Roth IRA Contribution Limits 2026: Phase-Out Calculator

2026 Roth IRA limits: $7,000 ($8,000 if 50+). Phase-out begins at $150k single, $236k married. Calculate your exact allowed contribution. No signup.

The Roth IRA is the most tax-efficient retirement account available to most Americans: contributions go in after-tax, growth is tax-free, and qualified withdrawals in retirement are also tax-free. The catch is that contribution eligibility phases out at higher incomes and disappears entirely above a threshold. The Roth IRA Contribution Calculator calculates your exact allowed contribution based on your MAGI, filing status, and age. This article covers how the limits work, how phase-outs reduce your allowable contribution dollar-by-dollar, and what to do when your income exceeds the limit entirely.

2026 Roth IRA Contribution Limits by Age

The base contribution limit for 2026 is $7,000 for anyone under 50. Taxpayers aged 50 and older can contribute $8,000 — the extra $1,000 is the IRS catch-up contribution, designed to help near-retirement savers accelerate tax-free accumulation.

Contribution limits at a glance:

Four rules govern the limit in practice:

• The $7,000/$8,000 cap applies to your total IRA contributions across all traditional and Roth IRAs combined. Contributing $3,000 to a traditional IRA leaves only $4,000 remaining for a Roth (or $5,000 if 50+).
• You cannot contribute more than your earned income for the year. If you earn $4,500, your maximum Roth IRA contribution is $4,500, not $7,000.
• The limit is per person, not per household. A married couple can each contribute the full amount, up to $14,000 combined ($16,000 if both are 50+).
• The contribution deadline is April 15 of the following year. You can contribute to your 2026 Roth IRA any time between January 1, 2026, and April 15, 2027.

Roth IRA Income Phase-Out: How to Calculate Your Reduced Limit

The Roth IRA phase-out reduces your allowed contribution proportionally as your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) rises through a defined range. Once MAGI clears the top of the range, no direct Roth IRA contribution is allowed.

2026 Roth IRA phase-out ranges:

Phase-out formula:

Phase-Out % = (MAGI - Phase-Out Floor) ÷ Phase-Out Range Width
Reduced Limit = Full Limit × (1 - Phase-Out %)
Round down to nearest $10, minimum $200

For single filers the range width is $15,000. For married filing jointly it is $10,000. The narrower MFJ window means joint filers can go from full eligibility to none in just $10,000 of additional income.

Worked example — single filer, age 38, MAGI $158,000:

Phase-Out % = ($158,000 - $150,000) ÷ $15,000 = 53.3%
Reduced Limit = $7,000 × (1 - 0.533) = $3,269
Rounded down to nearest $10: $3,260

This taxpayer can contribute $3,260 for 2026. The $200 IRS minimum applies as long as MAGI stays below $165,000.

Worked example — married filing jointly, age 52, MAGI $241,000:

Phase-Out % = ($241,000 - $236,000) ÷ $10,000 = 50%
Reduced Limit = $8,000 × (1 - 0.50) = $4,000

With the catch-up contribution, this taxpayer can put $4,000 into a Roth IRA for 2026.

Roth IRA Contribution Limit Calculator: Three Worked Scenarios

Scenario 1: Single, age 32, MAGI $95,000

MAGI is well below the $150,000 floor. Full $7,000 contribution allowed with no reduction.

Scenario 2: Single, age 55, MAGI $162,000

Age 55 means the $8,000 catch-up limit applies. MAGI is inside the phase-out range.

Phase-Out % = ($162,000 - $150,000) ÷ $15,000 = 80%
Reduced Limit = $8,000 × (1 - 0.80) = $1,600

Maximum contribution: $1,600. Another $3,000 of MAGI would eliminate direct Roth eligibility entirely.

Scenario 3: Married filing jointly, age 44, MAGI $248,000

MAGI exceeds $246,000 (top of the MFJ range). No direct Roth IRA contribution is allowed. The backdoor Roth strategy, covered below, applies here.

The Roth IRA Contribution Calculator takes your exact MAGI, filing status, and age and returns the precise allowed contribution. It also projects the tax-free growth of that contribution over a chosen time horizon at a specified annual return rate.

Roth IRA vs Traditional IRA: Which to Use First

Roth and traditional IRAs share the same $7,000/$8,000 combined annual limit. Splitting between both is allowed, but the total across both accounts cannot exceed the cap.

Choosing between them:

The Roth vs Traditional 401k Calculator illustrates the breakeven tax rate between both structures. The same logic applies to IRA comparisons: Roth wins when your current marginal rate is lower than your expected retirement rate, and traditional wins when the reverse is true.

For high earners who can contribute to both a 401k and a Roth IRA, the standard priority is: contribute enough to the 401k to capture the full employer match, then max the Roth IRA if income is under the limit, then return to the 401k for additional pre-tax contributions. The 401k Match Calculator shows the real dollar value of capturing every dollar of employer match before allocating money elsewhere.

Backdoor Roth IRA: Contributing Past the Income Limit

Taxpayers above the Roth IRA income limit can still get money into a Roth account using a two-step process:

Step 1 — Non-deductible traditional IRA contribution. There is no income limit on traditional IRA contributions, only on deductibility. Contribute up to $7,000 ($8,000 if 50+) on an after-tax, non-deductible basis.

Step 2 — Roth conversion. Convert the traditional IRA balance to a Roth IRA. The conversion is a taxable event, but if you contribute and convert promptly before any earnings accumulate, the tax owed is close to zero on the contributed amount.

The pro-rata rule — the main complication:

If you hold pre-tax money in any traditional IRA (from prior deductible contributions or rollover accounts), the IRS treats all traditional IRAs as one pool. You cannot convert only the after-tax dollars. The taxable portion of any conversion is:

Taxable % = Pre-Tax IRA Balance ÷ Total Traditional IRA Balance

A taxpayer with $100,000 in a rollover IRA and a $7,000 new after-tax contribution has a $107,000 total balance. Only 6.5% of any conversion is after-tax. Converting $7,000 means $6,545 is taxable.

The cleanest backdoor Roth execution starts with zero pre-tax IRA balances. Taxpayers with large rollover IRAs often roll those assets into a current employer's 401k first to clear the pro-rata issue, then execute the backdoor conversion. Consistent annual Roth contributions — whether direct or backdoor — are a core component of partial early retirement strategies like Barista FIRE, where tax-free Roth withdrawals reduce the income needed from taxable accounts. The Barista FIRE Calculator models this alongside part-time income scenarios.