Roth IRA Contribution Limit

Checking Your Roth IRA Contribution Eligibility

Roth IRA eligibility phases out above IRS-published income thresholds, and eventually disappears entirely for high earners. Enter your Modified AGI and filing status, and this calculator finds how much you’re actually allowed to contribute this year — the full limit, a reduced amount, or nothing at all.

This answers a different question from the Roth vs. Traditional IRA Calculator calculator, which compares the long-term after-tax growth of a Roth against a Traditional IRA assuming full contribution capacity — it doesn’t check whether you’re actually eligible to contribute that amount in the first place.

The Formula

1. Full contribution limit = base limit, plus the catch-up limit if you’re 50 or older.
2. Phase-out range — a Modified AGI range that varies by filing status. Below the range’s start, you get the full limit; at or above the range’s end, you get $0.
3. Inside the range, the limit shrinks proportionally as income rises, then rounds UP to the next $10 — with a $200 floor guaranteed to anyone still inside the range, both real IRS rounding rules applied exactly as written.

Worked Example

$160,000 Modified AGI, filing single, under 50, with the default $7,500 base limit and single/head-of-household phase-out range of $153,000 to $168,000:

1. Since $160,000 falls inside the phase-out range, the limit shrinks proportionally: (168,000 − 160,000) ÷ (168,000 − 153,000) = 53.3% of the full limit.
2. $7,500 × 53.3% = $4,000, already a multiple of $10, so no rounding is needed.
3. Since $4,000 is well above the $200 floor, the allowed contribution stays at $4,000 — 53% of the full $7,500 limit.

Key Factors to Consider

• The Modified AGI used for this phase-out isn’t identical to plain adjusted gross income. Modified AGI adds back certain deductions (like student loan interest or foreign earned income exclusions) to regular AGI — most filers’ MAGI matches their AGI closely, but checking the actual IRS definition matters for anyone with these specific adjustments.
• Contribution limits and income phase-out ranges are both adjusted periodically for inflation. Both figures used as inputs here typically change from year to year — always verify the current tax year’s actual IRS-published numbers before finalizing a real contribution decision, rather than assuming last year’s figures still apply.
• Being above the Roth phase-out range doesn’t mean tax-advantaged retirement savings are off the table entirely. A Traditional IRA contribution (which has no income limit on the contribution itself, only on its deductibility — see the IRA Contribution Calculator) followed by a Roth conversion is a common strategy for high earners, worth researching alongside this eligibility check.
• A married couple filing separately faces a dramatically narrower phase-out range than any other filing status, if they lived together during the year. This is a well-known, deliberately strict IRS rule specifically for that filing status — it’s easy to be caught off guard by how quickly Roth eligibility phases out compared to filing jointly or as single.

Common Mistakes

• Assuming the phase-out range is the same for every filing status. Married filing jointly has a noticeably higher range than single/head of household, and married filing separately (if you lived with your spouse during the year) has a much narrower one — check the range for your actual filing status, not a number you saw quoted for someone else’s.
• Forgetting the “backdoor Roth” workaround exists. Being above the phase-out range doesn’t mean Roth-style tax treatment is completely off the table — a Traditional IRA contribution followed by a conversion is a common (if more involved) alternative worth researching.
• Using last year’s AGI instead of this year’s estimate. Since eligibility is based on the current tax year’s income, a raise, bonus, or major life change partway through the year can shift which bracket of this calculator’s result actually applies to you by year’s end.

Useful to Know

• Eligible for a full or partial Roth contribution? Roth vs. Traditional IRA Calculator compares its long-term after-tax growth against a Traditional IRA.
• Above the phase-out range entirely? Roth Conversion Calculator and the backdoor Roth strategy are common workarounds worth researching next.
• Wondering how a Traditional IRA’s own contribution rules compare? IRA Contribution Calculator covers its deductibility limits, which work differently from Roth’s income phase-out.