Will my new employer's 401(k) take the money from my old one?

By Kaz · Published 28 September 2026 · How this site checks figures

Summary

Only if the new plan says yes. The IRS is blunt about it: "Your retirement plan is not required to accept rollover contributions," and plans that do accept them can limit which kinds of money they'll take. If it does accept, a direct rollover from the old plan to the new one has nothing withheld, and for Roth 401(k) money it is the only way to move the whole balance, your own contributions included, into the new plan's Roth account.

The old plan has to let go; the new plan doesn't have to take it

The obligations run in one direction. When an old plan pays out an eligible rollover distribution of $200 or more, the administrator has to tell you that you can roll it over and has to arrange a direct transfer to another plan or an IRA if you ask. The new plan has no matching duty. The IRS's advice is to ask the new plan's administrator whether rollovers are allowed and, if they are, which types of contributions are accepted.

That second half matters because an old 401(k) often holds more than one kind of money.

Pretax, Roth, and after-tax money follow different rules

Pretax money can go from one 401(k) to another under the IRS rollover chart, provided the new plan accepts it.

Roth 401(k) money can go into the new plan's Roth account, but the IRS says it "must be rolled over into a designated Roth account in another plan through a direct rollover." If the check comes to you and you redeposit within 60 days, the part that was your own contributions can't go into the new plan's Roth account. It can still go into a Roth IRA. The reverse move isn't available: the IRS chart doesn't allow Roth IRA money to be rolled into a Roth 401(k).

After-tax contributions can go to another plan only through a direct rollover, and only to a plan that tracks the taxable and nontaxable parts separately.

There's a payoff to the direct route for Roth money. After a direct rollover, the new plan starts its five-year period on the first day of the year you first made Roth contributions to the old plan, if that's earlier. Roll the same money into a Roth IRA and those years don't count toward the IRA's clock. The guide to the Roth five-year rule walks through both cases.

How the money should travel

A direct rollover means the old plan pays the new plan, sometimes with a check made out to the new account, and "No taxes will be withheld." A check made out to you comes with 20% withheld, and to move the full balance within 60 days you'd have to cover that 20% from savings. As an example, a $40,000 balance paid to you arrives as $32,000 after $8,000 is withheld; rolling over the full $40,000 means adding $8,000 of your own money, and any part you don't roll over is treated as a distribution. Plan-to-plan rollovers don't count toward the one-rollover-per-12-months limit that applies between IRAs.

After the move, the new plan's rules apply

The money takes on the new plan's investment menu, fees, and loan and withdrawal rules. The Department of Labor requires plan administrators to give participants plan, investment, and fee information, so you can put the new plan's disclosure next to the old one's before deciding. What a fee gap adds up to over time is on the page about a 1% fee over 25 years, and the case for leaving the money where it is has its own guide.

Sources

Written by Kaz, an independent publisher.
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