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Health savings accounts, or HSAs, have higher contribution limits in 2026, allowing you to save more for health care expenses if you’re using a high-deductible health care plan. An HSA provides you with key tax advantages, including the potential for a triple tax benefit: tax-free contributions, tax-free capital gains and tax-free withdrawals used for health care expenses.
Here are the contribution limits for HSAs in 2025 and 2026, along with other key HSA eligibility requirements.
HSA contribution limits for 2025-2026
Your maximum annual contribution to an HSA is determined by a few elements, including who you’re covering and importantly how long you’re covered by an eligible health care plan.
Your maximum contribution is determined by whether you’re covering yourself only or a family, and also whether you’re age 55 and older.
- The maximum contribution for self-only coverage is $4,300 ($4,400 in 2026).
- The maximum contribution for family coverage is $8,550 ($8,750 in 2026).
- Those age 55 and older can make an additional $1,000 catch-up contribution.
- Add those figures up and a couple could save as much as $10,600 in their HSAs in 2025, if they maxed out individual accounts and were both at least age 55.
Some employers may add additional contributions to your account, but regardless of how much your company adds, you’re still capped at the maximum for your plan type, whether self or family. So, if your company adds $1,300 to your self-only plan, you’ll be able to add at most an incremental $3,000 to the plan, taking you to the full $4,300 for 2025.
If you contribute too much, the IRS can hit you with substantial penalties. But the best health savings accounts help you avoid contributing too much. Plus, top HSAs also allow you to invest your funds into potentially high-return assets.
HSA contribution limits for those not covered for a full year
It’s also important to know that while those are the annual maximums, you’ll only be able to contribute to an HSA for the months that you’re actually enrolled in an eligible health care plan at the first of the month. For example, if you had an eligible health care plan through July 27, you’d be able to contribute a prorated amount of seven-twelfths of the annualized amount.
To put that into actual numbers, you’d be able to contribute $2,508.33 on a self-only HSA, or the annual amount of $4,300 (for 2025) multiplied by 7/12.
However, even this rule has an important exception that consumers should know about, and it’s called the “last-month rule.” The IRS allows those who are enrolled in an eligible health care plan to make a full year’s worth of HSA contributions if they’re enrolled in a plan as of Dec. 1.
Here’s the catch to the last-month rule: You’ll need to stay enrolled in the eligible health care plan from Dec. 1 to Dec. 31 of the following year. If you leave the health care plan before that following year is up, however, the IRS will levy income taxes on any excess contributions and then add on a 10 percent bonus penalty on those excess contributions.
HSA eligibility requirements
To be able to contribute to an HSA, you’ll need to be enrolled in an HSA-eligible health care plan, also known as a high-deductible health care plan, among a few other conditions:
- A self-only health care plan must have a minimum annual deductible of $1,650 ($1,700 in 2026) and an annual out-of-pocket limit of at least $8,300 ($8,500 in 2026).
- A family health care plan must have a minimum annual deductible of $3,300 ($3,400 in 2026) and an annual out-of-pocket limit of at least $16,600 ($17,000 in 2026).
In addition, you’ll also need to meet the following conditions:
- You’re not claimed as a dependent on someone else’s tax return for that tax year.
- You’re not enrolled in Medicare.
- You’re not enrolled in a health care plan that is not HSA-eligible.
You generally can’t be covered by another health care plan and also have a high-deductible plan. But you can contribute to an HSA as a married individual if you’re covered by a high-deductible plan as long as you’re not covered under your spouse’s health care plan.
Bottom line
Health savings accounts can provide some powerful tax benefits for those using them, but make sure you’re eligible to use one and that you don’t go over the annual contribution limits. In fact, an HSA can offer some powerful retirement benefits, too, and some individuals use their HSA as a retirement account.
— Bankrate’s Rachel Christian contributed to an update of this article.
