Two Jobs, Three Plans, One IRS Limit: W-2 + 1099 Retirement Math for CRNAs

The answer before the alphabet soup

A CRNA with a hospital W-2 job and 1099 income can have a lot of retirement-saving room. You just do not get a new employee-deferral limit each time another account appears.

For 2026, your hospital 403(b) and Solo 401(k) generally share one $24,500 employee-deferral limit. A 457(b) generally gets a separate $24,500 limit. Employer contributions follow a different set of rules, including one special 403(b) rule that catches plenty of otherwise smart people.

So, can you fund all three? Often, yes. Can you blindly select “maximum” in all three portals? That is a more expensive question.

If you first need the hospital-plan basics, read our 403(b) versus 457(b) guide for CRNAs. This article picks up where that guide stops and adds the outside business plan.

Five tests, because one would be too convenient

“Can I max all three?” sounds like one question. It is really these five.

1. 1. Shared employee deferrals

   Your regular 403(b), Solo 401(k), and other 401(k)/403(b) elective deferrals generally cannot exceed $24,500 in total. The limit belongs to you, not to either employer.

2. 2. The separate 457(b)

   The 457(b) receives a separate limit. Employee and employer contributions to the 457(b) count together, and contributions to every 457(b) you have must be considered.

3. 3. The hospital 403(b)

   Regular employee, hospital employer, and voluntary after-tax contributions to the 403(b) generally must remain within the lesser of $72,000 or eligible hospital compensation.

4. 4. The Solo 401(k)

   The Solo plan has its own annual-additions and compensation limits. S corporation contributions use W-2 wages, not shareholder distributions.

5. 5. The 403(b) aggregation rule

   If you control more than 50% of the business sponsoring the Solo 401(k), the hospital 403(b) and controlled-business plans generally must also pass one combined Section 415(c) test.

Your 403(b) and Solo 401(k) share the employee limit

The employee-deferral limit follows you. It does not reset when you move from the hospital payroll system to the business payroll system.

Assume you defer the full $24,500 into your hospital 403(b). Your remaining regular employee-deferral room in the Solo 401(k) is zero.

You may still make an employer contribution through the CRNA business. You simply cannot put another $24,500 into the Solo 401(k) and call it a second employee contribution.

Pre-tax versus Roth does not change this math. Both use the same limit. Choosing between them is a tax-planning decision, not a hunt for hidden contribution room.

For that separate decision, see Roth or pre-tax for CRNAs. CRNAs age 50 or older should also review the 2027 Roth catch-up rule.

Employer matching and profit-sharing contributions do not use this $24,500 employee limit. They do count under the annual-additions rules below.

The 457(b) gets its own bucket, with a catch

A 457(b) does not share the $24,500 elective-deferral bucket used by the 403(b) and Solo 401(k). An eligible CRNA under age 50 could therefore defer $24,500 across the 403(b) and Solo 401(k), combined, plus another $24,500 to a 457(b).

The catch is that a 457(b) uses one combined limit for employee and employer contributions. If the hospital contributes $5,000 to the 457(b), the employee generally has only $19,500 of regular 457(b) room left.

Governmental and non-governmental plans are different animals

A non-governmental 457(b) is an unsecured promise from the employer. That does not automatically make it a bad benefit. It does mean “I found another tax deduction” is not a complete investment analysis.

The final-three-year catch-up

A 457(b) may permit a special catch-up during the three taxable years before the plan’s normal retirement age. For 2026, the total limit is generally the lesser of $49,000 or $24,500 plus qualifying unused deferral room from prior years.

A governmental participant eligible for both an age-based catch-up and the special catch-up uses whichever produces the higher limit. The two do not stack. Have the plan administrator certify the unused amount. Memory is a terrific storyteller and a terrible plan record.

The Solo 401(k) gives the owner two hats

Inside a Solo 401(k), the business owner is both employee and employer. Those two roles use different rules.

As the employee, you can make an elective deferral. That contribution shares the personal limit with the hospital 403(b).

As the employer, the business may make a matching or nonelective contribution. It does not consume the $24,500 employee limit, but it does count toward the $72,000 annual-additions limit.

S corporation

For an S corporation, employee and employer contributions are based on eligible W-2 compensation. Shareholder distributions do not create retirement-plan compensation.

If the S corporation pays $100,000 of eligible W-2 wages, a common maximum employer formula is 25% of eligible wages, or $25,000, subject to the plan document and every other limit in this article. Another $100,000 of shareholder distributions does not turn that employer contribution into $50,000. Nice try, though.

Sole proprietor, disregarded LLC, or partner

The self-employed math is different. A stated 25% employer rate generally becomes an effective 20% rate applied to adjusted net earnings after the deductible portion of self-employment tax. Low earnings and an existing employee deferral can reduce it further.

This is why gross 1099 revenue multiplied by 25% is not a finished contribution figure. It is a future correction wearing a spreadsheet costume.

If you are still choosing the business plan itself, compare the SEP IRA and Solo 401(k) for 1099 CRNAs before setting payroll.

Employees and related businesses

A Solo 401(k) is simply a regular 401(k) currently covering an owner, or an owner and spouse. Common-law employees, a spouse-owned related business, multiple entities under common control, leased employees, or an affiliated service group can change eligibility, testing, and contribution requirements.

If any of those facts apply, this stops being a do-it-yourself year-end deposit. Bring in the TPA before the money moves.

The 403(b) trap smart people miss

Plans maintained by genuinely unrelated employers can often have separate Section 415(c) annual-additions limits. A 403(b) has a special rule.

If you participate in a hospital 403(b) and control more than 50% of a business that sponsors a defined-contribution plan, the 403(b) must generally be combined with the plan of the controlled business for another annual-additions test.

For a CRNA who owns 100% of an S corporation with a Solo 401(k), the practical rule is this:

Both plans can pass alone and fail together

Each plan is separately below $72,000. Together, they are $15,000 over. Under the applicable rules, an excess caused by this aggregation may be attributed to the 403(b). Prevention wins this round by a mile.

Find out where the hospital match lands

Some hospitals place employee deferrals in a 403(b) but deposit employer contributions into a separate 401(a). A contribution to an unrelated hospital’s 401(a) is not automatically the same as an employer contribution deposited into your 403(b).

Pull the actual account statement or summary plan description. “The hospital puts in 5% somewhere” is not enough detail. Somewhere is not an Internal Revenue Code section.

Put real numbers on it

Maria is 38. She works for a hospital and picks up 1099 shifts through an S corporation. Her S corporation pays $100,000 of W-2 wages.

That $82,000 total is not automatically a problem. The limits do not all stack into one giant bucket.

The shared employee-deferral test passes because Maria put $24,500 into the 403(b) and $0 of regular employee deferrals into the Solo 401(k). The 457(b) separately passes at $24,500.

For the special 403(b) aggregation test, the 403(b) has $32,500 of annual additions and the Solo 401(k) has $25,000. That is $57,500 combined, leaving $14,500 below the $72,000 ceiling.

If her Solo 401(k) permits voluntary after-tax contributions and every compensation and plan requirement is satisfied, that remaining aggregate room may create another planning opportunity. It is not another $24,500 employee deferral.

A practical order before payroll gets creative

1. Capture the hospital match

   Know how much must be contributed each pay period and whether the hospital provides a year-end true-up. Front-loading can cost matching dollars when a plan does not true up.

2. Set one employee target

   Decide where the shared regular deferral will go based on fees, investments, Roth availability, payroll convenience, and plan rules.

3. Check the 457(b)

   Include employer contributions, then identify whether the plan is governmental or non-governmental before treating the tax deferral as an automatic win.

4. Run the business contribution

   Use S corporation W-2 compensation or the self-employed Publication 560 method. Gross revenue and shareholder distributions are not contribution formulas.

5. Apply the aggregate test

   Add non-catch-up annual additions to the 403(b) and the defined-contribution plans of businesses you control by more than 50%.

6. Recheck before year-end funding

   Confirm actual compensation, hospital contributions, related businesses, employee eligibility, and every year-to-date payroll deferral before the final deposit.

The boring documents matter here: the hospital statement, summary plan description, business payroll report, and Solo 401(k) adoption agreement. Gather those before somebody says, “I think we maxed it.”

Common questions

The bottom line

A W-2 job plus 1099 income can create meaningful retirement-saving capacity. It does not create unlimited copies of the employee contribution limit.

Use one shared employee-deferral bucket for the 403(b) and Solo 401(k), one separate 457(b) bucket, separate employer-contribution math, and one additional 403(b)-plus-controlled-business aggregation test.

Then make the hospital administrator, business TPA, payroll report, and tax return tell the same story. The portals may never compare notes. You still have to.

Sources and further reading

1. IRS: 2026 retirement-plan contribution limits
2. IRS: Cost-of-living limits for benefits and contributions
3. IRS: Salary deferrals when eligible for more than one plan
4. IRS: 403(b) contribution limits and catch-ups
5. IRS: 403(b) aggregation with a controlled employer’s defined-contribution plan
6. IRS Publication 571: Tax-Sheltered Annuity Plans
7. IRS: One-participant 401(k) plans
8. IRS Publication 560: Retirement Plans for Small Business
9. IRS: S corporation retirement-plan contributions
10. IRS: 457(b) contribution limits
11. IRS: Governmental and tax-exempt 457(b) comparison
12. IRS: Non-governmental 457(b) plans
13. IRS: Multiple 457(b) plans and correction of excess deferrals

This article provides general educational information using 2026 federal limits. It is not individualized tax, legal, investment, or retirement-plan advice. It does not interpret your plan document, determine controlled-group or affiliated-service-group status, calculate nondiscrimination or top-heavy requirements, or replace advice from a plan administrator, third-party administrator, tax professional, or ERISA attorney. Plan terms may impose lower limits. Non-calendar limitation years, multiple businesses, employees, spouse ownership, special catch-ups, voluntary after-tax contributions, and separate hospital 401(a) plans require additional review.