MelindaS1
Employee Tax Expert

Retirement tax questions

If you could provide different evidence that the Retirement Savings - IRA Calculator Tool in TT Home and Business Other Tax Situations is buggy, I can submit a higher investigation ticket. In that screenshot, you have the spouse and taxpayer flipped upside down where you're entering the contribution amount; I assume that's because you do not agree with 219(c)(2)(B) per earlier discussion, which is the logic programmed into TurboTax. See below, for a high salary taxpayer and spouse with $0 income, there is no problem in the tool calculating separate IRA contribution amounts for both:

 

IRA Tool in HnB2.jpg

 

The purpose of the IRA Calculator Tool, is for figuring if your MAGI / retirement plans at work, etc. would qualify you for additional deductions for contributions to a Traditional IRA made after the tax-year end, but before the due date of the tax return, the time period in which you can still make a "late" contribution to the IRA for a tax savings this year. It does not flow into the IRA worksheets, it's for planning purposes. Still, if there are material errors you can help me identify in the functioning of the calculator, they should be investigated.

 

In another screenshot, you had $7,678 as a hypothetical contribution For A, when the combined max contribution for both A and B was $7,678 . Since there are no joint IRAs, even Spousal IRAs are owned and controlled separately by the spouse, even if fully funded by the taxpayer, so it's important to remember that each spouse's IRA account contribution limits should be figured and entered separately. 

 

I appreciate the discussion in this thread; thanks for helping everyone think about their retirement options. 

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