Thanks for your explanation of why my TT did not flag the excess contributions. I did enter IRA contributions before all the incomes were entered. I believe I followed everything you said except for "Further "they" cannot have an IRA, IRA's are individual and the income limit rules are different for each spouse if only one spouse is covered by a retirement plan at work [there might be other reasons]. "
My understanding is that the MAGI for a married filing jointly applies equally to both as far as the limits for establishing an Individual Roth IRA (both have roughly equal salaries and equal unearned income) and that the MAGI (>$208,000) limits their access individually to a Roth IRA they can each fund a traditional IRA up to the maximum (depending on age) although the traditional IRA might not (in their case will not) lessen the current year taxes owed. They are (each is) not barred from investing in an individual retirement account ( traditional IRA) iust because the MAGI exceeds the limit of $125000 for the joint return. Am I understanding it?
