Fortunetellers already know how U.S. benefits professionals will spend some of their time from now through mid-2027: They will keep searching the internet for the minimum numbers, maximum numbers and other numbers that shape how the tax breaks for health benefits and other benefits work in 2026.
The Internal Revenue Service publishes several batches of inflation-adjusted benefits program “parameters” throughout the year.
One of the longest usually comes out in October, and, in spite of the effects of the federal government shutdown, the IRS managed to post the October parameters update last week.
The new “revenue procedure” provides parameters for benefits arrangements such as cafeteria plans and qualified small employer health reimbursements, but not, for example, for health savings accounts or high-deductible health plans.
Because of quirks in inflation adjustment formulas and efforts to round the numbers to multiples of 10, some federal benefits parameter adjustment percentages can be bigger than others.
In the new revenue procedure, for example, the percentage increases range from 1.79%, for the medical savings account minimum deductible for self-only coverage, up to 4.62%, for the qualified transit fringe benefit.
The average of the 2026 adjustment items increased by 2.55%, down from 2.55% in 2025.
Here’s a look at 12 of the adjusted benefits parameters.
1. Employee health insurance expense of small employers: The IRS uses this figure to determine whether small employers have compensation low enough that they can qualify for tax breaks when using an Affordable Care Act public exchange to provide health benefits. This parameter increased to $34,100, from $33,300.
2. Cafeteria plans — limit on voluntary employee salary reductions for contributions to health flexible spending arrangements: This parameter increased to $3,400, from $3,300.
3. Cafeteria plans — maximum unused value that can be carried over to the next year: This parameter increased to $680, from $660.
4. Qualified transportation fringe benefit exclusion: This parameter increased to $340, from $325.
5. Medical savings account — minimum deductible for self-only coverage: This parameter, which affects business owners and current or former employees of small businesses who have a grandfathered ancestor of the health savings account, increased to $2,900, from $2,850.
6. MSA — maximum deductible for self-only coverage: This MSA parameter increased to $4,400, from $4,300.
7. MSA — minimum deductible for family coverage: This parameter increased to $5,850, from $5,700.
8. MSA — maximum deductible for family coverage: This parameter increased to $8,750, from $8,550.
9. MSA — maximum annual out-of-pocket expenses for self-only coverage: This parameter increased to $5,850, from $5,700.
10. MSA — maximum annual out-of-pocket expenses for family coverage: This parameter increased to $10,700, from $10,500.
11. Qualified small employer health reimbursement arrangement — maximum reimbursements for an individual: A QSEHRA is an arrangement that a small employer can use to provide cash that the workers can use to buy their own individual coverage. The most a QSEHRA can pay toward individual premiums in 2026 will increase to $6,450, from $6,350.
12. QSEHRA — maximum reimbursement for a family: The amount a QSEHRA can pay for family coverage will increase to $13,100, from $12,800.