Why I'm not permitted to contribute more than the amount of my income (zero last year) to my IRA, if I'm married, filing joint tax, spouse had enough income with no IRA?

[pmdobis]

I made only $800 contribution to my Traditional IRA and my Spouse did 0 contribuition last year since she has 401K. Our combined AGI (joint) is ~68k. It seems Turbo Tax has a glitch on this.

[ShirlynW]

A non-wage earning spouse filing jointly with a spouse can made a contribution provided the other spouse is working. You cannot make a contribution if you AGI is zero. You stated your AGI is -68k.

[dmertz]

AGI has nothing to do with it.  What matters is having compensation to support the contribution.  If your spouse has a W-2 with at least $800 in box 1, nothing in box 11 and your spouse made no IRA contribution, your spouse's compensation would support your IRA contribution.  Because some amount of your spouse's pay would have gone to income tax withholding, Social Security tax and Medicare tax, it's doubtful that your spouse would have less than $800 in box 1 of the W-2.  (Note that income excluded as foreign-earned income will not support an IRA contribution.)

"You stated your AGI is -68k."

Although it's irrelevant, no, the statement was that AGI was approximately $68k.

[pmdobis]

Thank you. I later found out that somehow I skipped spouse W2 on the app steps. All solved already. Appreciated 

[pmdobis]

Thank you. I later found out that somehow I skipped spouse W2 on the app steps. All solved already. Appreciated!