When Do You Have to Stop Contributing to an IRA?

There is no longer an age at which you have to stop contributing to an IRA. Since the SECURE Act took effect for tax years after December 31, 2019, both Traditional and Roth IRAs accept contributions at any age.¹ What actually forces you to stop is one of three things: losing earned income, exceeding the Roth income thresholds, or hitting the annual dollar cap, which is $7,500 for 2026.

Age No Longer Ends Your Contributions

Before 2020, Traditional IRAs had a hard stop at age 70½. Once you reached that birthday, you could not add another dollar even if you were still working. The SECURE Act of 2019 removed that cutoff. Roth IRAs never had an age limit, so the two account types now sit on equal footing.

The practical effect is simple. If you’re 72 and still drawing a paycheck, freelancing, or running a small business, you can keep contributing to either type of IRA. Your birth certificate is not the gatekeeper anymore. Your paycheck is.

Earned Income Is the Real Gate

You can contribute to an IRA only in years when you have taxable compensation. The IRS counts wages, salaries, tips, commissions, self-employment income, and professional fees.² If you’re self-employed, the figure that matters is net earnings after subtracting the deductible portion of self-employment tax. When that income stops, contributions have to stop with it.

What doesn’t count catches many retirees off guard. Social Security benefits, pension payments, annuity income, rental income, interest, and stock dividends are all excluded. If your only income comes from those sources, you are ineligible to contribute no matter how much you receive. This is the most common involuntary stopping point. The day you stop earning, your contribution window closes.

Two Exceptions to the Compensation Rule

Nontaxable military combat pay qualifies as compensation for IRA purposes even though it’s excluded from gross income.³ Service members deployed to a combat zone can use that pay to fund either a Traditional or Roth IRA.

Taxable alimony received under a divorce or separation agreement executed on or before December 31, 2018, also counts as compensation. Agreements finalized after that date fall under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act rules, so the recipient no longer includes alimony in income and cannot use it to qualify for IRA contributions.²

The 2026 Annual Dollar Cap

Every tax year has a hard dollar ceiling. For 2026, you can contribute up to $7,500 across all your IRAs if you’re under 50. If you’re 50 or older, a $1,100 catch-up brings the maximum to $8,600.⁴ Once you hit that number, you’re done for the year.

The cap applies to the combined total across all Traditional and Roth IRAs you own. Three IRAs at three brokerages still share one limit. There’s also a secondary ceiling: your contribution can never exceed your taxable compensation for the year. If you earned $4,000, that’s your limit even though the general cap is higher.¹

One point that trips people up: the SECURE 2.0 Act created an enhanced catch-up contribution for people aged 60 through 63, but that higher limit applies only to workplace plans like 401(k)s and 403(b)s. It does not apply to IRAs.⁴ The IRA catch-up stays at $1,100 for everyone 50 and older, whether you’re 52 or 62.

Roth Income Limits Shut Down Direct Contributions

Roth IRAs have an income ceiling that Traditional IRAs don’t. If your Modified Adjusted Gross Income climbs too high, your allowable Roth contribution shrinks and eventually reaches zero. For 2026, the phase-out ranges are:⁴

Single or head of household: full contributions up to $153,000 MAGI, reduced contributions between $153,000 and $168,000, no direct contributions above $168,000.
Married filing jointly: full contributions up to $242,000 MAGI, reduced contributions between $242,000 and $252,000, no direct contributions above $252,000.
Married filing separately and lived with your spouse during the year: reduced contributions from $0 to $10,000 MAGI, no contributions above $10,000.

The married-filing-separately rule is harsh. Even modest income pushes you out of eligibility entirely. If you did not live with your spouse at any point during the year, the IRS treats you as a single filer for Roth purposes.

Traditional IRAs work differently. You can contribute at any income level. High income can reduce or eliminate your ability to deduct those contributions, but it doesn’t stop you from making them.

Spousal IRAs When One Partner Doesn’t Work

A non-working spouse doesn’t have to sit out. Under the Kay Bailey Hutchison Spousal IRA rule, a working spouse can fund an IRA for a partner with little or no earned income, as long as the couple files a joint return.¹ The non-working spouse gets their own IRA with the same limits as anyone else.

For 2026, each spouse can contribute up to $7,500, or $8,600 if age 50 or older, so a couple could put away as much as $15,000 to $17,200 combined across two IRAs.⁴ The only constraint is that combined contributions cannot exceed the working spouse’s total taxable compensation reported on the joint return.

When the Window Actually Closes

You have until April 15 of the following year to make IRA contributions for a given tax year. For 2026, that means April 15, 2027. Filing a tax extension does not buy you extra time for IRA contributions. The April 15 deadline is firm even if you push your return to October.⁵

You can make a 2026 contribution as early as January 1, 2026, and as late as April 15, 2027. Contributing early gives your money more time to grow. Contributing late gives you a clearer picture of your income and whether you’ll stay within Roth eligibility limits. Miss the deadline and that year’s contribution room is gone permanently.

What Happens If You Contribute When You Shouldn’t Have

Going over the limit, or contributing without qualifying earned income, triggers a 6% excise tax on the excess amount for every year it stays in your IRA.¹ The penalty compounds. A $1,000 excess costs you $60 every year you leave it alone.

To avoid the penalty, withdraw the excess contribution and any earnings it generated before your tax filing deadline, including extensions. If the account gained value after the excess deposit, you’ll pull out more than you originally contributed. If it lost value, you’ll pull out less. The earnings portion of the withdrawal counts as taxable income in the year you made the excess contribution, and you may owe a 10% early withdrawal penalty on those earnings if you’re under 59½.¹

One boundary worth naming: Required Minimum Distributions from a Traditional IRA begin at age 73, but starting RMDs does not stop you from continuing to contribute.⁶ If you still have earned income at 75, you can keep depositing money into the same account the IRS is requiring you to draw down. Whether that math works for you depends on your tax bracket and the size of the RMD relative to what you’re putting in.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – IRA Contribution Limits
2
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 590-A (2025), Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs)
3
Internal Revenue Service. Miscellaneous Provisions – Combat Zone Service
4
Internal Revenue Service. 401(k) Limit Increases to $24,500 for 2026, IRA Limit Increases to $7,500
5
Internal Revenue Service. IRA Year-End Reminders
6
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Plan and IRA Required Minimum Distributions FAQs