What Age Can You Open an IRA? No Minimum, Earned Income Required

You can open an IRA at any age. Federal law sets no minimum and no maximum — a child with babysitting income and a 78-year-old still drawing a paycheck are both eligible. What actually gates the account is earned income: your contribution for the year cannot exceed what you earned from work. For 2026, the ceiling is $7,500, or $8,600 if you are 50 or older.

No Age Floor and No Age Ceiling

The tax code does not attach an age to IRA ownership. Under 26 U.S.C. § 408, an IRA is a trust set up for the benefit of an individual, and the statute is silent on how old that individual has to be.¹ A teenager with a summer job qualifies. So does a child performer with a paycheck.

There is no upper limit either. Traditional IRAs used to shut off contributions at age 70½, but the SECURE Act of 2019 struck that cap. Anyone with earned income can now contribute to a Traditional or Roth IRA at any age.²

One practical wrinkle applies to children. Minors generally cannot sign binding financial contracts, so a parent or guardian has to open a custodial IRA for them and manage it until the child reaches the age of majority. That is 18 in most states, though a few use 19 or 21.

Earned Income Is the Actual Requirement

Whatever your age, you need what the IRS calls compensation — earnings from work — and your yearly contribution cannot exceed that amount.³ Earn $3,000 and you can contribute up to $3,000, even though the annual cap is higher.

Qualifying compensation includes:⁴

Wages, salaries, and tips reported in Box 1 of a W-2
Net earnings from self-employment where your personal services are a key factor
Commissions based on a percentage of sales or profits
Nontaxable combat pay for members of the U.S. Armed Forces
Taxable alimony, but only under divorce agreements executed on or before December 31, 2018

What does not count: interest, dividends, rental income, pension payments, Social Security, child support, and unemployment benefits.² This is why a retiree living on Social Security and a pension cannot fund an IRA, but a retiree who also works part-time can.

The Spousal IRA Exception

Married couples filing jointly get a workaround. A non-working or lower-earning spouse can contribute to their own IRA based on the other spouse’s income under the Kay Bailey Hutchison Spousal IRA rule. Combined contributions across both IRAs cannot exceed the couple’s total earned income, and each spouse is still capped at the annual individual limit.⁴ This lets a stay-at-home spouse keep building retirement savings without a paycheck of their own.

Opening a Custodial IRA for a Child

An adult opens the account, but the child owns it. The custodian — usually a parent — picks the investments and handles the paperwork. When the child hits the age of majority in their state, control transfers to them.

Most brokerages accept custodial IRA applications online. You’ll typically need the minor’s Social Security number and date of birth, plus the custodian’s full legal name, Social Security number, address, and a government-issued photo ID. You’ll also name a beneficiary and, often, a successor custodian who could take over if the original custodian could not continue. Once identities are verified, you link a bank account and fund the initial deposit. The child’s earned income sets the contribution ceiling regardless of who writes the check, so a parent can deposit the money as long as the child actually earned that much.

Why a Roth Usually Fits a Minor

Most kids earn well below the 2026 standard deduction of $16,100, so they owe little or no federal income tax on their wages. A Roth IRA leans into that: contributions go in after tax, and qualified withdrawals — including decades of growth — come out tax-free.⁵ A Traditional IRA deduction is worth almost nothing to someone who already owes no tax, and every dollar withdrawn later would be taxed as ordinary income.

2026 Contribution Limits and the Deadline

The 2026 contribution cap is $7,500 for anyone under 50. If you are 50 or older by year-end, a $1,100 catch-up contribution brings your total to $8,600.⁶ These limits are total across all your Traditional and Roth IRAs combined, not per account.

You have until April 15, 2027 to make 2026 contributions.⁷ Contribute over the limit and fail to fix it by the filing deadline, and the IRS charges a 6% excise tax on the excess for each year it stays in the account.⁸

Income Can Limit What You Contribute or Deduct

Age doesn’t restrict eligibility, but income sometimes does. If you or your spouse is covered by a workplace retirement plan like a 401(k), your Traditional IRA deduction phases out over an income range. For 2026, a single filer covered at work loses the deduction between $81,000 and $91,000 of modified adjusted gross income; a married couple filing jointly where the contributor is covered phases out between $129,000 and $149,000; and a contributor whose spouse is the one with the workplace plan phases out between $242,000 and $252,000.⁶ With no workplace plan on either side, the full deduction is available at any income.

Roth IRAs come with their own income limits that decide whether you can contribute at all. For 2026, single filers and heads of household phase out between $153,000 and $168,000 of MAGI, married joint filers between $242,000 and $252,000, and married filing separately between $0 and $10,000.⁶ Below the range, full contribution; inside it, a reduced amount; above it, no direct Roth contribution for the year.

Getting the Money Back Out

IRAs are built for retirement, and the tax code enforces that with a 10% additional tax on most withdrawals before age 59½.⁹ Traditional IRA withdrawals also get taxed as ordinary income. Roth accounts work differently: your original contributions can come out anytime tax- and penalty-free, but earnings pulled before 59½ or before the account has been open five years face both the 10% penalty and income tax.⁵

Several exceptions waive the 10% penalty, including up to $10,000 for a first-time home purchase, qualified higher education expenses, permanent disability, unreimbursed medical expenses above 7.5% of adjusted gross income, and a series of substantially equal periodic payments over your life expectancy.¹⁰ The penalty exception doesn’t erase the income tax on a Traditional withdrawal; only qualified Roth distributions, taken after 59½ and after the five-year holding period, come out completely tax-free.

On the other end of life, Traditional IRA owners eventually have to start required minimum distributions. Under current law, RMDs begin by April 1 of the year after you turn 73, and that age rises to 75 starting in 2033.¹¹ Roth IRAs skip this entirely for the original owner, which is part of what makes an early-life Roth so useful: a custodial Roth opened for a child can compound tax-free for decades with no forced withdrawals.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S.C. 408 – Individual Retirement Accounts
2
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – IRA Contribution Limits
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S.C. 219 – Retirement Savings
4
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 590-A – Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs)
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S.C. 408A – Roth IRAs
6
Internal Revenue Service. 401(k) Limit Increases to $24,500 for 2026, IRA Limit Increases to $7,500
7
Internal Revenue Service. IRA Year-End Reminders
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 4973 – Tax on Excess Contributions to Certain Tax-Favored Accounts and Annuities
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 72 – Annuities; Certain Proceeds of Endowment and Life Insurance Contracts
10
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Exceptions to Tax on Early Distributions
11
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Plan and IRA Required Minimum Distributions FAQs