Updated September 29, 2026. Quick answer. The standard annual contribution limit for an ABLE account (a tax-advantaged disability savings account under 26 U.S.C. §529A) is $20,000 for 2026, up from $19,000 in 2025. That is the first year the ABLE limit has ever been higher than the ordinary federal gift tax annual exclusion ($19,000 for 2026): the two figures had moved in exact lockstep every year since ABLE accounts were created, until the One Big Beautiful Bill Act changed the ABLE statute’s own base year. Working beneficiaries who don’t participate in an employer retirement plan can also contribute an additional “ABLE to Work” amount, $15,650 for the continental U.S. in 2026 (higher in Alaska and Hawaii), tied to the prior year’s one-person federal poverty guideline. The 2027 figures for both are not yet announced.
More on the 2027 tax figures: the 2027 Trump account contribution limit.
Related reading on this site: IRS Publication 907.
Read box by box from the IRS form text: Form 1099-QA boxes 1 to 3, Form 5498-QA boxes 1 to 4 and Form 5498-QA boxes 5 to 8.
Business use of your home (Form 8829), the saver’s credit (Form 8880), clean vehicle credits (Form 8936) and amended returns (Form 1040-X), read line by line: Form 8880 and Form 8880 lines 1 to 5.
Schedule 1 (Form 1040) for 2025, read line by line: Schedule 1 lines 8q to 8s.
What’s actually settled, vs. still open
Settled for 2026 (Revenue Procedure 2025-32, §4.34, quoted directly): “For taxable years beginning in 2026, $20,000…is included in the aggregate limitation on contributions to ABLE accounts under §529A(b)(2)(B)(i).” The same document sets the ordinary gift tax exclusion at $19,000 for 2026, the first year on record the two figures don’t match.
Open: the 2027 standard limit. The 2027 ABLE-to-Work cap is already fixed, because the statute uses the poverty line for the preceding calendar year: the 2026 HHS guideline for a one-person household is $15,960 in the 48 contiguous states and D.C., $19,950 in Alaska and $18,360 in Hawaii, and a beneficiary’s addition is the lesser of that and their own compensation. The standard limit is governed by 26 U.S.C. §529A(b)(2)(B)(i); the ABLE-to-Work addition by §529A(b)(2)(B)(ii), which caps it at the lesser of the beneficiary’s own compensation or the prior year’s one-person federal poverty guideline under 42 U.S.C. §9902(2).
The numbers, year by year
| Year | ABLE standard limit | Gift tax exclusion | Same figure? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | $17,000 | $17,000 | Yes |
| 2024 | $18,000 | $18,000 | Yes |
| 2025 | $19,000 | $19,000 | Yes |
| 2026 | $20,000 | $19,000 | No (OBBBA split them) |
| 2027 | not yet announced | not yet announced | n/a |
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Source: WiserAdvisor’s service descriptionWhy the two figures split in 2026
26 U.S.C. §529A(b)(2)(B)(i) defines the ABLE limit by reference to “the amount in effect under section 2503(b)” (the ordinary gift-tax exclusion statute). Through 2025 it used that amount as is, so the two figures were always identical. Starting in 2026, OBBBA §70115(a)(1) added a substituted base year, “1996” in place of “1997,” to the ABLE calculation specifically, which adds an extra year of compounded inflation and is the entire reason $20,000 and $19,000 are no longer the same number, even though both are still built from the same underlying gift-exclusion mechanism.
The “ABLE to Work” addition works on a deliberate one-year lag: the 2026 figure ($15,650 for the continental U.S.) equals the 2025 HHS one-person poverty guideline, not the 2026 guideline, because HHS doesn’t publish a given year’s guideline until January of that year, too late for ABLE contribution planning to use it in real time.
Sources
The ABLE limits on this page were checked against 26 U.S.C. §529A, IRS Revenue Procedures 2025-32 (2026 amounts) and 2024-40 (2025 amounts) (section 4.34 for the 2026 ABLE amount) and the HHS poverty guidelines on September 29, 2026.
2026 ABLE standard limit: IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32, §4.34, read at irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-25-32.pdf on 2026-09-04. 2026 gift tax exclusion for comparison: Revenue Procedure 2026-25, irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-26-25.pdf, independently confirming $19,000. Statute: 26 U.S.C. §529A(b)(2)(B), read at uscode.house.gov on 2026-09-04. ABLE-to-Work figure ($15,650 continental US / $19,550 Alaska / $17,990 Hawaii): ABLE National Resource Center, ablenrc.org, read 2026-09-04; the one figure on this page sourced from a secondary rather than a directly-fetched primary document, since HHS poverty guidelines are published separately from IRS revenue procedures. No 2027 figure or forecaster projection was found for either amount as of this date.
This page is updated the day the official figure is announced, and any projection above will be struck through rather than deleted, so the record of what was projected vs. what actually happened stays visible. See the 2027 numbers hub for every figure this program tracks, projected vs. official. General information, not tax or legal advice.
For a related 2027 figure, see AMT Exemption 2027: $90,100 Single / $140,200 Joint for 2026.
For a related 2027 figure, see Foreign Earned Income Exclusion 2027: $132,900 for 2026.
For a related 2027 figure, see FSA Contribution Limit 2027: $3,400 Now, Mercer Projects $3,500.
For a related 2027 figure, see Kiddie Tax Thresholds 2027: $1,350 and $2,700 for 2026.
For a related 2027 figure, see QCD Limit 2027: $111,000 for 2026, 2027 Not Yet Announced.
For a related 2027 figure, see Saver’s Credit 2027: The Credit Ends After 2026, Replaced by the Saver’s Match.
For a related 2027 figure, see SIMPLE IRA Contribution Limit 2027: Six 2026 Numbers, None Yet for 2027.
For a related 2027 figure, see Social Security Wage Base 2027: $184,500 Now, Trustees Project $190,200.