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Can I contribute to a Roth IRA in 2026?

Roth IRA contributions are limited by income. Enter your filing status, modified AGI and age to see whether you can make a full, partial or no direct contribution for 2026, and the most you can put in, figured the way the IRS worksheet does it.

Educational only, not financial advice

This tool shows general math, not a recommendation for you. It isn’t financial, tax or legal advice, and real returns, fees and tax rules will differ. Talk to a qualified professional before making decisions. What you enter stays in your browser: nothing is saved or sent to us.

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Start with your AGI (Form 1040 line 11a), leave out any Roth conversion income, and add back a traditional IRA or student loan interest deduction. Pub. 590-A Worksheet 2-1 has the full list.

50 or older by year-end: limit is $8,600 instead of $7,500.

Advanced(earned income, traditional IRA)
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Wages, salary, tips, self-employment earnings. You can’t contribute more than this. Leave blank if it’s above the limit. Filing jointly? The spousal IRA rule may let you use your spouse’s pay too (Pub. 590-A).

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Traditional and Roth IRAs share one yearly limit.

Direct Roth IRA contribution for 2026

Full

Most you can contribute directly

$7,500

Your modified AGI is below the $153,000 start of the 2026 phase-out for your filing status, so the full limit applies.

2026 Roth IRA limits at a glance

Filing statusFull contribution if MAGI is underReduced betweenNone at or above
Single, head of household, or married filing separately and didn’t live with your spouse$153,000$153,000–$168,000$168,000
Married filing jointly or qualifying surviving spouse$242,000$242,000–$252,000$252,000
Married filing separately and lived with your spouse at any time in the year$0 (MAGI of zero)$0–$10,000$10,000

The 2026 contribution limit is $7,500, or $8,600 if you’re 50 or older by the end of the year, and never more than your taxable compensation. It’s one limit shared by all your traditional and Roth IRAs. The $0–$10,000 range for married filing separately isn’t adjusted for inflation. (IRS IR-2025-111, Pub. 590-A)

The reduced-amount formula

Inside the range, the IRS worksheet (Pub. 590-A, Worksheet 2-2) works like this:

Reduced limit = your limit − your limit × (MAGI − start of range) ÷ width of range

The width is $15,000 for single and head of household filers and $10,000 for joint filers and married filing separately. Round the ratio to three decimals, round the result up to the next $10, and use $200 if it comes out between $0 and $200. Then subtract any traditional IRA contributions for the year; the result also can’t be more than your taxable compensation. Contributing more than your limit triggers a 6% excise tax on the excess unless you take it out, with its earnings, by your return’s due date including extensions. You can contribute for 2026 until your 2026 tax return is due, not counting extensions.

What a Roth IRA offers, and what it costs

  • Tax-free qualified withdrawals. After the 5-year period and at 59½ (or for disability, death or a first home up to $10,000), withdrawals, earnings included, aren’t taxed. (Pub. 590-B)
  • No required withdrawals while you’re alive. RMD rules don’t apply to a Roth IRA owner. (IRS RMD FAQs)
  • Contributions come out first. If you take money out early, it comes from your regular contributions before conversions and earnings (Pub. 590-B ordering rules).
  • Any age can contribute, as long as you have taxable compensation (Pub. 590-A).
  • The trade-off: no deduction now. You pay tax on the money today. A deductible traditional IRA can lower this year’s tax instead, with withdrawals taxed later.

Which comes out ahead depends on your tax rate now and later, and things no one knows yet. Try both in the Roth vs. traditional IRA calculator.

Over the limit: how a “backdoor Roth” works (education only)

“Backdoor Roth” isn’t an IRS term. It describes two steps the rules allow separately:

  1. Make a nondeductible traditional IRA contribution. Income doesn’t stop you from contributing to a traditional IRA; it can only limit the deduction. You report the nondeductible amount on Form 8606, which tracks your basis (after-tax money) in traditional IRAs.
  2. Convert it to a Roth IRA. Conversions have no income limit: the IRS removed the income and filing-status requirements for conversions starting in 2010 (Pub. 590 for 2010). The part of the conversion that is basis isn’t taxed; the rest is taxable income for the year.

The pro-rata rule

You can’t choose to convert only the after-tax dollars. Form 8606 treats all your traditional IRAs as one pot: the tax-free share of a conversion is your basis divided by the value of all your traditional, SEP and SIMPLE IRAs at December 31 plus what you converted or took out during the year. (Form 8606, instructions)

Example: you contribute $7,500 nondeductible and convert it, but you also have $92,500 of pre-tax money in a rollover IRA at year-end. Your tax-free share is $7,500 ÷ ($92,500 + $7,500) = 0.075, so only $563 of the conversion is tax-free and about $6,937 is taxable. With no other traditional, SEP or SIMPLE IRA money, nearly all of it would be tax-free (any earnings before converting are taxable).

  • Converted amounts have their own 5-year clock for the 10% additional tax if you’re under 59½, separate for each conversion (Pub. 590-B).
  • A conversion can’t be undone: recharacterizing conversions isn’t allowed for conversions made in 2018 or later (Pub. 590-A).
  • Tax law and IRS guidance change. The 2026 rules described here can change in later years; check the current IRS publications or ask a tax professional before acting.

Want to see the tax on a larger conversion? Try the Roth conversion calculator.

Sources

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