topic I want to make a spousal Roth IRA contribution this year. My only earned income is consultant work of about $8000 with $4000 of expenses. wHat limit to my contribution? in Retirement tax questions

I want to make a spousal Roth IRA contribution this year. My only earned income is consultant work of about $8000 with $4000 of expenses. wHat limit to my contribution?

lsrosenb — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 08:24:33 GMT

I have over $300k in MAGI income, almost all due to IRA to Roth IRA conversions.

Re: I want to make a spousal Roth IRA contribution this year. My only earned income is consultant work of about $8000 with $4000 of expenses. wHat limit to my contribution?

Opus 17 — Tue, 12 Dec 2023 16:44:23 GMT

It appears that neither you nor your spouse can make any Roth contribution this year due to your high MAGI.

https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/amount-of-roth-ira-contributions-that-you-can-make-for-2023

Re: I want to make a spousal Roth IRA contribution this year. My only earned income is consultant work of about $8000 with $4000 of expenses. wHat limit to my contribution?

dmertz — Tue, 12 Dec 2023 23:01:36 GMT

@Opus 17 , MAGI for the purpose of a Roth IRA contribution does not include the taxable amount of Roth conversions.

@lsrosenb , if your net income from self-employment is $4,000, your net earnings from self employment are $3,717 after subtracting the deductible portion of self-employment taxes of $283, so $3,717 is the amount of compensation you have that can support a Roth IRA contribution.

You haven't said whether or not your spouse has compensation and whether you intend on making the spousal contribution for you or instead on behalf of your spouse. A spousal contribution is only permitted to be made by or on behalf of the spouse with the lower compensation. The spouse with the lower compensation can use the other spouse's compensation to make a spousal contribution, but that reduces the amount of compensation that the spouse with the higher compensation has to support their own contribution.

Re: I want to make a spousal Roth IRA contribution this year. My only earned income is consultant work of about $8000 with $4000 of expenses. wHat limit to my contribution?

lsrosenb — Tue, 12 Dec 2023 23:27:09 GMT

Thanks for the detailed reply. Yes, I am the only earner, but want to make the contribution to my wife's Roth IRA.

Very helpful detail and explanation.

Re: I want to make a spousal Roth IRA contribution this year. My only earned income is consultant work of about $8000 with $4000 of expenses. wHat limit to my contribution?

Opus 17 — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 00:10:27 GMT

If I have this right, your net self-employment income from your side gig is shown on schedule C, line 31. The deductible portion of self-employment tax is on line 13 of schedule SE. Net profit minus the deductible portion of SE tax is your "compensation" for purposes of make a Roth contribution. You can divide that any way you like between a Roth in your name and in your spouse's name, as long as you don't go over that total.

Re: I want to make a spousal Roth IRA contribution this year. My only earned income is consultant work of about $8000 with $4000 of expenses. wHat limit to my contribution?

lsrosenb — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 13:50:02 GMT

Thanks for the replies. The answer is that yes we can make the Roth ira contribution up to the net income less half social tax due. The high magi is not limiting, because according to irs form, ira conversions to Roth ira gets excluded for magi calcs for Roth ira contribution purposes. Thanks all.