Can I Still Contribute to an IRA & Get a Tax Break for 2016?

Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) are an excellent means to save for retirement. You have until the tax-filing deadline (generally April 15) to make a contribution to your IRA for the previous tax year.

There are two types of IRAs: Traditional IRA and Roth IRA. The maximum contribution is the lesser of $5,500 ($6,500 for those aged 50 and over) or your earned income. This is a combined limit for all IRA contributions in a year (in either or both types). In order to contribute to a Traditional IRA, you must be under age 70½, but you can contribute to a Roth IRA at any age. You can learn more about IRAs here.

Whether you can contribute to an IRA and how much you can contribute depends primarily upon two factors: 1) your Modified Adjusted Gross Income and 2) whether you (or your spouse) participate in an employer-sponsored retirement plan.

Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) is the number listed on line 37 at the bottom of the first page of your Form 1040. In order to determine IRA contribution limits, AGI must be adjusted by adding back certain items that were deducted to arrive at AGI. Items added back to AGI include deductions taken for traditional IRA contributions, student loan interest, college tuition and fees, and some other less common items. The final result is Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI).

Here’s how to know if you can deduct your IRA contributions this year.

Traditional IRA

While anyone under age 70½ with earned income can make non-deductible contributions to a Traditional IRA, deductible contributions are not as certain. If you are single and not covered by a plan at work or you are married and neither you (nor your spouse) have a plan at work, then your full contribution up to the annual limit is deductible.

However, if either you (or your spouse) participate in an employer retirement plan, your deductible IRA contributions may be limited or even completely eliminated. To determine if you are covered by work, you can look at your W-2. If there is a check next to “Retirement Plan” in Box 13, then you are covered. This chart on the IRS website illustrates deduction limits for both single and married taxpayers covered under an employer’s plan at work.

Roth IRA

While there are no age restrictions on who can contribute to a Roth IRA, there are income constraints that must be observed. Unlike Traditional IRA rules, Roth IRA regulations do not consider whether you have an employer plan. The only factor is your MAGI. Again, you can find the chart showing the income levels that affect Roth IRA contribution limits on the IRS’ website.

Kay Bailey Hutchison Spousal IRA

A Spousal IRA is not a third type of IRA but a provision for spouses without enough earned income to fully fund a Traditional or Roth IRA on their own. Named for the former United States Senator from Texas, the Kay Bailey Hutchison Spousal IRA allows a spouse with little or no earned income to have his or her own IRA account by qualifying with the working spouse’s income.

The Spousal IRA limits are the same as the Traditional and Roth limits ($5,500 or $6,500 if aged 50 or over). So the total combined contributions for both spouses are $11,000 or $13,000, if aged 50 or over. The working spouse must have earned enough money to fund both contributions.

Saving for retirement is more important than ever. (You can see if you have enough shored up here and keep tabs on your finances by viewing two of your credit scores, with updates every two weeks, on Credit.com.) If you don’t have a retirement plan, it’s never too late to start one. But knowing the rules is a critical step for a successful plan. Tax laws are complicated, and penalties for mistakes can be costly. Make sure you seek out the guidance of a tax professional before making important financial decisions.

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