401a contribution limits

[bean25]

I am currently employed at a state hospital with a 401a retirement plan for which there are set employee and employer contributions. I also have access to 403b and 457b accounts. If I am understanding things correctly, I am eligible for an 18k employee contribution to the 403b, an 18k employee contribution to the 457b, and my set employee and employer contribution to the 401a. Does that sound right? I couldn't information in the 401a plan document on if the employee contributions counted against the IRS limits for 401k/403b. Thanks

[ChristopherMD20]

I have the same exact question. The HR people couldn't give me an answer either which is a poor prognostic sign. Sorry I am not much help. I am commenting to get updates by the more experienced and knowledgeable WCI community. Is this your first job out of training as well? Congrats!

[spiritrider]

401a pre-tax employee contributions are picked-up by the employer and are considered mandatory contributions. They are not considered employee deferrals for purposes of the employee deferral limit (2017 = $18K and 2018 = $18.5K. The 403b employee deferral can be maxed out.

A 457b plan is a non-qualified plan and has it's own contribution limit equal to, but not limited by the qualified plan employee deferral limit.

Also, a 403b is considered controlled by the participant. As long as the participant is not a > 50% owner of a business, the 403b is not aggregated with the 401a for purposes of the annual addition limit (2017 = $54K and 2018 = $55K).

The 401a mandatory employee contributions + employer contributions + employee after-tax contributions (if available) can be up to the annual addition limit. The 403b can be the full employee deferral limit. 457b contributions can also be up to the limit.

[bean25]

Thanks for the helpful reply spiritrider! I appreciate all of the detail.

ChristopherMD20: I'm currently still in training, but wife is working and we have no kids so more money is available for saving than for most residents.