IRA Contribution Limits

Forum|Forum|3 months ago
March 17, 2026
1 reply
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We file a joint return with income over $250K. My husband contributed 12K to a work 401K. We also each contributed 7K to our personal IRA's. While I know that those IRA contributions are not deductible, are they considered excess contributions or can they just be in the account? We are both over 65.

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Best answer by Opus 17

Expert Reviewed

First, you or your spouse must have income that is considered compensation from working. This is usually wages from a W-2 box 1, or self-employment income from schedule C (including box 14 from a K-1). If you don't have compensation, then all IRA contributions are excess.

Then second, you don't report 401k contributions in the IRA section. 401k contributions are captured from your W-2. A 401k is not an IRA, and the only thing you should enter in the IRA section is direct contributions to a private IRA. And each spouse must have their own IRA. Make sure when entering the IRA contributions you don't accidentally assign everything to spouse #1, make sure spouse #1 and spouse #2 are entered separately.

Assuming all this is correct, your contributions should not be considered "excess" up to $8000 per spouse even though they are not tax deductible. Each spouse will get a form 8606 to keep track of non-deductible contributions and you must keep this form for when you start making withdrawals.

O

Opus 17

Answer

Level 15

Expert Reviewed

First, you or your spouse must have income that is considered compensation from working. This is usually wages from a W-2 box 1, or self-employment income from schedule C (including box 14 from a K-1). If you don't have compensation, then all IRA contributions are excess.

Then second, you don't report 401k contributions in the IRA section. 401k contributions are captured from your W-2. A 401k is not an IRA, and the only thing you should enter in the IRA section is direct contributions to a private IRA. And each spouse must have their own IRA. Make sure when entering the IRA contributions you don't accidentally assign everything to spouse #1, make sure spouse #1 and spouse #2 are entered separately.

Assuming all this is correct, your contributions should not be considered "excess" up to $8000 per spouse even though they are not tax deductible. Each spouse will get a form 8606 to keep track of non-deductible contributions and you must keep this form for when you start making withdrawals.