TIRA IRA Income Limits

[bowermml]

Below is a table of income phase out limits for IRAs.  I am trying to understand this "Married filing jointly (spouse has employer plan, IRA owner does not)**"

Questions:

Case 1: My wife works and is covered by an Employer sponsored Retirement plan (where she can contribute Max $23.5k).  I am disabled an not working, so not covered by an Employer plan.  Does this mean that our income limit to contribute to TIRA (and be tax deductible) is $236k/$246k, before phase out comes in or is it $126k/$146k.  She cancontribute $23.5k to her plan and I can contribute $7k to my own plan (spousal IRA).

Under case 1:

Q1: With me not working, is our income limit to contribute to either IRA $236k/$246k or $126k/$146k?

Q2: If I am not working and the IRA limit is $126k/$146k?, could I simply work for 1 hour during a year, and then the income limit would be expanded to $236k/$246k?

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Case 2: My wife works and is covered by an Employer sponsored Retirement plan (where she can contribute Max $23.5k).  I work but am not covered by an Employer sponsored plan.  Does this mean that our income limit to contribute to TIRA (and be tax deductible) is $246k/$246k, before phase out comes in or is it $126k/$146k.  She can contribute $23.5k to her plan and I can contribute $7k to my own plan (spousal IRA).

Under case 1:

Q1: Is this the case that is being specified "Married filing jointly (spouse has employer plan, IRA owner does not)**" here, where both people are working?  That is, not the case where one spouse is not working, but where both spouses are working, but one of them is not covered by Employer sponsored plan.

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Married Filing Jointly                                                                                                      $126 to $146k

Married filing jointly (spouse has employer plan, IRA owner does not)**           $236 to $246k

[bowermml]

The tax code summarized a different way for this:

"Married filing jointly (spouse has employer plan, IRA owner does not)**"

is here...

https://www.jrcpa.com/retirement-plan-contribution-limits-phase-out-ranges-and-income-limits/

"For married couples filing jointly, if the spouse making the IRA contribution is covered by a workplace retirement plan, the phase-out range increases to between $126,000 and $146,000 ($123,000 and $143,000 in 2024).

For an IRA contributor who is not covered by a workplace retirement plan and is married to someone who is covered, the phase-out range increases to between $236,000 and $246,000 ($230,000 and $240,000 in 2024).""

[DanaB27]

Since you are using the values for 2025 I assume you are talking about your contributions for 2025.

If only your wife is covered by a retirement plan at work then your traditional IRA contributions will be fully deductible as long as your combined MAGI is $236,000 or less. Your spouse can also make contributions to the traditional IRA and they will be fully deductible if your combine MAGI is $126,000 or less.

Note, you can always contribute to the traditional IRA as long as you have taxable compensation but if you are over the above mention limit for 2025 then not all of your contribution will be deductible and TurboTax will record a basis on Form 8606.

In both cases, since you are not covered by a retirement plan at work, your combine MAGI must be $236,000 or less for your traditional IRA contribution to be fully deductible.