How much can you actually put in a Solo 401(k)?
A Solo 401(k) lets a self-employed owner contribute twice — once as the employee, once as the employer. Most owners only ever fund the first half. Enter your numbers to see both.
Across both the employee and employer sides.
- Employee salary deferral$0
- Catch-up contribution$0
- Employer profit sharing$0
- Your total$0
- Spouse's sideSame calculation, run on their own compensation.$0
- Household total$0
Show the arithmetic
Is the plan you have letting you do this?
Plenty of Solo 401(k) documents quietly cap the employer side, block Roth deferrals, or were never amended for the current rules. We administer these plans and will review yours at no cost, whether or not we end up working together.
Assumptions and limits. 2026 figures: employee deferral limit $24,500; catch-up $8,000 at age 50 and over, or $11,250 for ages 60 through 63; overall annual additions limit $72,000 before catch-up; compensation limit $360,000; Social Security wage base $184,500. Sole proprietors and single-member LLCs: net earnings from self-employment are taken as 92.35% of net profit, self-employment tax at 12.4% up to the wage base plus 2.9% Medicare, and the employer contribution as 25% of earned income after the deduction for one half of self-employment tax — which works out to 20% of profit net of that deduction. S-corporations: the employer contribution is 25% of W-2 wages. The additional 0.9% Medicare tax on high earners is excluded because it is not part of the self-employment tax deduction. Figures assume contributions for a full year, no other employees beyond an owner and spouse, no participation in another employer's plan, and no state-level differences. This tool is general education, not tax, legal, or investment advice, and it is not a recommendation to open any particular account or plan. Confirm every figure with your own tax professional before contributing.