2026 Roth IRA limits at a glance
The IRS raised the IRA contribution limit for 2026 to $7,500, up from $7,000 in 2025, and raised the age-50+ catch-up to $1,100, up from $1,000. Both figures come from IRS Notice 2025-67, published in November 2025. Two ceilings apply at once: the dollar limit below, and your taxable compensation for the year (you cannot contribute more than you earned).
| Item | 2026 amount |
|---|---|
| Contribution limit (under 50) | $7,500 |
| Catch-up contribution (50 and older) | $1,100 |
| Contribution limit (50 and older) | $8,600 |
| Full contribution below MAGI (single / head of household) | $153,000 |
| No contribution above MAGI (single / head of household) | $168,000 |
| Full contribution below MAGI (married filing jointly) | $242,000 |
| No contribution above MAGI (married filing jointly) | $252,000 |
| Phase-out range (married filing separately) | $0 to $10,000 |
Every dollar you get in before the deadline compounds tax-free for decades. To see what a maxed-out 2026 contribution grows into by retirement, run the numbers in our Roth IRA calculator.
Roth IRA income limits by filing status
Eligibility is based on modified adjusted gross income (MAGI): your adjusted gross income with a few items added back, such as the student loan interest deduction and the foreign earned income exclusion. One helpful quirk: income from a Roth conversion does not count toward MAGI for this test, so converting does not lock you out of contributing.
| Filing status | Full contribution | Partial (phase-out) | No contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single / head of household | Below $153,000 | $153,000 to $168,000 | $168,000 and above |
| Married filing jointly | Below $242,000 | $242,000 to $252,000 | $252,000 and above |
| Married filing separately (lived together) | Never | $0 to $10,000 | $10,000 and above |
The married-filing-separately row deserves emphasis. Unlike the other ranges, it is frozen by law at $0 to $10,000 and never adjusts for inflation. If you file separately and lived with your spouse at any time during 2026, a MAGI of just $10,000 fully disqualifies you from direct Roth contributions. The one escape: if you lived apart from your spouse for the entire year, the IRS lets you use the single filer range instead.
How the phase-out math works
Inside the phase-out range, your limit shrinks in proportion to how far your MAGI has traveled through the range. The IRS worksheet in Publication 590-A boils down to three steps:
- Step 1: Figure how much of the range is left: (top of range − your MAGI).
- Step 2: Divide by the range width ($15,000 for single or head of household, $10,000 for married) and multiply by your normal limit.
- Step 3: Round up to the nearest $10. If the result is between $0 and $200 and you are still inside the range, you may contribute $200.
Worked example: a 40-year-old single filer with a 2026 MAGI of $160,500. Room left in the range is $168,000 − $160,500 = $7,500, which is 50% of the $15,000 range. Multiply the $7,500 limit by that fraction and the reduced limit comes to $3,750. The same mechanics apply to married filers, just over a $10,000 range starting at $242,000.
Note that a partial limit is not a penalty box: even a reduced contribution keeps compounding tax-free forever. And if you are in the range, you can often contribute the difference to a traditional IRA (deductible or not), since the phase-out only restricts the Roth side.
Income too high? The backdoor Roth (and its catch)
If your MAGI clears $168,000 (single) or $252,000 (joint), you cannot contribute to a Roth IRA directly, but the backdoor Roth remains legal in 2026. The play: contribute up to $7,500 to a traditional IRA as a nondeductible contribution (nondeductible contributions have no income limit), then convert that money to a Roth IRA. Done cleanly, the conversion is nearly tax-free because you already paid tax on the contribution.
The honest caveat is the pro-rata rule, and it bites people every year. The IRS treats all your traditional, SEP, and SIMPLE IRA balances as one pot when you convert. If you have $93,000 of old pre-tax IRA money and convert a fresh $7,000 nondeductible contribution, only 7% of the conversion counts as already-taxed; the other 93% is taxable income. The snapshot is taken on December 31 of the conversion year, so a conversion in January does not dodge it.
Common fix: roll your pre-tax IRA balances into a current workplace 401(k) before converting (401(k) balances are outside the pro-rata pot), leaving the backdoor clean. To price out what a conversion would cost in tax before you commit, use our Roth conversion calculator.
Roth vs traditional in one paragraph
The core trade is when you pay the tax. A Roth IRA taxes the contribution now and never again: qualified withdrawals of contributions and growth are tax-free, and there are no required minimum distributions during your lifetime. A traditional IRA can deduct the contribution now (subject to its own income limits if you have a workplace plan) but taxes every withdrawal as ordinary income later.
Rule of thumb: if you expect your marginal tax rate in retirement to be the same or higher than today, Roth tends to win; if you are in a high bracket now and expect a lower one later, the traditional deduction tends to win. Early-career savers, and anyone who values tax-free flexibility and no RMDs, usually lean Roth. Splitting contributions between the two is a perfectly reasonable hedge.
The 2026 contribution deadline
You can make 2026 Roth IRA contributions from January 1, 2026 until tax day in April 2027 (April 15, 2027, unless the IRS shifts it for a holiday or weekend). Filing your return early does not close the window, and a filing extension does not extend it: the IRA deadline is the unextended tax-day date.
Contributions made between January and April 2027 must be designated for the 2026 tax year with your custodian, or they default to 2027 and eat that year's limit instead. And while the deadline is generous, waiting has a real cost: money invested in January compounds about 15 extra months compared with a last-minute April contribution. Over a career, that head start adds up, as a quick run through the compound interest calculator makes obvious.