Roth IRA Contribution Limits 2014
The 2014 contribution limit for Roth IRAs is $5,500 ($6,500 if you're age 50 or older). You can contribute up to the limit unless you earn less than that amount. You cannot contribute more than your taxable compensation for the year.
In addition to an absolute limit, there are income limits to contributing to a Roth IRA. The following table shows how much you can contribute depending on your marital status for tax purposes and your income. If you fall in the "reduced amount" category, your contribution amount is phased out linearly. For example, if you are single and earn $119,000, you fall one-third of the way into the phase-out range. (The range is $114,000 to $129,000, a range of $15,000, and you fall $5,000 into the range and $5,000 is one-third of the $15,000 range.) Since you are one-third of the way into the phase-out range, you would lose one-third of your contribution limit. This would leave you with a contribution limit of $3,333 (two-thirds of $5,000 is $3,333). For more details on this calculation, please visit the IRS website.
Roth contribution limits by income and tax filing status
Income | Single or Head of Household | Qualified Widow(er) | Married (Filing Jointly) | Married (Filing Separately)* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
$0 to $10k | Full amount | Full amount | Full amount | Zero |
$10 to $114k | Full mount | Full amount | Full amount | Zero |
$114k to $129k | Reduced amount | Full amount | Full amount | Zero |
$129k to $181k | Zero | Full amount | Full amount | Zero |
$181k to $191k | Zero | Reduced amount | Reduced amount | Zero |
Above $191k | Zero | Zero | Zero | Zero |
*Married (filing separately) can use the limits for single people if they have not lived with their spouse in the past year.
Traditional IRAs
Anyone can contribute to a Traditional IRA, but to deduct your contributions from your taxable income, you must meet the following income requirements. For more information on calculating partial deductions, please see the IRS website.
If you do have a retirement plan offered at work:
Income | Single or Head of Household | Qualified Widow(er) | Married (Filing Jointly) | Married (Filing Separately) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
$0 to $10k | Full deduction | Full deduction | Full deduction | Partial deduction |
$10k to $60k | Full deduction | Full deduction | Full deduction | No deduction |
$60k to $70k | Partial deduction | Full deduction | Full deduction | No deduction |
$70k to $96k | No deduction | Full deduction | Full deduction | No deduction |
$96k to $116k | No deduction | Partial deduction | Partial deduction | No deduction |
Above $116k | No deduction | No deduction | No deduction | No deduction |
If you do not have a retirement plan offered at work:
Spouse's Plan Status | Single | Married (Filing Jointly) | Married (Filing Separately) |
|---|---|---|---|
Spouse does have plan offered at work | Full deduction | Full deduction up to income of $181k; partial deduction from $181k to $191k; no deduction above $191k | No deduction if income above $10k; partial deduction below |
Spouse does not have plan offered at work | Full deduction | Full deduction | Full deduction |
The backdoor Roth IRA for high-income earners
While there are income limits on who can contribute to a Roth IRA and who can deduct contributions to a Traditional IRA, there are no longer limits on who can convert a Traditional IRA to a Roth. This means that anyone, regardless of income, can contribute to a Traditional IRA and immediately convert it to a Roth IRA. For more details and caveats, please see our complete article on backdoor Roth IRAs.
The article Roth IRA Contribution Limits 2014 originally appeared on Fool.com.
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