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Roth IRA Contribution Limit Phaseout Calculator
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If you’re confused about how much you can contribute to your Roth IRA this year, this calculator can help!
As you probably know, you have until tax due day, April 16th, to make a contribution to your Roth IRA for 2012. What you might not know is how much you are able to contribute, if your income (modified adjusted gross income) happens to be within the phaseout range for your filing status. There are a lot of websites that will give you the ranges, the rules for calculating your personal limit, but I couldn’t find a simple calculator that did the math for me… so I built one.
The calculator is very simple, just select your filing status, check off whether you are 50+ or not, enter in your modified AGI and click the “How much can I contribute?” button. That’s it. Here are the Roth IRA and Traditional IRA contribution limits.
Be sure to double check these figures with your accountant before using!
Roth IRA Contribution Limit Phaseout Calculator
This calculator is based on Tax Year 2011 data (for the phaseouts and limits). After April 15th, I’ll update this with the 2012 phaseout ranges and update the post to reflect this.
The phaseout ranges for each filing type is (2012):
- Single/HOH: $110,000 – $125,000
- Married Filing Jointly: $173,000 – $183,000
- Married Filing Separately: $0 – $10,000
For 2013, the ranges become:
- Single/HOH: $112,000 – $127,000
- Married Filing Jointly: $178,000 – $188,000
- Married Filing Separately: $0 – $10,000
The contribution limit for 2012 is $5000 if you are not yet 50, $6000 if you are aged 50 and above. In 2013, it’s increased to $5500. Some other idiosyncrasies in the phaseout (and subsequently in the calculator) is that the contribution steps are in $10 increments (always rounding up) and the minimum limit, unless you exceed the upper threshold, is $200.
Lastly, you can only make contributions if you have earned income.
If you see any problems with the calculator, please let me know in the comments and I’ll remedy them as soon as possible.
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Thanks for the handy tool, Jim! Not the first time, and not the last, I suppose. Thanks again!
Nice, but Fidelity beat you to it, with a spiffy rotating Flash version. link. It’s the 4th bullet down under Answers to your IRA Questions.
I can’t seem to find it on the Fidelity page…
Nice little calculator. I found the one on fidelity, but it functions exactly the same way, just with a little fancier interface.
how do you calculate your magi?
Assuming not much has changed from last year, you can find this on last years income tax forms.
Your modified AGI is essential your AGI with certain items subtracted and certain exclusions or deductions added back.
There are three items deducted.
1. Roth IRA Conversions
2. Roth IRA Rollovers
3. Minimum Required Distributions
There are several deductions that may be necessary to add back to compute your modified AGI. Some of them will include things like student loan deductions and Traditional IRA deductions amount other things.
On irs.gov there is a step-by-step process to calculate your MAGI with references to line numbers in the tax forms.
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p590/ch02.html
Just search for “Worksheet 2-1″.
Pretty cool calculator. Although, I did not come close to the phase out amount!
Married Filing Separately has a phaseout of $10,000?
wow, so you have to live in poverty to be married.
Only if you file separately. All the various phaseouts are abysmally low for MFS.
If you are a stay at home parent, earning zero income yourself, can you contribute to your own IRA using your spouse’s income?
As I understand it, if you file jointly, you can contribute to an IRA for yourself as long as your spouse earned money. However, you can’t contribute to, say, an IRA for your kids if they have no income of their own.
Jim you are the man. I hate this calculation! Did it here in less than 15sec! Thanks.
Thanks also Jim, I’ve been searching forever for this information and your site got me my number in 10 seconds.
For anyone trying to find out their AGI (Adjusted Gross Income), it’s on line 38 of your 1040. Then you can read up on the link Aceofwealth posted to adjust your AGI and into your MAGI.
Awesome calculator – saved me a lot of time!
Jim- was looking for this info in various places, you had it all with the quick calculator- impressive- then saw your smiling face. bookmarked you going forward. if we still had rooms next to each other I would bother you more often for great info. hope all is well, thanks again for the great resource. later
Lindner
Thank you very much for the calculator. It’s very helpful. Where did you find the formula for calculating the contribution amount and what is it if you don’t mind sharing? Thanks.
Your Roth IRA Phaseout Calculator for filing a joint return is for 2009 or 2010? The phaseout ranges for these two years are different.
Sorry, it’s 2010 tax data (not 2009-2010). My apologies for the confusion!
If it’s 2010 Roth IRA, for filing a joint return, you should subtract 167,000 (for 2010) rather than 166,000 (for 2009).
Yikes, you’re right. I’ve fixed it. Thanks!
I love the ease of your calculator.
Can you clarify, is the amount shown by the calculator for a joint filing for each person, or a combined amount?
It’s for each person.
Thank you,have had hard time finding if the 5000 limit was per person or per household for married filing jointly.
thanks, the amount was exactly what the accountant said!
THANK YOU! I’ve done several searches to get this information and no one seemed to have the answer.
The calculator is very handy. I was able to verify this from the IRS pubs. My question is whether this limited amount applies to me and my husband each. Based on our “married filing joint” MAGI of $169,130, your calculator shows a contribution limit for 2010 of $4730. Does that mean we can open a joint Roth IRA for $9,460? And does this need to be reported on our 2010 return?
It is now August 2011. Are you going to update this calculator for the new limits?
I am going to have to pay the IRS the 6% because I over contributed in 2010. Do I need to file a form? What form do I need to use?
Thanks
YOU FORGOT TO UPDATE THE CALCULATOR! ITS TIME TO USE 2011 NUMBERS AND THIS IS STILL RUNNING 2010 DATA…
You are right, I’ll update this shortly!
So if you are filing jointly, the amount of “Your Contribution Level” is for each individual or combined between the two filers?
Hi,
I have a SEP. Do I have to add contributions to the SEP back to AGI when determining MAGI?
Many thanks if anyone can help.
Could you please update your calculator for 2012?
I found your site looking for a 2012 phase out problem – but it would appear your calculator is already running 2013. I might suggest either an additional box that allows year to be selected or have two concurrent calculators during these transition months of tax seasons
Thanks Jim! QQ – I invested $5500 in a Roth IRA at the beginning of 2013. I also just recently accepted a new job making $115K/yr, which puts me in the phase-out range. Since I am single, the calculator indicates I can only invest $4400 in a Roth IRA this year. Therefore, do I need to request a refund of $1100, or should I leave the full contribution as-is? What should I do? Thanks!
I’d contact an accountant to know for sure but contact your broker to find out what you should do.
Jim,
My wife and I fill jointly; AGI of 159000. If phase out starts at 173k, am I correct to assume that I have at least another 10-14 years assuming my salary is adjusted by inflation (military, 1-2% annual increase) to contribute to my IRA? Thanks!!!
It’s always hard to say but assuming those things, you could contribute forever. The Roth IRA contribution phaseouts are supposed to be adjusted for inflation so if you only get inflation-type of increases, the phaseout would increase along with your salary.
Roger, did not know about the inflation adjustment or IRA, appreciate the input!!