IRS Form 8880: Saver’s Credit Eligibility, Amount, and Filing

IRS Form 8880 is the tax form you file with your Form 1040 to claim the Retirement Savings Contributions Credit, better known as the Saver’s Credit. It is a nonrefundable credit worth up to $1,000 for single filers, or $2,000 for married couples filing jointly, given to lower-income taxpayers who put money into a retirement account or an ABLE account during the year.¹ The credit reduces your tax bill dollar for dollar based on a percentage of what you contributed.

Who Can Claim the Credit

Three personal tests come before income. You must be at least 18 by the end of the tax year, you cannot have been a full-time student during any part of five calendar months of the year, and you cannot be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s return.¹

If you clear those, income decides the rest. For the 2026 tax year, the credit fully phases out above an adjusted gross income of $80,500 for married couples filing jointly, $60,375 for heads of household, and $40,250 for all other filers.²

How Much the Credit Is Worth

Your credit rate is 50 percent, 20 percent, or 10 percent of eligible contributions, depending on where your AGI lands. Only the first $2,000 in contributions per person counts, so the top credit is $1,000 per person, or $2,000 on a joint return if both spouses contributed at least $2,000 each.¹

The 2026 brackets set by IRS Notice 2025-67 are:³

Married filing jointly

50% credit: AGI of $48,500 or less
20% credit: $48,501 to $52,500
10% credit: $52,501 to $80,500
No credit above $80,500

Head of household

50% credit: AGI of $36,375 or less
20% credit: $36,376 to $39,375
10% credit: $39,376 to $60,375
No credit above $60,375

Single, married filing separately, or qualifying surviving spouse

50% credit: AGI of $24,250 or less
20% credit: $24,251 to $26,250
10% credit: $26,251 to $40,250
No credit above $40,250

Which Contributions Count

Voluntary contributions across several account types qualify, and they all add together toward the $2,000 per-person cap:¹

Traditional or Roth IRA contributions.
Elective deferrals to a 401(k), 403(b), governmental 457(b), SARSEP, or SIMPLE plan, including designated Roth deferrals.⁴
Voluntary after-tax employee contributions to the federal Thrift Savings Plan or another qualified retirement plan.
Contributions to an ABLE account, if you are the designated beneficiary.

Employer matches, rollovers between accounts, and any excess contributions returned to you do not count toward the credit.¹

A traditional IRA contribution can do double duty. You can deduct it on your return and still claim the Saver’s Credit on the same money; the deduction lowers your AGI, which may push you into a higher credit-rate tier.¹

Deadlines differ by account. Workplace-plan contributions must hit the account by December 31 of the tax year, because payroll deferrals stop counting when the calendar year ends. IRA contributions can be made up to the tax filing deadline, usually April 15 of the following year, and still be applied to the prior year’s Form 8880.

How Past Withdrawals Can Shrink the Credit

Recent distributions from a retirement or ABLE account can pull down or wipe out the credit. Form 8880 asks you to report distributions received during a testing period that covers the tax year, the two preceding years, and the stretch between year-end and the filing deadline (including extensions). Those amounts are subtracted from your contributions on Line 4 before the credit is calculated.⁴

Several kinds of distributions are excluded from that subtraction:

Rollovers and trustee-to-trustee transfers that were not taxable.
Amounts converted from a traditional plan to a Roth IRA or designated Roth account.
Loans from a qualified employer plan.
Returned excess contributions and any earnings on them.
Payments from a military retirement plan other than the federal TSP.
Distributions from an inherited IRA received by a non-spouse beneficiary.

If you took any money out of a retirement account in the past two or three years, pull those records before you start the form. A forgotten withdrawal can quietly cancel a credit you were counting on.⁴

Filling Out Form 8880

Have three things at hand: your AGI from Form 1040, 1040-SR, or 1040-NR; your total voluntary retirement contributions for the year; and any reportable distributions from the testing period. Workplace-plan contributions usually show in Box 12 of your W-2, and IRA contributions appear on Form 5498.⁴

The form runs through a short calculation:

Lines 1 and 2: enter IRA contributions on Line 1 and workplace-plan contributions on Line 2.
Line 4: enter reportable distributions from the testing period.
Line 5: subtract distributions from contributions for your net eligible amount.
Line 6: cap the result at $2,000 per person.
Line 9: look up your credit rate (0.50, 0.20, or 0.10) using the table on the form based on AGI and filing status.
Line 10: multiply the capped contribution by the credit rate to get the tentative credit.
Line 11: compare the tentative credit to your remaining tax after other nonrefundable credits; the smaller figure is your Saver’s Credit.

Joint filers use two columns on the same form, one for each spouse.⁴

What Happens After You File

Form 8880 is attached to your Form 1040, 1040-SR, or 1040-NR.⁴ Because the credit is nonrefundable, it can bring your tax down to zero but will not by itself produce a refund. Any credit larger than the tax left after other nonrefundable credits (such as the child tax credit or education credits) is lost, and it does not carry forward to future years.⁵

What Changes in 2027

Under the SECURE 2.0 Act, the Saver’s Credit in its current form ends after the 2026 tax year. Starting in 2027, a “Saver’s Match” takes its place: instead of cutting your tax bill, the federal government will deposit a matching contribution straight into your retirement account, claimed on a new form. Form 8880 will continue only for ABLE account contributions.⁴ The 2026 return is the last chance to use Form 8880 as a tax credit, so if you qualify, it is worth claiming before the program changes.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Savings Contributions Credit (Saver’s Credit)
2
Internal Revenue Service. 401(k) Limit Increases to $24,500 for 2026, IRA Limit Increases to $7,500
3
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Notice 2025-67 – 2026 Amounts Relating to Retirement Plans and IRAs
4
Internal Revenue Service. Form 8880 – Credit for Qualified Retirement Savings Contributions
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 25B – Elective Deferrals and IRA Contributions by Certain Individuals