International Business Machines Corporation 401(k) match
IBM 401(k) Plan · IBM · CIK 51143
Fidelity Investments is the recordkeeper named on the Form 5500 filed for this plan, the company that keeps the account records. Where to log in, and what the filing says.
Matched to this employer by sponsor name, not by an identifier stated in the filing.
The 401(k) employer match
No employer match
International Business Machines Corporation's filing discloses no employer matching contribution for this plan.
From the Form 11-K filed June 26, 2026 ↗, covering the plan year ended December 31, 2025. Page data last updated July 28, 2026, when the Form 5500 bulk data was last refreshed. Why filings lag
On this page: the formula, word for word · what it used to be · when the money becomes yours · who can join · who holds your account · what the plan reports to the DOL · how it compares · what to do next
What IBM puts in, and what the plan costs
What IBM puts in
$0
a year, at any salary.
The filing discloses no employer contribution to this plan.
The match paragraph, word for word
“As previously disclosed, beginning January 1, 2024, IBM began providing a new cash balance retirement benefit to eligible employees under the company's existing U.S. Defined Benefit Qualified Personal Pension Plan (Qualified PPP) called the Retirement Benefit Account (RBA). IBM's contributions to the Plan ended and employees can continue to make contributions to the Plan.”
What you contribute to collect all of it
Nothing to collect
The filing discloses no employer contribution to this plan, so no contribution rate collects one.
Vesting score
100 out of 100
How fast the employer’s money becomes yours. Higher than 48% of the 369 schedules we have scored.
It measures vesting speed and nothing else. It says nothing about the size of the match, what the plan charges, or the funds inside it.
Share of the employer's money that is the worker's at hire and at each of the first 6 anniversaries: 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%. The score is the average of those 7 readings.
Vesting, word for word
“Participants in the Plan are at all times fully vested in their account balance, including employee contributions, prior IBM contributions and earnings thereon, if any.”
The wait before the match starts and the year-end true-up appear above when the filing states them. Neither is part of the score, and a filing that is silent on one of them is not a plan without it.
What the plan costs, against plans of its size
98th percentile
$229.90 per participant in plan-paid administrative cost, more expensive than 98% of plans with 5,000+ participants.
What is IBM's 401(k) match formula?
IBM's filing discloses no employer matching contribution for this plan. Employer money that does not depend on what you put in is not a match, whatever the plan calls it. What counts as a match sets out the difference.
| Maximum employer match | 0% of compensation |
|---|---|
| Current formula effective | January 1, 2024 |
What the filing says, word for word
“As previously disclosed, beginning January 1, 2024, IBM began providing a new cash balance retirement benefit to eligible employees under the company's existing U.S. Defined Benefit Qualified Personal Pension Plan (Qualified PPP) called the Retirement Benefit Account (RBA). IBM's contributions to the Plan ended and employees can continue to make contributions to the Plan.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 26, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
What did IBM's 401(k) match used to be?
IBM changed its 401(k) match on January 1, 2024. The plan now has no employer match, per the filing.
| Since January 1, 2024 | No employer match, per the filing |
|---|---|
| Before | IBM previously made contributions to the Plan; effective January 1, 2024, IBM's contributions to the Plan ended when IBM began providing the Retirement Benefit Account (RBA), a cash balance benefit under the U.S. Defined Benefit Qualified Personal Pension Plan (outside this Plan). The prior match formula is not stated in this filing. |
We keep a dated page for it: IBM ended employer contributions to its 401(k) plan, effective January 1, 2024.
What is IBM's 401(k) vesting schedule?
IBM vests employer contributions to the plan immediately: 100% is yours as soon as it is paid in. Nothing is forfeited when you leave, which is not true of the two schedules that vest over time.
| Employer match vesting | Immediate: employer match is 100% vested when contributed |
|---|---|
| Your own contributions | Immediate: always 100% yours |
| Other employer contributions | Participants are at all times fully vested in their entire account balance, including prior IBM contributions and earnings thereon |
Vesting, word for word
“Participants in the Plan are at all times fully vested in their account balance, including employee contributions, prior IBM contributions and earnings thereon, if any.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 26, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who can join IBM's 401(k), and is enrollment automatic?
IBM enrolls new hires automatically at 5% of pay.
| Plan entry | All eligible active, full-time and part-time regular and long-term supplemental U.S. employees of IBM and certain of its domestic related companies and partnerships; newly hired employees are automatically enrolled after approximately 30 days of employment |
|---|---|
| Automatic enrollment | Yes: default deferral 5% of pay; default investment: Default Target Retirement fund that most closely corresponds to the year in which the participant will reach age 65 |
Eligibility, word for word
“The Plan offers all eligible active, full-time and part-time regular and long-term supplemental United States (U.S.) employees of International Business Machines Corporation (“IBM”) and certain of its domestic related companies and partnerships an opportunity to defer from 1 to 80 percent of their eligible compensation for before-tax 401(k) and/or Roth 401(k) contributions to any of 35 primary investment funds and about 160 mutual and commingled funds in an “Expanded Choice - Select Funds.””
Automatic enrollment, word for word
“Newly hired employees are automatically enrolled at 5 percent of eligible salary and performance pay after approximately 30 days of employment with IBM, unless they elect otherwise. Participants are able to choose to have their contributions invested entirely in one of, or in any combination of, the 35 primary funds and about 160 mutual and commingled funds in the Expanded Choice - Select Funds, in multiples of one percent. If participants do not make an investment election, then contributions will be invested in the default Target Retirement fund that most closely corresponds to the year in which they will reach age 65.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 26, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who holds your account
Schedule C of the Form 5500 filed for plan year 2024 reports Fidelity Investments, filed as “FIDELITY INVESTMENTS INSTITUTIONAL”. That is the company paid to keep the account records: what is in an account, what went into it, and usually the site a participant signs in to. The trustee that holds the plan’s assets can be a different company, and this filing does not name it.
Matched to this employer by sponsor name, not by an identifier stated in the filing. This record could cover another plan of the same employer.
10,593 plans on file name Fidelity Investments as their recordkeeper. Of those, the 10,022 with a computable fee have a median plan-paid cost of $97.71 per participant.
Participants log in at Fidelity NetBenefits ↗. 401(k) Monitor is not affiliated with Fidelity Investments or with any other recordkeeper, and takes nothing for this link. It is here because that is where the account is.
| Recordkeeper | Fidelity Investments |
|---|---|
| Recordkeeper EIN | 042647786 |
What does the IBM plan report on Form 5500?
The IBM plan reported $60.4B in assets and 156,865 participants for plan year 2024.
Matched to this employer by sponsor name, not by an identifier stated in the filing. This record could cover another plan of the same employer.
| Plan named in the DOL record | IBM 401(k) Plan |
|---|---|
| Total plan assets | $60,393,556,150 |
| Participants | 156,865 |
| Plan-paid admin cost per participant | $229.90 |
How that cost compares
This plan pays $229.90 per participant. The median across plans in software and IT services is $125.69, from the 2,819 of 2,956 whose Form 5500 yields a per-participant cost.
IBM 401(k) Plan on its Form 5500 filing: fees, providers and financials
How does IBM's 401(k) match compare?
International Business Machines Corporation pays no employer 401(k) match. Across the 269 companies in our data with a computable formula, the median maximum match is 4% of pay.
Employers worth reading next
Of the six employers below, two disclose no employer match either, three file in software and IT services and one reports the same recordkeeper.
No employer match in the filing. Discloses no employer match either.
No match; the employer contributes on its own. Discloses no employer match either.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Also in software and IT services.
Employer match vests immediately. Also in software and IT services.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Also in software and IT services.
Employer match vests immediately. Same recordkeeper, Fidelity Investments.
Compare International Business Machines Corporation with any company, side by side
What can you do next?
- Read the Form 11-K on SEC EDGAR ↗
Form 11-K filed June 26, 2026, SEC EDGAR. Every match fact on this page comes from it.
- Changed jobs? Find an old 401(k) ↗
The Department of Labor's Retirement Savings Lost & Found, a free government database.
- This year's IRS contribution limits ↗
The official deferral and catch-up limits every formula operates under.
Questions this filing answers
What is International Business Machines Corporation's 401(k) match?
International Business Machines Corporation's filing discloses no employer matching contribution for this plan (plan year ended December 31, 2025).
When does the International Business Machines Corporation 401(k) match vest?
Immediate: employer match is 100% vested when contributed.
Does International Business Machines Corporation's 401(k) plan have automatic enrollment?
Yes: default deferral 5% of pay; default investment: Default Target Retirement fund that most closely corresponds to the year in which the participant will reach age 65.
Who is the recordkeeper for International Business Machines Corporation's 401(k)?
Fidelity Investments is named as the recordkeeper on the Form 5500 filed for IBM 401(k) Plan for plan year 2024. That is the company paid to keep the account records: what is in an account, what went into it, and usually the site a participant signs in to. Matched to this employer by sponsor name, not by an identifier stated in the filing. This record could cover another plan of the same employer.
Did International Business Machines Corporation change its 401(k) match?
Yes. IBM previously made contributions to the Plan; effective January 1, 2024, IBM's contributions to the Plan ended when IBM began providing the Retirement Benefit Account (RBA), a cash balance benefit under the U.S. Defined Benefit Qualified Personal Pension Plan (outside this Plan). The prior match formula is not stated in this filing. The current terms took effect January 1, 2024.
Source
The match formula, the vesting schedule and the enrollment rules on this page were read from one document: the Form 11-K annual report that International Business Machines Corporation filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for the plan year ended December 31, 2025. Each of those fields carries the filing sentence it was read from, expandable where the field appears. Nothing on this page was supplied by the employer to this site.
The plan assets, the participant counts, the plan-paid fees and the recordkeeper come from a different document, the plan’s DOL Form 5500 annual return, and the section that reports them links it. Comparisons with other employers are computed across the filings named in the section they appear in.
Read the filing on SEC EDGAR ↗
| Document | Form 11-K annual report |
|---|---|
| Filed with | US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR) |
| Filed by | International Business Machines Corporation |
| SEC CIK | 51143 |
| Accession number | 0000051143-26-000064 |
| Plan | IBM 401(k) Plan |
| Period of report | December 31, 2025 |
| Filed | June 26, 2026 |
401(k) Monitor is not affiliated with International Business Machines Corporation, with the Securities and Exchange Commission or with this plan’s recordkeeper, and publishes this page without their involvement. It republishes a public filing and says where it came from.
Cite this page
401(k) Monitor, “International Business Machines Corporation 401(k) plan facts”, from SEC Form 11-K accession 0000051143-26-000064, plan year ended December 31, 2025.
