How Much Can You Contribute to an IRA Each Year?

The 2026 IRA contribution limits let you put up to $7,500 into your traditional and Roth IRAs combined, or $8,600 if you’re 50 or older by year-end. That ceiling covers every IRA you own added together, not each account separately. Your personal limit can be lower if your earned income is small, and Roth contributions phase out entirely once your income crosses certain thresholds.

The Base Limit and Catch-Up Amount

The standard IRA contribution limit for 2026 is $7,500, up from $7,000 in 2024 and 2025.¹ If you turn 50 at any point during the year, you can add $1,100 in catch-up contributions on top, bringing your maximum to $8,600.² The catch-up had been fixed at $1,000 for years, so 2026 is the first bump in over a decade.

These caps are aggregate. If you have three IRAs, you can divide contributions among them however you like, but everything you put in across the year cannot exceed $7,500 or $8,600.³ A 401(k) or other workplace plan has its own separate limit and doesn’t reduce your IRA room.

Roth IRA Income Phase-Outs

Your ability to contribute directly to a Roth IRA depends on modified adjusted gross income. For 2026:¹

Single or head of household: full contribution below $153,000, reduced between $153,000 and $168,000, none above $168,000.
Married filing jointly: full contribution below $242,000, reduced between $242,000 and $252,000, none above $252,000.
Married filing separately and living with your spouse: the phase-out runs from $0 to $10,000. This range isn’t indexed for inflation and shuts out most filers in this status.

Inside the phase-out range, your allowed contribution shrinks proportionally as income rises. Above the top of the range, direct Roth contributions aren’t available, though the backdoor route below still is.

Traditional IRA Deduction Phase-Outs

Anyone with earned income can contribute to a traditional IRA at any income level. Income only affects whether the contribution is deductible, and only when you or your spouse is covered by a workplace retirement plan.

For 2026 the deduction phase-outs are:¹

Single and covered by a workplace plan: $81,000 to $91,000.
Married filing jointly and the contributor is covered: $129,000 to $149,000.
Not covered but your spouse is: $242,000 to $252,000.
Married filing separately and covered: $0 to $10,000.

If neither spouse has a workplace plan, the entire contribution is deductible regardless of income.⁴ When you’re over the deduction threshold, you can still make a nondeductible traditional IRA contribution. The money grows tax-deferred, and you file Form 8606 each year to track basis so you’re not taxed twice when you withdraw.⁵

You Need Earned Income to Contribute

Your contribution is capped at the lesser of the annual limit or 100 percent of your taxable compensation for the year. Earn $4,000 and that’s your maximum, even though the general cap is $7,500.³

Wages, salaries, tips, bonuses, professional fees, and net self-employment income all qualify.⁴ Investment income, rental income, pension payments, and Social Security don’t. Taxable alimony from a pre-2019 divorce agreement counts as compensation for IRA purposes.⁶

Spousal IRAs

If you file jointly and one spouse earns little or nothing, the working spouse’s compensation can back contributions for both of you. Each spouse can contribute up to the full annual limit to their own IRA, as long as the couple’s combined contributions don’t exceed joint taxable compensation.³ Two spouses under 50 could jointly put away $15,000 in 2026; both spouses 50 or older, $17,200.

When the 2026 Contribution Window Closes

You have until the tax filing deadline, typically April 15 of the following year, to make contributions for a given tax year. So your 2026 contribution window runs from January 1, 2026 through mid-April 2027.⁷

Filing an extension doesn’t extend this. The extension pushes back your return, not your IRA contribution deadline.⁸ If April 15 falls on a weekend or holiday, the deadline moves to the next business day.

When you contribute between January and April, tell your custodian which tax year the deposit applies to. Otherwise they’ll assign it to the current calendar year by default. Once the deadline passes, unused contribution room is gone for good.

What Happens If You Contribute Too Much

Excess contributions get hit with a 6 percent excise tax each year they remain in the account.⁹ The penalty compounds annually until you fix it.

You have a few ways out. The cleanest is to withdraw the excess plus any earnings it generated by your tax return due date, including extensions. If you filed on time but missed pulling the money, you get another six months after the original due date to withdraw and file an amended return.¹⁰ Earnings you take out are taxable income for the year of the contribution.

You can also leave the excess in place and absorb it later by contributing less than the maximum in a future year. You’ll still owe 6 percent for each year the excess sat uncorrected, but you avoid a taxable withdrawal of earnings.¹¹ Another option is to recharacterize an excess Roth contribution as a traditional contribution, or the reverse, by the return due date including extensions.¹²

The Backdoor Roth for High Earners

If your income puts direct Roth contributions off limits, the backdoor Roth remains open. You make a nondeductible traditional IRA contribution, which has no income cap, and then convert those funds to a Roth. Federal law places no income ceiling on Roth conversions.¹³

Watch the pro-rata rule if you already hold pre-tax money in any traditional, SEP, or SIMPLE IRA. The IRS treats all your traditional IRA balances as a single pool, so you can’t cherry-pick after-tax dollars for the conversion. The taxable share of what you convert is set by the ratio of pre-tax money to total IRA balances. If most of your IRA money is pre-tax, most of the conversion is taxable.

Report both the nondeductible contribution and the conversion on Form 8606 to keep your basis on record.¹⁴

The Saver’s Credit for Lower Earners

Low- and moderate-income workers who contribute to an IRA may qualify for the Retirement Savings Contributions Credit. This is a direct reduction of tax owed, not a deduction, worth up to 50 percent of the first $2,000 you contribute, or $4,000 if married filing jointly.

The 2026 rates depend on adjusted gross income and filing status:¹

50 percent credit: AGI up to $48,500 (joint), $36,375 (head of household), or $24,250 (single or married filing separately).
20 percent credit: AGI of $48,501 to $52,500 (joint), $36,376 to $39,375 (head of household), or $24,251 to $26,250 (single or separate).
10 percent credit: AGI of $52,501 to $80,500 (joint), $39,376 to $60,375 (head of household), or $26,251 to $40,250 (single or separate).

Above those ceilings the credit is zero. You must be at least 18, not a full-time student, and not claimed as a dependent on someone else’s return.

1
Internal Revenue Service. 401(k) Limit Increases to $24,500 for 2026, IRA Limit Increases to $7,500
2
Internal Revenue Service. COLA Increases for Dollar Limitations on Benefits and Contributions
3
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – IRA Contribution Limits
4
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 590-A, Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs)
5
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 8606, Nondeductible IRAs
6
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 451, Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs)
7
Internal Revenue Service. IRA Year-End Reminders
8
Internal Revenue Service. Get an Extension to File Your Tax Return
9
Internal Revenue Service. Excess IRA Contributions
10
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 5329
11
Internal Revenue Service. Form 5329, Additional Taxes on Qualified Plans (Including IRAs) and Other Tax-Favored Accounts
12
eCFR. 26 CFR 1.408A-5 – Recharacterized Contributions
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 408A – Roth IRAs
14
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8606