Spousal IRAs allow working spouses to contribute to an IRA for a non-working spouse. Spousal IRAs are the same as Roth or traditional IRAs but are designed for married couples.
There is no special type of IRA for spouses; instead, the rule allows non-working spouses to contribute to a traditional IRA or a Roth IRA, provided they file a joint tax return with their working spouse. Individual retirement accounts opened under the spousal IRA rules are not co-owned.
There's no special "spousal" account type. Spousal IRAs are literally just a typical IRA, but used by a person who's married. That is, each spouse can use traditional or Roth IRAs, or both. The key is that the working spouse must earn at least as much money as is contributed to all of the couple's IRAs.
A Roth IRA is a kind of individual retirement account (IRA) that allows for tax-advantaged retirement savings. If you're married, you may be wondering whether you can open a joint Roth IRA with your spouse. The short answer is no—Roth IRAs can only be owned by a single individual.
The short answer is "yes." According to the rules for inherited IRAs, you can roll a deceased taxpayer's individual retirement account over to a spouse.
Key Takeaways
A spousal IRA is a type of retirement savings that allows a working spouse to contribute to an individual retirement account (IRA) in the name of a nonworking spouse. A working spouse can contribute to both IRAs, provided that they have enough earned income to cover both contributions.
If your spouse is earning low or no annual wages, your spouse may be able to open a spousal IRA to save tax-efficiently for retirement. It's not a joint account, but rather a separate IRA set up in your spouse's name. You must be married and filing a joint tax return in order to open a spousal IRA.
Many spouses ask, “Can my wife and I both have a Roth IRA?” Yes, you can each have your own account to contribute to. This maximizes your total contributions and gives your money more compounding power. However, you must have earned income in order to contribute to an IRA.
Unlike combining money in a joint checking account, you cannot combine retirement accounts with your spouse.
A nonworking spouse can open and contribute to an IRA
A non-wage-earning spouse can save for retirement too. Provided the other spouse is working and the couple files a joint federal income tax return, the nonworking spouse can open and contribute to their own traditional or Roth IRA.
Increased Household Retirement Savings
Another benefit of using spousal contributions to an IRA is the fact that you can boost your ability to save for retirement as a couple. If you only have an IRA for yourself, you can only put in $6,000 (for 2019 and 2020) for the year.
A spousal IRA allows you to contribute to an individual retirement account for your spouse — if your spouse has little or no income. Spousal IRAs bypass the federal regulation that someone has to have earned income to contribute to an IRA.
Spousal IRA contribution limits
Are you wondering who can contribute to a spousal IRA? Under current law, most couples can contribute up to $12,000 ($6,000 each) to their IRAs in 2020 and 2021 as long as their combined compensation is at least $12,000 for the year in which contributions are made.
You can have more than one Roth IRA, and you can open more than one Roth IRA at any time. There is no limit to the number of Roth IRA accounts you can have. However, no matter how many Roth IRAs you have, your total contributions cannot exceed the limits set by the government.
In addition, there are limits to the total amount that can be put into a spousal IRA during the year. The IRS allows up to $6,000 in contributions to an IRA in 2019 for individuals who are under age 50. For those who are 50 or older, the limit in 2019 is $7,000.
Yes. You can contribute to a Traditional IRA. However, because your wife has a 401(k), this can reduce your Traditional IRA deduction or eliminate it altogether.
Amount of your reduced Roth IRA contribution
$198,000 if filing a joint return or qualifying widow(er), $-0- if married filing a separate return, and you lived with your spouse at any time during the year, or. $125,000 for all other individuals.
An IRA cannot be held jointly by spouses. It can only be held in one individual's name.
For anyone else, Orman's clear opinion is that a Roth IRA is the smart choice -- and she's likely right given the likelihood of higher future tax rates and the greater potential for financial security as a retiree if withdrawals can be taken tax free.
IRA contributions after age 70½
For 2019, if you're 70 ½ or older, you can't make a regular contribution to a traditional IRA. However, you can still contribute to a Roth IRA and make rollover contributions to a Roth or traditional IRA regardless of your age.
If one spouse has eligible compensation, that spouse can fund an IRA for the non-employed spouse as well as their own IRA. Traditional and Roth IRAs have the same contribution limits but different eligibility requirements. Each spouse's IRA must be held separately. IRAs cannot be held jointly.
IRAs in the 1980s
In 1981, with the passage of the Economic Recovery Tax Act (ERTA), all taxpayers could contribute to an IRA for themselves (up to $2,000) and their nonworking spouses (up to $250), as long as they were younger than 70 ½ years of age.
A backdoor Roth IRA is not an official type of individual retirement account. Instead, it is an informal name for a complicated method used by high-income taxpayers to create a permanently tax-free Roth IRA, even if their incomes exceed the limits that the tax law prescribes for regular Roth ownership.
You can contribute up to the maximum for each spouse, as long as you don't exceed the total compensation received by both spouses [on a married filing joint return]. When both spouses are age 50 or older, the limit is $7,000 per spouse.
Contributions to a Roth IRA aren't deductible (and you don't report the contributions on your tax return), but qualified distributions or distributions that are a return of contributions aren't subject to tax. To be a Roth IRA, the account or annuity must be designated as a Roth IRA when it's set up.