I retired effective 12/31/2020. As a retirement incentive, my employer continued to pay my salary through 2021. But I was not covered by any benefits, including the ability to contribute to a retirement plan, during the year. (None of the Box 13 items on my W-2 form is not checked.) My wife also receives social security and is retired, so she is also not covered by a retirement plan during 2021. I was advised by the company that has my 403b retirement account that since I was not covered by a retirement plan that I could contribute the max of $7,000 (we are both over 50) for each of us into a traditional IRA in 2021 to help with the tax burden for that year. When TurboTax caught the fact that my AGI was over $125,000, it said my $7,000 IRA contribution would not be deductible. (My wife's was.) The help in TurboTax does seem to indicate that the AGI limit on contribution only applies if I am also covered by a retirement plan. So, my question is whether I can deduct my $7,000 contribution due my not being covered by a retirement plan.
