Retirement

Who Can Contribute to a Roth IRA?

Written by TurboTaxBlogTeam
Published Jan 2, 2024 - [Updated Jun 8, 2026]
7 min read
Reviewed by Lena Hanna, CPA

If you’re planning for your future retirement, chances are you’ve looked into a retirement account to provide for your golden years. A Roth IRA is opened separately through a financial institution that you must establish and manage yourself.

Key takeaways

No age limits: There are no age limits for opening or contributing to a Roth IRA.
Amount of MAGI: If your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is too high, you might not be able to contribute to a Roth IRA account.
Contribution limits: There are limits to how much you can contribute per year to your Roth IRA account.
Who can contribute: Spouses, retirees and minors can all contribute to Roth IRAs, with certain stipulations.

If you’re considering a Roth IRA, you might be wondering who can contribute, what types of income qualifies, how contributions affect your taxes, and how much you’re allowed to contribute each year. We’ve compiled the ultimate guide to understanding Roth IRA rules, requirements, and limits, so that your retirement can be as comfortable as possible. Explore ways to save for retirement.

What is a Roth IRA?Who can contribute to a Roth IRA?Income limits Contribution limits FAQs

What is a Roth IRA?

A Roth IRA plan is a type of retirement account.

Unlike a 401(k) plan, you contribute after-tax dollars to your Roth IRA. These contributions and earnings are able to grow tax-free. You can withdraw your contributions at any time tax-free and penalty-free. Earnings can generally be withdrawn tax-free and penalty-free once you are age 59 ½ or older and the Roth IRA has been open for at least five years.

Who can contribute to a Roth IRA?

To contribute to a Roth IRA, you generally must have earned income and meet the applicable income limits. Under the spousal IRA rules, a spouse with little or no earned income may still be eligible to contribute based on the working spouse’s compensation.

Examples of earned income include:

Wages
Salaries
Tips
Bonuses
Taxable fringe benefits
Net earnings from self-employment
Untaxed combat pay
Military differential pay
Taxed alimony received under certain pre-2019 divorce agreements

Earned income does not include things such as welfare payments, child support, unemployment, workers’ compensation benefits, pensions, Social Security payments or payments from rental properties.

While there are limits as to what constitutes qualified income that you can contribute to your Roth IRA, there are no age limits for contributing to a Roth IRA. This means that, so long as you have earned income and meet the applicable earned income limits, virtually anyone at any age can contribute to a Roth IRA account.

If a minor is looking to contribute to a Roth IRA account, they will have to open a custodial account to keep their funds safe for the future. However, once the child is over the age of majority (which could be 18 or 21 depending on the state), they can manage and contribute to the Roth IRA directly.

It’s also important to note that if you participate in another qualified retirement plan, such as a 401(k) plan, it has no impact on your ability to contribute to a Roth IRA. If you meet the Roth IRA income requirements and have eligible compensation, you may be able to contribute to both a Roth IRA and a workplace retirement plan.

Income limits

Although the limits on who can contribute to a Roth IRA account are rather loose, there are more strict limitations on how much earned income you can have to be able to contribute. For tax year 2026, single filers must have a modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) of less than $153,000 in order to make a full contribution. For those who are married and filing jointly, this total must be under $242,000.

If your MAGI falls within the phase-out range, you may still be able to make a reduced Roth IRA contribution. Once your MAGI exceeds the upper phase-out limit, you cannot contribute directly to a Roth IRA for that year. . It is important to note, however, that the income limits can change, so it’s wise to check back often for updates.

Contribution limits

Along with income limits, contribution limits exist with Roth IRA plans. While these limits can seem a little confusing at first, it’s easiest to remember that as your MAGI increases, the amount you can contribute to your Roth IRA account decreases.

Below is a breakdown from the IRS that shows the different levels of contribution, depending on your filing status and your modified adjusted gross income amount:

Single, married filing separately, or head of household filing status:
- 2026 MAGI — Less than $153,000
  - Maximum annual contribution: $7,500 ($8,600 if age 50 or older)
- 2026 MAGI — $153,000 to $167,999
  - Maximum annual contribution: reduced
- 2026 MAGI — $168,000 or more
  - No contribution allowed
Married filing jointly or qualifying widower filing status:
- 2026 MAGI — Less than $242,000
  - Maximum annual contribution: $7,000 ($8,600 if age 50 or older)
- 2026 MAGI — $242,000 to $251,999
  - Maximum annual contribution: reduced
- 2026 MAGI — $252,000 or more
  - No contribution allowed

One important note: These maximums assume you have earned income either equal to or higher than these levels. If you earned less than the maximum contribution amount, your new maximum contribution amount is the amount of your earned income.

For example, if your earned income in 2026 is $3,500, the maximum contribution amount that you can make in 2026 to your Roth IRA is $3,500.

FAQs

While the above information is a good starting point to understanding the ins and outs of a Roth IRA account, you may have further questions when thinking about this type of plan for the future.

While there’s no age limit to open and contribute to a Roth IRA, there are some income and contribution limits that you should familiarize yourself with before deciding if this is the best option for you.

If you do not have earned income, or if your MAGI surpassed the limit for your filing status, you cannot contribute to a Roth IRA account for that year. If you do not have earned income, you can contribute to a Roth IRA if your spouse has earned income.

While you can withdraw your contributions at any time from your Roth IRA account without tax or penalty, there are some stipulations on taking a distribution on your earnings without tax or penalty:

You must be age 59 ½ or older
Your Roth IRA account must be five years old

If you decide to withdraw your earnings before both of these conditions are met, you may be subject to a 10% early withdrawal penalty on your earnings withdrawn as well as taxes at your current tax rate.

If you are retired, you can still contribute to your Roth IRA account indefinitely, with a few stipulations: Retirees may continue to contribute to a Roth IRA at any age, provided they have eligible earned income (or qualify under the spousal IRA rules) and meet the income limits. You cannot contribute an amount higher than your earnings, you must still be receiving earned income, and you can still only contribute up to the annual contribution limits.

With a spousal IRA, a working spouse can contribute to an IRA in the name of their spouse who either has no or little income. It’s important to note that the working spouse’s income must equal or exceed the total IRA contributions made for both spouses.

These accounts are not joint accounts; each Roth IRA account is set up individually. The spouse who hasn’t earned taxable income can also contribute $7,500 ($8,600 if 50 or older) as long as the other spouse did. For 2026, couples who are married filing jointly can contribute up to $15,000 a year, or $17,200 if both spouses are 50 or older.

Roth IRA distributions are typically reported on your tax return using information from Form 1099-R. Whether any portion is taxable depends on the type of distribution and whether the qualified distribution requirements are met. For every year that you make a Roth IRA contribution, the bank or trustee that the account is through will send you a Form 5498. On this form, box 10 will list your Roth IRA contributions for that tax year.

When considering who can contribute to a Roth IRA account, it’s important to recognize that as long as you make earned income under the income limits, you can contribute to grow your future nest egg. Don’t worry about knowing these tax rules. You can come to TurboTax and fully hand your taxes over to a TurboTax Experts tax expert and get your taxes done from start to finish. All from the comfort of your home, making the process of contributing to and withdrawing from your Roth IRA account a seamless one.