Get your per-pay-period target
Set your basic pay, age, prior-year wages, and goal. The tool returns your per-pay-period amount, the agency money you capture, and any flags that apply to your situation.
Total Agency Contribution by Your Contribution Rate
Agency automatic and matching contributions as a percentage of basic pay, at each employee contribution rate. The match schedule is dollar-for-dollar on the first 3 percent and 50 cents per dollar on the next 2 percent, then flat. Everything above 5 percent adds no further agency money.
I How the calculation works
The tool applies four rules in sequence.
- Determine your ceiling. The 2026 elective deferral limit is $24,500. Add $8,000 if you are 50 or older, or $11,250 if you turn 60, 61, 62, or 63 during 2026 — for totals of $32,500 and $35,750 respectively. Employees turning 64 or older revert to the standard $8,000 catch-up.
- Compute the target. Your selected goal, capped at that ceiling.
- Divide by pay periods. Your annual target divided by the pay periods remaining, which is what produces the number you enter into your payroll system.
- Compute agency money. For FERS, 1 percent automatic plus a match of dollar-for-dollar on the first 3 percent of basic pay and 50 cents per dollar on the next 2 percent. CSRS employees receive neither.
The agency match is calculated per pay period, not per year. Contribute evenly across every pay period and you capture every available match dollar. Hit the elective deferral limit early and you contribute nothing — and receive no match — for the rest of the year. That is the entire reason a per-pay-period number matters more than an annual one.
II What this tool does not model
- Investment returns. This is a contribution calculator, not a projection. For balance modeling over a career, use the TSP Growth Projector.
- The Traditional versus Roth split. The limits are combined across both; how to divide them is a tax question covered in Topic 13.
- Fund allocation. Which funds you hold is separate from how much you contribute — see Topic 14.
- The IRC §415(c) annual additions limit of $72,000, which is rarely binding for civilian employees and matters mainly for uniformed members contributing in combat zones.
- Uniformed services combat zone rules, which permit contributions well above the civilian elective deferral limit.
The full contribution framework, including the priority hierarchy for allocating limited savings capacity, is in Topic 12 on TSP contribution strategy.
Frequently asked questions
The 2026 elective deferral limit is $24,500, which is the combined maximum across Traditional and Roth TSP through payroll deduction. Employees who will be age 50 or older by December 31, 2026 may contribute an additional $8,000 in catch-up contributions, for a total of $32,500. Employees turning 60, 61, 62, or 63 during 2026 qualify for the enhanced super catch-up of $11,250 under SECURE 2.0 Act Section 109, bringing their ceiling to $35,750. Agency automatic and matching contributions do not count against these limits.
Divide your annual target by the number of pay periods in your year. Across 26 pay periods, maxing the $24,500 elective deferral requires about $942.31 per pay period; the $32,500 age-50 total requires $1,250.00; and the $35,750 age 60 to 63 total requires $1,375.00. If your agency has 27 pay periods in 2026, divide by 27 instead. Contributing evenly matters because the agency match is calculated per pay period, not annually.
FERS employees receive an automatic 1 percent agency contribution regardless of what they contribute themselves. On top of that, agencies match the first 5 percent of basic pay: dollar for dollar on the first 3 percent, and 50 cents per dollar on the next 2 percent. Contributing exactly 5 percent produces a total 5 percent agency contribution — 1 percent automatic plus 4 percent matching. Contributing more than 5 percent is fine but the match is capped at 4 percent. CSRS employees receive no agency contribution and no match.
The agency match is calculated per pay period rather than annually. If you contribute a large percentage early in the year and hit the $24,500 elective deferral limit before the final pay period, you contribute nothing in the remaining pay periods — and receive no match for those pay periods either. A high earner who reaches the limit by pay period 15 forfeits match dollars in pay periods 16 through 26. The fix is to divide your annual target by the number of pay periods and contribute that amount evenly.
Under Section 603 of the SECURE 2.0 Act, effective January 1, 2026, employees whose prior-year FICA wages exceeded $150,000 must direct all catch-up contributions to Roth TSP. The traditional pre-tax catch-up option is no longer available to these high earners. Check Box 5, Medicare wages and tips, on your 2025 W-2 to determine whether the rule applies to you. No separate election is required — the spillover mechanism directs contributions to Roth automatically once you reach the elective deferral limit.
The conventional guidance has long been that the agency match applies only to contributions within the elective deferral limit of $24,500, so catch-up contributions above it carry no employer money. Since the TSP moved to the spillover method, however, agency guidance on whether matching continues once contributions spill into catch-up has not been uniformly stated, and practice may differ from the older rule. Because the answer affects real money, confirm the current treatment with your payroll office or tsp.gov rather than relying on any summary. What is not in dispute: catch-up should be an addition to a fully funded elective deferral, never a substitute for part of it.
No. The TSP eliminated the separate catch-up election in 2021 in favor of the spillover method. Once your regular contributions reach the elective deferral limit, additional contributions automatically count as catch-up up to your applicable ceiling. You simply set a per-pay-period amount that reaches your combined total goal. Contribution elections are made through your agency payroll system — Employee Express, MyPay, EBIS, myEPP, or an agency-specific portal — rather than through the TSP itself.
You qualify for the super catch-up of $11,250 rather than the standard $8,000, bringing your total ceiling to $35,750. The enhanced limit applies in the years you turn 60 through 63; from the year you turn 64, the standard $8,000 catch-up resumes. This is one of the most commonly missed opportunities in the TSP, because payroll systems do not automatically raise your contribution amount when you become eligible — you have to change the election yourself.