Health savings accounts in 2027: the new limits, and what a contribution does to a tax bill

November is when a lot of workplaces ask employees to pick next year's health plan. One of the choices on many of those forms is a high-deductible plan paired with a health savings account, and the IRS has already published the 2027 numbers that go with it, in Revenue Procedure 2026-24.

The 2027 numbers

This year's limits are $4,400 and $8,750. Someone 55 or older can put in another $1,000, a figure the law does not adjust for inflation. The out-of-pocket cap counts deductibles, copays and coinsurance, not premiums.

Who can put money in

The rules are in IRS Publication 969. A person is eligible for a month when, on the first day of that month:

• they are covered by a high-deductible plan that meets the numbers above;
• they have no other health coverage, apart from the kinds the publication lists as allowed;
• they are not enrolled in Medicare;
• nobody else can claim them as a dependent.

The limit covers every dollar that goes in, from the worker and the employer together. Money in the account can be spent on qualified medical costs without tax. Money taken out for anything else is taxable income, and the publication says it may carry an additional 20% tax.

Two Magnolia households, worked

A married couple in 77354 on a family plan. They put the full $9,000 in during 2027. Every dollar comes off their federal taxable income. In the 12% bracket, their federal income tax falls by about $1,080. In the 22% bracket, about $1,980. Texas has no state income tax, so there is nothing to add on that side. If the employer puts in $1,000, the couple's own room shrinks to $8,000, and the tax math moves with it.

The zero case: the same couple puts nothing in. Their taxable income does not change, and there is no balance waiting when a bill comes.

A single 58-year-old on a self-only plan. The limit is $4,500 plus the $1,000 catch-up, $5,500 in all. In the 12% bracket, that lowers federal income tax by about $660. The month that person enrolls in Medicare, the publication says, the contribution limit drops to zero. What is already in the account stays and can still pay medical bills.

Assumptions: the bracket figures are each household's top federal rate; the arithmetic is ours.

The trade-off, side by side

• The high-deductible plan with an account: the family deductible is at least $3,500, and in a bad year the family could pay up to the plan's own cap, which can be as high as $17,400. Contributions lower taxable income, and the balance carries forward.
• A lower-deductible plan without an account: less paid before coverage starts, and no account contributions. Premiums for each choice are set by the employer and appear on the enrollment form.

If nobody touches it

Money already in a health savings account stays there. Publication 969 says amounts left at the end of the year generally carry over, and the account stays with the worker after a job change or retirement. Whether last year's payroll contribution repeats in 2027 depends on the employer's plan, and the enrollment packet says which.

Things to check on the enrollment form

• That the plan is labeled as eligible for a health savings account, and its deductible meets the $1,750 or $3,500 floor.
• Any employer contribution, since it counts toward the same limit.
• Other coverage in the house, such as a spouse's flexible spending arrangement, against the list in Publication 969.
• A Medicare start date in 2027 for anyone on the plan.

Shopping on HealthCare.gov instead of at work? The marketplace dates are in this resource, and Medicare's fall window is in this one.