topic Re: IRA contribution for 2021 in Retirement tax questions

IRA contribution for 2021

fortish — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 16:05:22 GMT

I am married and filing a joint 2021 tax return. My spouse has earning from work but I do not. I have no earning for 2021. We are both in our mid-50s. We have an estimated 2021 AGI of less than 100,000. My spouse contributed some to a retirement plan at work. I received my pension in 2021. Turbo tax is showing we can both contribute up to 7,000 each for a traditional IRA. Can I contribute to a traditional IRA even though I had no earnings? Does my spouse earnings allow me to contribute?

Re: IRA contribution for 2021

MayaD — Fri, 01 Apr 2022 14:31:39 GMT

Yes.

Per IRS:

If you file a joint return, you may be able to contribute to an IRA even if you didn’t have taxable compensation as long as your spouse did. Each spouse can make a contribution up to the current limit; however, the total of your combined contributions can’t be more than the taxable compensation reported on your joint return.