ROTH or TRADITIONAL IRA

[HI96821]

This will be the first year that our college student has earned income.  He is eligible to contribute to an IRA.  If we contribute to the Traditional IRA, he gets the full deduction and the refund increases a few hundred dollars.  Is the few hundred dollars from electing the Traditional worth it versus taking no deduction and forgoing the few hundred dollars and contributing to a ROTH?

[Bsch4477]

You are asking a a financial planning question not a tax related one so you should take any free advice for what it’s worth. He would be saved a few hundred dollars in the traditional IRA but will paying tax on the entire contribution when he withdraws it. Can you predict what his marginal tax rate will be when he withdraws? That’s the quandary and why you will get varying answers.