Roth IRA contribution room resets every January 1. On that date, a fresh annual limit becomes available for the new tax year, and you have until the following April’s federal tax filing deadline to use it. For 2026, the limit is $7,500 if you are under 50 and $8,600 if you are 50 or older, subject to income-based phase-outs that can reduce or eliminate what you are allowed to put in.
When the New Year’s Window Opens
Each tax year’s contribution window starts on January 1 and runs through the federal tax filing deadline of the following year, typically April 15. That gives you roughly 15½ months to fund any single year. A 2026 contribution, for example, can be made anytime between January 1, 2026, and April 15, 2027. If April 15 falls on a weekend or legal holiday, the deadline shifts to the next business day.1Internal Revenue Service. When to File
Filing a six-month extension on your tax return does not extend the contribution deadline. Even if you push your return to October, the last day to make a prior-year Roth contribution stays at the original April date. Once that day passes, any unused room for that year is gone permanently.2Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – IRA Contribution Limits
Two Windows Are Open at Once in the Spring
Between January 1 and the April filing deadline, two contribution years overlap. You can still fund the prior tax year or begin funding the current one. Your brokerage or custodian will ask you to designate which tax year each deposit applies to. Choose carefully. Once the prior-year deadline passes, that designation cannot be changed.
2026 Contribution Limits
The IRS adjusts Roth IRA limits periodically for inflation. For 2026, the annual maximum is $7,500 if you are under 50 and $8,600 if you are 50 or older. The extra $1,100 is a catch-up contribution.3Internal Revenue Service. 401(k) Limit Increases to $24,500 for 2026, IRA Limit Increases to $7,500 These figures are up from $7,000 and $8,000 in 2025.
A detail that catches many savers off guard: the limit is shared across all your traditional and Roth IRAs combined. If you put $4,000 into a traditional IRA in 2026, the most you can add to a Roth that same year is $3,500, assuming you are under 50. You do not get a separate $7,500 for each account type.2Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – IRA Contribution Limits
There is one further cap. You cannot contribute more than your taxable compensation for the year, even if it comes in below the standard maximum. If you earned $5,000 in wages, your limit is $5,000 regardless of the posted IRS ceiling.2Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – IRA Contribution Limits
Income Phase-Outs Can Shrink Your Fresh Limit
Direct Roth eligibility depends on your Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) and filing status. Once your MAGI crosses a threshold, your allowed contribution shrinks gradually until it hits zero. The 2026 phase-out ranges are:4Internal Revenue Service. Notice 2025-67 – 2026 Amounts Relating to Retirement Plans and IRAs
- Single or head of household: phase-out begins at $153,000 and ends at $168,000. Above $168,000, direct Roth contributions are not allowed.
- Married filing jointly: phase-out begins at $242,000 and ends at $252,000. Above $252,000, direct contributions are not allowed.
- Married filing separately, if you lived with your spouse during the year: the phase-out covers $0 to $10,000, so any MAGI above $10,000 eliminates eligibility entirely.
Land inside a phase-out range and you get a reduced limit rather than the full $7,500. The IRS publishes a worksheet for the exact figure in Publication 590-A.5Internal Revenue Service. Publication 590-A, Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs) MAGI for Roth purposes starts with the AGI on line 11 of your Form 1040, then adds back items such as student loan interest, foreign earned income exclusions, and foreign housing deductions.6Internal Revenue Service. Modified Adjusted Gross Income For most wage earners, MAGI is the same as or close to AGI.
If your income fluctuates, you may have to estimate MAGI for the current year from prior returns and known changes. Contribute based on that estimate and then earn more than you expected, and you will need to fix the excess before it becomes costly.
What Counts as Qualifying Income
You can only contribute if you have taxable compensation. Wages, salaries, commissions, tips, bonuses, self-employment earnings, and taxable alimony received under pre-2019 divorce agreements all count.7eCFR. 26 CFR 1.408A-3 – Contributions to Roth IRAs Investment income, rental income, pensions, annuities, and Social Security benefits do not.
Spousal Contributions
If one spouse has little or no earned income, the working spouse’s compensation can support contributions to both spouses’ Roth IRAs, as long as the couple files jointly. A household with one earner making at least $15,000 in 2026 could fund $7,500 in each spouse’s Roth (or $8,600 each if both are 50 or older), provided combined MAGI stays below the married-filing-jointly phase-out range.5Internal Revenue Service. Publication 590-A, Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs) Each spouse owns a separate IRA. There is no such thing as a joint IRA, but the working spouse’s income satisfies the compensation requirement for both accounts.
If You Contribute Too Much for the Year
Going over the annual limit, whether from a miscalculation, an unexpected raise, or forgetting about deposits to another IRA, triggers a 6% excise tax on the excess for every year it stays in the account.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 4973 – Tax on Excess Contributions to Certain Tax-Favored Accounts and Annuities You report and pay it on Form 5329. You do have ways to fix the problem before it compounds.
Remove the excess along with any earnings it generated by your tax filing deadline (including extensions, typically October 15), and the IRS treats it as though the contribution never happened. No excise tax is owed. Earnings withdrawn this way are included in your taxable income for the year the contribution was made.9Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 5329
If you already filed without pulling the excess, you still have up to six months after the original filing deadline to withdraw it and file an amended return. Past that point, taking the excess out stops the 6% tax from compounding in future years, but you cannot avoid the penalty for the year the excess was in the account.9Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 5329
Another option, if your income turned out too high for a direct Roth contribution, is to recharacterize the deposit as a traditional IRA contribution. You have until October 15 of the year after the tax year in question to complete this. Your custodian moves the contribution, plus or minus any associated earnings or losses, to a traditional IRA, and the deposit is treated as if it had been made there from the start.