Can a retired person over 71 years old contribute to an existing Roth retirement account?

[mharnik3]

Can a retired person over 71 years old contribute to an existing Roth retirement account?  I have Roth retirement accounts set up for both myself & spouse.  Can either or both of us make contributions to these pre-exisiting Roths.  Our income is limited to Social Security and pension and dividends and interest from investments.

[DoninGA · Accepted solution]

You need taxable compensation to contribute to a Roth IRA.  Pension/retirement income, Social Security, interest and dividends received is not taxable compensation.

[Cattlerancher]

For my own information too, I wanted to know how Taxable Compensation was defined. Basically it's "earned income".