repayments program

 No. 401(k) loan repayments do not count as new 401(k) contributions.

Your regular payroll 401(k) contributions—traditional/pre-tax and Roth 401(k)—count toward your annual employee contribution limit. But when you repay a 401(k) loan, you are simply putting borrowed money back into your account, so those repayments do not use up your annual contribution limit.

One important distinction: loan repayments are generally made with after-tax dollars, even if the money you originally borrowed came from your pre-tax 401(k). They are not an additional pre-tax deduction.

So, for example, if during the year you make $20,000 of regular 401(k) contributions and $6,000 of 401(k) loan repayments, only the $20,000 counts toward your employee contribution limit—not $26,000.

If you tell me your age and how much you have already contributed to your 401(k) in 2026, I can calculate exactly how much more you can contribute this year without exceeding the limit.

 Because you have both a 401(k) and a 403(b), you need to combine your employee elective deferrals when checking the 2026 limit. The IRS 2026 basic elective-deferral limit is $24,500. 

2026 contributions	Amount
401(k) pre-tax through Sept. 25	$9,090.00
403(b) through Sept. 30	$2,722.22
Total contributed	$11,812.22
2026 limit	$24,500.00
Remaining for 2026	$12,687.78

So, you can contribute another

$12,687.78

You can put that remaining amount into the 401(k), the 403(b), or split it between them, as long as your combined employee elective deferrals don’t exceed $24,500. 

Also, as we discussed above, 401(k) loan repayments don’t reduce this $12,687.78 remaining contribution room.

One important thing: because your 401(k) and 403(b) appear to be through different employers, each payroll system may not know how much you’re contributing to the other plan. So you’ll want to monitor the combined amount yourself.

If you give me your remaining 2026 pay dates for the 401(k) job and 403(b) job, I can calculate the exact dollar amount or percentage to deduct from every paycheck from October through December to reach exactly $24,500 without going over.