How to Fill Out Form 8880 to Claim the Saver’s Credit

To fill out Form 8880 and claim the Saver’s Credit, enter your qualifying retirement contributions on lines 1 and 2, subtract any distributions you received during the testing period on line 4, cap the net amount at $2,000 per person on line 6, multiply the total by the credit rate that matches your adjusted gross income and filing status on line 9, and then run the Credit Limit Worksheet on line 11 before carrying the final figure to Schedule 3. The credit is non-refundable and worth up to $1,000, or $2,000 on a joint return.¹

Confirm You Qualify Before You Start

Three gating rules decide whether the form is worth your time. You must be 18 or older by December 31 of the tax year. You cannot have been a full-time student for any part of five calendar months during the year, whether those months were consecutive or not; online-only schools and correspondence programs don’t count toward that test. And you cannot be claimed as a dependent on anyone else’s return.¹

On a joint return, each spouse is tested separately, and each of you can claim the credit on your own contributions.

Documents to Have in Front of You

Pull these before opening the form:

Your Form W-2. Box 12 lists elective deferrals to employer plans under codes like D (401(k)), E (403(b)), G (457(b)), and S (SIMPLE).²
IRA contribution records. A year-end statement from your custodian or Form 5498 shows what you deposited into a traditional or Roth IRA.
Any Form 1099-R you received. Distributions from a retirement plan, IRA, or ABLE account during the testing period go on line 4.
Your Form 1040, 1040-SR, or 1040-NR. The AGI from line 11a feeds directly into Form 8880.

Filling Out Form 8880 Line by Line

The form has two columns on a joint return, one for you and one for your spouse. Everyone else uses only the “You” column.²

Line 1 — IRA and ABLE Contributions

Enter what you personally contributed to a traditional IRA, Roth IRA, or ABLE account (as the designated beneficiary) for the tax year. Do not include rollovers. Moving funds from one retirement account to another isn’t a new savings contribution and doesn’t earn the credit.¹

Line 2 — Elective Deferrals to Employer Plans

Enter your elective deferrals to a 401(k), 403(b), governmental 457(b), TSP, SIMPLE, SEP, or 501(c)(18)(D) plan. These come from W-2 Box 12. Do not include employer matches or profit-sharing amounts; those aren’t your contributions. If you’re a state or local government employee whose retirement contributions are designated under section 414(h)(2), leave them off line 2 as well. The IRS treats those “picked-up” amounts as employer contributions even though the money comes out of your paycheck.²

Line 3 — Total Contributions

Add lines 1 and 2.

Line 4 — Distributions During the Testing Period

Enter distributions you received from retirement plans, IRAs, or ABLE accounts during the testing period. On a joint return, both spouses’ distributions go in both columns. See the section below on the testing period for what to count.

Line 5 — Net Contributions

Subtract line 4 from line 3. If the result is zero or negative, enter zero. A zero here means recent distributions have wiped out the credit for this year.

Line 6 — The $2,000 Cap

Enter the smaller of line 5 or $2,000 in each column. This caps the base at $2,000 per person, which is why the maximum credit is $1,000 per person or $2,000 jointly.¹

Line 7 — Combined Total

Add the amounts from both columns of line 6. If the total is zero, stop; you can’t take the credit.

Line 8 — AGI

Enter the amount from Form 1040, 1040-SR, or 1040-NR, line 11a. If you claim an exclusion or deduction for foreign earned income or foreign housing, use the modified calculation in Publication 590-A.²

Line 9 — Credit Rate

Look up the decimal on the table printed on the form. It will be 0.5, 0.2, 0.1, or 0. See “Finding Your Credit Rate” below for the 2026 thresholds.

Line 10 — Preliminary Credit

Multiply line 7 by line 9.

Line 11 — Credit Limit

Run the Credit Limit Worksheet in the form’s instructions. It takes your total tax from Form 1040 line 18, subtracts nonrefundable credits already claimed on Schedule 3 (lines 1 through 3, 6d, and 6l), and leaves the tax liability available for the Saver’s Credit. If this figure is zero or less, the credit is unusable this year.

Line 12 — Your Actual Credit

Enter the smaller of line 10 or line 11. That amount goes on Schedule 3 (Form 1040), line 4.³

The Line 4 Testing Period

Line 4 causes more errors than anything else on the form. For a 2026 return, the testing period covers distributions received after 2023 and before the due date of the return, including extensions. In practice that’s roughly January 1, 2024 through mid-October 2027 for a filer on extension.²

Not every withdrawal counts. Direct rollovers from one retirement account to another are generally excluded. A return of an excess IRA contribution is also excluded if you withdrew it before the filing deadline, took no deduction for it, and included any earnings on the contribution in the withdrawal.⁴ Roth IRA distributions that aren’t rolled over do reduce the credit, even when the distribution itself is not taxable.

Finding Your Credit Rate for 2026

Your credit rate is a function of AGI and filing status. For the 2026 tax year:⁵

50% rate: AGI up to $48,500 (joint), $36,375 (head of household), or $24,250 (single, married filing separately, or qualifying surviving spouse).
20% rate: AGI up to $52,500 (joint), $39,375 (head of household), or $26,250 (other).
10% rate: AGI up to $80,500 (joint), $60,375 (head of household), or $40,250 (other).
No credit: AGI above the top of the 10% band for your filing status.

The drop between tiers is steep. A joint filer with a $2,000 contribution and AGI under $48,500 gets $1,000; the same contribution at the 10% rate produces $200.

Why Line 12 May Be Smaller Than Line 10

The Saver’s Credit is non-refundable. It can zero out your federal income tax, but it can’t create a refund on its own. If Form 8880 calculates a $1,000 credit and your remaining tax liability is $300, you get $300; the other $700 is lost and does not carry to next year. The Credit Limit Worksheet on line 11 is what enforces this, which is why some filers qualify at the 50% rate but come away with far less than the headline number. Choosing a Roth account over a traditional one doesn’t change the calculation; both count the same on lines 1 and 2.²

Attaching the Form to Your Return

The completed Form 8880 attaches to your Form 1040, 1040-SR, or 1040-NR.² The line 12 amount goes on Schedule 3, line 4, and the Schedule 3 total flows back to the main return to reduce your tax.³ Tax software generates the form automatically once you enter retirement contributions and meet the income limits. Paper filers can download the PDF from irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-8880 and include it with the rest of their schedules.⁶

Mistakes to Avoid

Putting rollovers on line 1 or 2. Only new contributions count.
Forgetting a recent distribution on line 4. A hardship withdrawal or ordinary distribution from the past few years reduces the credit; leaving it off can inflate the number and prompt an IRS notice.
Claiming the credit while someone else claims you as a dependent. Income and contributions don’t matter if you fail this test.
Including 414(h)(2) “picked-up” contributions on line 2. They look like your deferrals on a pay stub, but the IRS treats them as employer contributions.²
Skipping the Credit Limit Worksheet. Carrying the line 10 amount straight to Schedule 3 can overstate the credit beyond the tax you actually owe.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Savings Contributions Credit (Saver’s Credit)
2
Internal Revenue Service. Form 8880 – Credit for Qualified Retirement Savings Contributions
3
Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Schedule 3 (Form 1040)
4
Internal Revenue Service. Saver’s Tax Credit for Contributions by Individuals to Employer Retirement Plans and IRAs
5
Internal Revenue Service. Notice 2025-67 – 2026 Amounts Relating to Retirement Plans and IRAs
6
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 8880, Credit for Qualified Retirement Savings Contributions