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I know this is somewhat elementary stuff but I’ve been getting a lot of searchers looking for these contribution limits and they’re going to pages that don’t display it in a convenient and easily scannable format – thus, I’ve written this entirely new post to address these limits.

Contribution Limits:

Roth IRA Income Phase-out:

Some rules:

• The Over 50 Limit takes into account a catch-up contribution you’re allowed to make if you turned 50 at any point during the year, so if you turned 50 on December 31st, then you’re allowed to contribute the Over 50 Limit. Your contribution is also limited by your income, you are permitted to contribute the lesser of your income or the limit (so if you made $500 in income, you’re only allowed to contribute $500 to your IRA).
• Traditional and Roth IRAs share the same limits, thus if you contribute $1,000 in 2008 to your Traditional IRA, you may only contribute an additional $3,000 to your Roth IRA (assuming you’re under 50).
• The Roth IRA income phase-out is linear, so if you are Married Filing Jointly, under 50, and your total income were $164,000 (2008), you are permitted to contribute $2,500 to your Roth IRA. There are two special cases though: 1) when calculating your limit, round up to the nearest $10; 2) If your limit is under $200 but still positive, round up to $200.