(k) match, are not on the list; only your own contributions count. Roth 401(k) deferrals do count: the Form 8880 instructions include designated Roth contributions in elective deferrals.
Recent withdrawals reduce the amount. On line 4 you subtract distributions you (and your spouse, if filing jointly) received from IRAs, ABLE accounts and workplace plans in a look-back window. For a 2025 return that window runs from after 2022 to the due date of the 2025 return, including extensions. Rollovers, trustee-to-trustee transfers and some other items are left out; the line 4 instructions list them.
Who cannot take it: on the 2025 form, the person who made the contribution cannot have been born after January 1, 2008, be claimed as a dependent on someone else's return, or have been a student. The Form 8880 instructions define "student."
How Much the Credit Is Worth
The arithmetic on Form 8880 is short:
- Add each person's contributions, then subtract the line 4 distributions.
- Count no more than $2,000 per person (line 6).
- Multiply the total by your rate from the table: 0.5, 0.2 or 0.1 (lines 9 and 10).
- Limit the result to your tax, using the Credit Limit Worksheet (line 11). The credit is the smaller of the two (line 12).
Hypothetical examples for 2026, before the tax limit in step 4:
| Who | AGI | Contributions | Rate | Credit before tax limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single filer | $22,000 | $1,500 to a Roth IRA | 50% | $750 |
| Single filer | $32,000 | $3,000 to a 401(k) | 10% | $200 (only $2,000 counts) |
| Married couple, joint return | $45,000 | $2,000 each to IRAs | 50% | $2,000 |
| Head of household | $38,000 | $1,000 to a 403(b) | 20% | $200 |
Step 4 matters most at the bottom of the income range. Because the credit is nonrefundable, someone whose income tax is already small (after the standard deduction and other credits) can get less than the table amount, or nothing. Check your own figure with the worksheet in the Form 8880 instructions or your tax software.
The credit comes on top of any tax break for the contribution itself. Form 8880 notes the credit "can be claimed in addition to any IRA deduction."
Claiming It on Form 8880
- Fill in Form 8880 and attach it to Form 1040, 1040-SR or 1040-NR. The credit goes on Schedule 3 (Form 1040), line 4.
- Column (a) is you; column (b) is your spouse, completed only on a joint return.
- Line 8 is the AGI from Form 1040 line 11a, the figure the table on line 9 is based on.
- Your 401(k) or 403(b) deferrals may be shown in box 12 of your Form W-2, the form says.
There is no separate application: the credit is claimed on your normal return. Tax software asks about it when you enter retirement contributions.
From 2027: the Saver's Match
The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 added section 6433 to the tax code. The IRS explains it in Notice 2026-48: "For taxable years beginning after December 31, 2026, section 6433 of the Code allows certain low- and moderate-income individuals who make qualified retirement savings contributions to receive matching contributions of up to $1,000." Form 8880 (2025) puts the change this way: "beginning with 2027 tax returns, the saver's credit will be replaced by a saver's match that will be deposited by the government directly into your retirement account."
What the notice says about the Saver's Match:
- Size: "up to 50 percent of $2,000 of qualified retirement savings contributions," so up to $1,000 per eligible person.
- Who: at least age 18 before the end of the tax year, not a student, not claimed as a dependent on another return, and not a nonresident alien (with an exception for some who elect US resident treatment).
- Paid even with no tax due. Unlike the credit, Saver's Match contributions are "generally paid directly to an eligible individual's applicable retirement savings vehicle, even if the individual has no income tax liability."
- Small amounts: if the match would be under $100, you can elect to take it as a refundable tax credit instead of a deposit.
- How to claim: on your 2027 tax return, on a new Form 8880-A that the IRS has not yet published. The notice says the method for directing the payment to an IRA "is still under development."
- ABLE accounts: ABLE contributions do not count for the match, but the Saver's Credit continues for them after 2026, claimed on Form 8880.
The 2027 income limits. The match is not cut in steps. It starts at 50% and shrinks gradually across a phase-out range of modified adjusted gross income (MAGI):
| Filing status (2027) | Full 50% match up to (MAGI) | Phase-out range | No match from (MAGI) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Married filing jointly | $41,000 | $30,000 | $71,000 |
| Surviving spouse | $41,000 | $30,000 | $71,000 |
| Head of household | $30,750 | $22,500 | $53,250 |
| Single | $20,500 | $15,000 | $35,500 |
| Married filing separately | $20,500 | $15,000 | $35,500 |
Note the change for a qualifying surviving spouse: on the 2025 Form 8880 they use the same column as single filers, but under Notice 2026-48 they use the joint-filer amounts.
The IRS's own example (Notice 2026-48, Example 1): a single filer puts $1,500 into a traditional IRA in 2027 and has MAGI of $30,000. The reduction is 50 points x ($30,000 - $20,500) / $15,000 = 31.67, rounded down to 31. The match rate is 50% - 31 = 19%, and the match is $1,500 x 19% = $285.
An IRA contribution made between January 1, 2027 and your 2026 filing deadline (without extensions) can be designated for either year. The notice says you can designate it as made for 2026 and claim the Saver's Credit, or for 2027 and claim the Saver's Match. Compare which gives more before you choose.
The Saver's Match is new and the rules are proposed in a notice of intent to issue regulations, not final. We will update this page when the IRS publishes Form 8880-A and the regulations.
Saver's Credit vs Saver's Match
| Saver's Credit (through tax year 2026) | Saver's Match (from tax year 2027) | |
|---|---|---|
| Form of benefit | Nonrefundable tax credit | Deposit into your retirement account (or refundable credit if under $100) |
| Need tax owed to benefit? | Yes, capped at your tax | No |
| Contributions counted | Up to $2,000 per person | Up to $2,000 per person |
| Top rate and maximum | 50%, $1,000 per person | 50%, $1,000 per person |
| How the rate falls | Steps: 50%, 20%, 10% | Gradual phase-out |
| Top income, joint filers | $80,500 AGI (2026) | $71,000 MAGI (2027) |
| ABLE account contributions | Count | Do not count (the credit stays for them) |
| Form | Form 8880 | Form 8880-A (not yet published) |
Note the income ceilings: the 2027 match stops at lower incomes than the 2026 credit. A joint filer with $75,000 of AGI and MAGI can get a 10% credit for 2026 but no match for 2027.
Sources & Methodology
- 2025 table, contributions that count, line 4 distributions, the $2,000 and $1,000 caps, who cannot claim, the 2027 change: IRS Form 8880 (2025) and instructions, retrieved Nov. 14, 2026.
- 2026 income limits: IRS Notice 2025-67, retrieved Nov. 14, 2026.
- Saver's Match rules, 2027 table, the $285 example, the nonrefundable comparison and the 2026/2027 IRA designation: IRS Notice 2026-48, retrieved Nov. 14, 2026.
The worked examples in the "How much" table are our arithmetic and leave out the tax-liability limit. Band end points are written as "over" and "up to" exactly as Form 8880 states them.
FAQ
Who qualifies for the Saver's Credit in 2026?
People who contribute to an IRA, a workplace plan or their own ABLE account and whose AGI is no more than $80,500 (married filing jointly), $60,375 (head of household) or $40,250 (other filers). Dependents and students cannot claim it.
How much is the Saver's Credit?
50%, 20% or 10% of up to $2,000 of contributions per person, so at most $1,000, or $2,000 on a joint return. It cannot be more than your income tax.
Is the Saver's Credit refundable?
No. It can cut your tax to zero but not pay you beyond that. The Saver's Match that replaces it for retirement contributions from 2027 is paid even if you owe no tax.
Do 401(k) contributions count for the Saver's Credit?
Yes. Your own elective deferrals to a 401(k), 403(b), governmental 457(b), SEP, SIMPLE or the TSP count. Your employer's matching contributions do not.
What replaces the Saver's Credit in 2027?
The Saver's Match: up to 50% of $2,000 of contributions, so up to $1,000 per person, paid into your retirement account. For 2027 it phases out between $41,000 and $71,000 of MAGI for joint filers and surviving spouses, $30,750 and $53,250 for heads of household, and $20,500 and $35,500 for single filers and married people filing separately.
Can I still use Form 8880 after 2026?
Only for ABLE account contributions. The Saver's Match will be claimed on a new Form 8880-A.
General information, not tax advice. Figures are from IRS Form 8880 (2025), Notice 2025-67 and Notice 2026-48, checked on Nov. 14, 2026. The Saver's Match rules are proposed and may change; your own credit depends on your full return.
