Maximizing IRA contributions and help with the elusive box 12

[GotToPayMyTaxes]

Trying to finalize my taxes and am almost there!

Married filling jointly. One spouse works for a company and has the following income and the other with no income. When having TurboTax do the final review, it shows us an very low risk so presumably we are no too aggressive on our deductions.  Both ages are 55+. I believe the relevant portions of my W2 are as follows:

W2 Box 1: $330K
W2 Box 12C: $1K (group-term life insurance)
W2 Box 12D: $17K (elective deferrals)
W2 Box 12W: $5K (employer contributions).
W2 Box 12DD: $14K (cost of employee heath coverage)

When deciding on the amount I would defer, picked the amount my employer would match. Evidently that changed some years back...

Am I able to defer more for either the the working spouse or the other under either a traditional or Roth IRA?  If so, which one and any pointers to get started would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Thanks

[hbl3973]

GotToPayMyTaxes,

The short answer is that you are allowed to make nondeductible IRA contributions, but would not get a tax deduction for them this year.  Great resources to understand that option are the IRS publication 590-A and 590-B (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p590a.pdf and 590b.pdf).  Such contributions create a basis in the IRA which incrementally reduces the taxable amount of each withdrawal down the road.  While your income is too high to make direct Roth IRA contributions, you are allowed to convert some or all of your traditional IRA assets to Roth and pay tax up front with the down-the-road benefit of Roth.  Again, read through those publications to determine whether such actions will be of benefit for your particular situation.