Can You Open a Roth IRA for Someone Else? Spousal, Custodial, and Gifts

You cannot open a Roth IRA in someone else’s name. Federal law requires the account to be established by the individual who will own it, using their own Social Security number and personal information. But if your real question is whether you can open a Roth IRA for someone else in the practical sense of putting money into retirement savings on their behalf, the answer is yes in three specific situations: a spousal Roth IRA for a husband or wife with little or no income, a custodial Roth IRA for a minor child who has earned income, or a cash gift to an eligible adult who then opens and funds the account themselves.

Why the Account Has to Be in the Owner’s Name

Two federal rules combine to make direct account-opening impossible. First, a Roth IRA must be established for the benefit of a specific individual, and that individual is the legal owner from day one.¹ No one else can control the account, direct the investments, or take distributions without the owner’s authorization. Second, the account owner (or their spouse, in the one situation described below) must have taxable compensation to contribute. The IRS counts wages, salaries, tips, commissions, and self-employment income as compensation.² Rent, interest, dividends, and investment gains do not count.

Together, these rules mean you can’t hand a brokerage your own information and set up an account under a friend’s or relative’s name as a surprise. The person receiving the benefit has to be the one on the application, and either they or their spouse has to have qualifying earnings.

Spousal Roth IRA

The one true exception to the earned-income requirement is the spousal IRA, sometimes called the Kay Bailey Hutchison Spousal IRA. If you’re married and your spouse has little or no income, you can contribute to a Roth IRA in their name using your earnings, provided you file a joint tax return.³ Your taxable compensation for the year must be at least equal to the combined contributions to both IRAs.

Even though the money comes from your paycheck, the account belongs entirely to your spouse. They pick the investments, decide when to take distributions, and name the beneficiaries. You have no legal claim to the funds. For 2026, each spouse can contribute up to $7,500, or $8,600 at age 50 and older.⁴ A single-earner couple could therefore put $15,000 (or $17,200 if both are 50 or older) into Roth IRAs in one year across two accounts.

The non-working spouse opens the account in their own name, using their own Social Security number, and completes the application themselves. You aren’t opening an account for your spouse. Your spouse is opening an account funded by your shared household income.

Custodial Roth IRA for a Minor

A child of any age can own a Roth IRA if they have earned income. An adult, usually a parent or grandparent, opens and manages a custodial Roth IRA on the child’s behalf until the child reaches the age of majority, which is 18 or 21 depending on the state. Control of the account then transfers to the child outright.

The annual contribution cannot exceed the lesser of the standard limit ($7,500 for 2026) or the child’s actual earned income for that year.⁵ If a teenager earned $3,200 from a summer job, $3,200 is the ceiling. The money going into the account doesn’t have to come from the child’s own paycheck. A parent or grandparent can write the check. But the child’s earnings set the maximum.

Documenting a Minor’s Income

This is where custodial Roth IRAs become vulnerable to IRS scrutiny. A child with a W-2 from a formal employer has straightforward documentation. Self-employment earnings from mowing lawns, babysitting, or selling crafts online still qualify but are harder to prove. Keep the type of work, who paid, the dates, and the amounts. Save invoices, payment confirmations, or a signed log from the person who paid the child. The IRS treats a child’s net self-employment earnings the same as adult self-employment income for contribution purposes.²

Gifting Cash to an Eligible Adult

If you want to help an adult child, sibling, or friend fund a Roth IRA, the process has a built-in gap. You give them cash. They open and fund the account themselves. You cannot make the contribution directly. The recipient must have earned income at least equal to the contribution amount and must personally complete the account application.

For 2026, you can give up to $19,000 per recipient without filing a gift tax return.⁶ That covers the $7,500 Roth IRA contribution limit with room to spare. A married couple can each give $19,000 to the same person, for $38,000 combined. The gift itself has no tax consequence for the recipient. They don’t report it as income, and it doesn’t count as earned income for contribution purposes. Their eligibility still depends entirely on their own wages or self-employment earnings.

Income Limits That Can Block the Contribution

Even with earned income, the recipient may earn too much to contribute directly to a Roth IRA. The IRS phases out and eventually eliminates the allowed contribution as Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) rises. For 2026:⁴

Single or head of household: full contributions below $153,000 MAGI, phase-out between $153,000 and $168,000, no direct contributions above $168,000.
Married filing jointly: full contributions below $242,000, phase-out between $242,000 and $252,000, no direct contributions above $252,000.
Married filing separately while living with a spouse: phase-out between $0 and $10,000, effectively locked out.

Check these numbers against the recipient’s income before writing a check earmarked for a Roth. A contribution made anyway becomes an excess contribution subject to a 6% annual penalty until corrected.⁵

Contribution Limits and Deadlines

The 2026 standard contribution limit is $7,500, with a $1,100 catch-up for account owners age 50 and older, bringing them to $8,600.⁴ Contributions can never exceed the owner’s taxable compensation for the year, whatever the statutory cap. These limits apply across all traditional and Roth IRAs the person holds, combined.

The deadline to contribute for a given tax year is the tax filing deadline of the following year. For the 2026 tax year, that’s April 15, 2027. Filing a tax extension does not extend the contribution deadline. If you’re gifting funds for someone’s Roth IRA, they need the money in the account by that April date to have it count for the prior year.

Fixing an Excess Contribution

If a contribution is made and the person turns out to be ineligible (income too high, no earned income, or simply over the limit) the excess needs to be corrected. Left in place, it draws a 6% excise tax every year it remains in the account.⁵

There are two ways to fix it before the tax filing deadline, including extensions. The first is to withdraw the excess along with any earnings it generated; the earnings count as taxable income for the year, and the 6% penalty goes away if the deadline is met. The second is to recharacterize the contribution as a traditional IRA contribution instead, which the IRS treats as though the money had gone into the traditional IRA from the start. Recharacterization is allowed up to the tax filing deadline, or October 15 with an extension. Miss both windows and the 6% penalty compounds each year until the excess is finally pulled out. The owner reports the excess on IRS Form 5329.

What Actually Happens at Account Opening

The person whose name will be on the account, not the person providing the funds, completes the application. Most brokerages handle this online in under 15 minutes. The account owner needs their full legal name, date of birth, Social Security number, and residential address. A custodial Roth IRA also requires the custodian’s personal information and Social Security number.

During the application, the owner selects “Roth IRA” as the account type, or “Custodial Roth IRA” for a minor. Approval usually takes one to three business days. Once approved, the owner or custodian funds the account electronically by linking a bank account. For a spousal Roth IRA, the application is in the non-working spouse’s name and reflects their information, even though the working spouse’s income is what makes the contribution possible.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 408A – Roth IRAs
2
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 590-A, Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 219 – Retirement Savings
4
Internal Revenue Service. 401(k) Limit Increases to $24,500 for 2026, IRA Limit Increases to $7,500
5
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – IRA Contribution Limits
6
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026