"Then, your form 1040 line 1 income should be $16,970 and his schedule SE line 2 income subject to SE tax should be $35,980. That should allow a full IRA contribution."
@Opus 17 , compensation calculated as you described is insufficient to support IRA contributions totaling $15,000. The deductible portion of SE tax plus $15,000 is greater than $16,970.
I agree that $14,370 is slightly lower than I would expect, but not by much.
