MAGI calculation for IRA contribution phase out

Forum|Forum|2 months ago
April 12, 2026
1 reply
79 views

I'm retired, so not covered by a retirement plan anymore. I earn Social Security and have a very small self-employment income. My wife still works and is covered by a retirement plan. Our joint income is probably in the phase out zone, but TurboTax is showing that we are both covered (X in both boxes on SS Recipients worksheet 2) and says we cannot contribute. I can't find a way to uncheck the X for me, so I'm calculating our MAGI to do it myself. That says I should be able to do a partial IRA contribution for myself but TT says no. What percentage will be deductible is not obvious. Is there an error here? How can I be very sure of the correct MAGI? And how can I calculate how much I can contribute before the deadline?

Thanks.

Best answer by dmertz

Expert Reviewed

The marking for this is on the IRA Contributions Worksheet.

Did you enter a self-employed retirement contribution? If so, you are covered by a workplace retirement plan and TurboTax automatically marks the box on the IRA Contributions Worksheet to indicate that you are covered. If you were employed in 2025 and received a W-2, the marking of box 13 Retirement plan would indicate if you were covered for 2025 as a result of that employment. These are the reasons that you would be are unable to unmark the box.

If you did not make, and will not make, a self-employed retirement contribution, make sure that you have no Keogh, SEP and SIMPLE Contribution Worksheet in TurboTax.

dmertzAnswer

Level 15

Expert Reviewed

The marking for this is on the IRA Contributions Worksheet.

If you did not make, and will not make, a self-employed retirement contribution, make sure that you have no Keogh, SEP and SIMPLE Contribution Worksheet in TurboTax.

KD9Author

Level 2

So my tiny SEP contribution wiped out my 8k IRA eligibility. Wish that had been mentioned somewhere. Too late now. Thanks for these replies, though.

fanfare

Level 15

Since you had posted this ~~three days ago~~ before Tax Day, you could have contributed to the Traditional IRA, submitted Form 4868 and had the custodian remove the SEP contribution as an excess contribution.

As it is, the window for a Traditional IRA contribution is now closed.

Just another reason not to wait till the last days to file.

@KD9