Where is the retirement plan at work option found in the IRA deduction section? I cannot find it.

[craig43]

Been through that section multiple times. Spouse and I are both retired and not covered by retirement plans at work.

[Opus 17]

I don't understand your question.  If you don't have compensation from working (W-2 wages or self-employment income) you can't contribute to any IRA regardless of any other factors. 

[craig43]

I have self-employment income that exceeds the allowable maximum IRA contribution.  Neither spouse nor I are covered by a retirement plan.    In years past with Turbotax, under same situation, IRA contributions were allowed and reduced my taxable contributions.  This year when I enter the contributions, Turbotax askes me all kind of questions about it, but does NOT ask me whether I or my spouse are covered by a retirement plan at work.  It just says my contributions are not tax deductable.  Which according to the IRS, since I have self-employment income to cover it, and neither of us are covered by a retirement plan, it should be deductable.  I just cannot find the switch to tell Turbotax that we are not covered by a retirement plan at work, since neither of us "work".  Thank you.

[Opus 17]

I am not familiar with this section of the program.

@dmertz 

@rjs 

@VolvoGirl 

[DoninGA]

 Go back and edit your IRA contribution.  There will be a series of screens asking various questions -In order (I use the name of John for testing) -

1. Tell us about your IRAs
2. John's Traditional IRAs - Is this a repayment of a retirement distribution you received? NO
3. John's Traditional IRAs - Enter the total amount of contributions you put into a traditional IRA for 2025, even if you later transferred some or all of it to a Roth IRA. 
4. John's Traditional IRAs - Did you recharacterize any of the traditional IRA contributions for 2025 over to a Roth IRA contribution? NO
5. John's Work retirement plans - Are you covered by a retirement plan at work?NO

@craig43

[BillM223]

Craig, can you help us out with something? I just built a brief case on a business, and sure enough, TurboTax did ask me about whether or not I was covered by a plan at work.

So, (1) please tell us what platform you are using, Online, Desktop/Windows, or Desktop/Mac? Are the Desktop platforms up-to-date?

(2) Tell us which version of TurboTax you are using: Deluxe, Premier, or Home & Business?

(3) Now please look at the path that I took in TurboTax:

I went to the Deductions & Credits->Retirement and Investments->Traditional and Roth IRA Contributions->Start/Update

My screens - I use Name for your name, Spouse for your spouse, enter the title of each screen in the first spot on each line, enter the major question on the screen in the second spot on each line, then enter what I entered in parentheses.

Tell us about your IRAs (a traditional IRA for one spouse)
[Name]'s Traditional IRAs - is this a repayment of a retirement distribution you received? (no)
[Name]'s Traditional IRAs - enter total contributions to traditional IRA for 2025 - (7,000 - 0 after 1/1/26)
[Name]'s Traditional IRAs - did you recharacterize any contributions to a Roth? - (no)
[Name]'s Work Retirement Plans - are you covered by a retirement plan at work? - (no)
[Spouse]'s Work Retirement Plans - is your spouse covered by a retirement plan at work? - (no)
[Name]'s Traditional IRAs - did you contribute more to this IRA in 2024 or previous? - (no)
[Name]'s Traditional IRAs - any nondeductible IRA contributions to your IRA from 2024 or before? - (no)
[Name]'s Traditional IRAs - value of all IRAs on 12/31/2025 - this means an excess has been found, or it wouldn't ask
[Name]'s Traditional IRAs - you had excess contributions of $495 - this happens to be equal to SE tax, i.e., my net income for Sch C after SE tax was $6,505
 

So, as you can see, I was asked about plans at work for me (you) and the spouse, right after the recharacterize question.

(4) Can you give us this same summary of your screens? I am sorry to ask, but since we in the Community cannot see your private tax data, we are at a disadvantage, especially when our tests don't work the same.

[craig43]

Here's what I have and the path/questions/answeres I went through.  Self-employment net income was well in excess of $16,000.  Thank you.

us-east-2.turbotaxonline.com/unified/2025/...

Premium   (personal not business)

MasOS Monterey Version 12.7.6

Under Deductions and Credits

Select Kinds of IRAs owned or contributed to for 2025

Traditional IRA   me, spouse

Did you contribute to a traditional IRA in 2025

YES

Is this a repayment of a retirement plan distribution you received..? 

NO

Enter the total amount of contributions you put in a traditional IRA for 2025

8,000 for jan 1, 2026-Apr 15, 2026

Did you contribute more money to this IRA than was allowed in 2024...

NO

Did you have any nondeductable IRA contributions from 2024 or prior...

NO

Did spouse contribute to traditional IRA in 2025

Yes

Is this a repayment of a retirement plan distribution you received? 

NO

Enter the total amount of contributions you put in a traditional IRA for 2025

8,000 for jan 1, 2026-Apr 15, 2026

Did spouse contribute more money to this IRA than was allowed in 2024...

NO

Did spouse have any nondeductable IRA contributions from 2024 or prior...

NO

Your IRA Deduction Summary

Based on what you have entered you don’t qualify for an IRA deduction