Roth IRA income limits 2026: who can contribute

The 2026 numbers

Contribution limit and income ranges.

The IRS announced the figures in IR-2025-111. SECURE 2.0 added a yearly cost-of-living adjustment to the IRA catch-up, which is why it rose from $1,000 to $1,100.

How the phase-out works

Below the range, the full amount; above it, nothing.

The income test uses modified adjusted gross income (MAGI). Below the start of the range you can contribute the full limit. Above the end you cannot contribute to a Roth IRA directly at all. In between, the limit shrinks in proportion to how far into the range you are. A single filer under 50 with $160,500 of MAGI is halfway through the $15,000-wide range, so the limit is about half of $7,500: $3,750. Worksheet 2-2 in IRS Publication 590-A gives the exact steps, including how to round the result.

The joint range is only $10,000 wide, so a couple’s limit falls faster: a couple at $247,000 is halfway through and can contribute about half the limit each.

You need compensation

You cannot put in more than you earned.

Contributions cannot exceed your taxable compensation for the year — wages, salary, tips, and self-employment income. A student who earned $3,000 at a summer job can contribute up to $3,000. On a joint return, a spouse with little or no compensation can contribute based on the working spouse’s pay, and each spouse has a separate $7,500 limit. The $7,500 limit covers all your IRAs together: putting $5,000 into a traditional IRA leaves $2,500 for a Roth.

What makes a Roth different

Tax now, not later.

Contributions to a Roth IRA are not deductible. In exchange, qualified withdrawals in retirement, including the growth, are tax-free. A traditional IRA is the mirror image: the contribution may be deductible now, and withdrawals are taxed later. Which is better depends mostly on whether you expect a higher or lower tax rate in retirement than today. For the deduction side, the IRS also raised the traditional IRA deduction ranges for people covered by a workplace plan.

If you contributed too much

Fix it before the filing deadline.

If your income turns out higher than expected and you contributed more than your limit, the excess is subject to a 6% excise tax for each year it stays in the account. You can avoid it by withdrawing the excess contribution and any earnings on it by the due date of your return, including extensions, or by recharacterizing it as a traditional IRA contribution. Your IRA provider has a form for each. Contributions for 2026 can be made until the 2027 filing deadline. For how much your workplace plan allows on top of an IRA, see the 2026 401(k) limits.