Apologies for what's probably a very basic question - I'm relatively new to the US, and think I may have been misunderstanding how 401(k) contributions work for the last 2 years.
I know the limit for 2013 is $17,500, but I've been assuming that's the absolute max, comprised of both what hubby puts in and his employer's matching contributions. But I've read a couple of things recently that suggested that no, the $17,500 is just what he puts in, and the employer can then add thousands more with their matching.
I did go and read through the IRS guidelines - several times, slowly, and with increasing irritation, as per usual for IRS guidelines - which I think say that it's $17,500 for the employee, and then the employer can make it up to either $51k (or 100% the employee's salary if lower).
I'm about 98% sure that we can now go online and bust another few thou into the 401(k) for 2013 to max it out, but just wanted to double check my reasoning first; I thought you guys would be most likely to know out of all the finance websites I read. We accidentally overpaid the HSA last year due to the employer's $1k 'have a fitness check up' bung not being factored in their online withholding calc, and it was a world of pain to work out the rules and back it out before filing.
Thank a lot.