Deductible ira contribution spouse

[Calimerostache]

Hello fellow mustachios,

We are a married couple with 2 children, filling jointly.
Last year:
On my side I was exceeding the traditional ira income phase out due to my employer providing a retirement plan , so I made a Roth contribution.
Until last year my wife was not working so she was eligible to a $5,500 ira deductible contribution.

this year,
My situation is the same so I made a Roth contribution again.
However my wife is starting to work, and her employer is providing a retirement plan.

Here is the question, is the IRA income limit based on the couple income or each individual income.
If based on couple income , I would assume that she is not eligible to the deductible trad IRA and would be better off doing a Roth contribution.

Can you confirm? Hope the description of my situation was clear enough.

Thanks for your insight

[seattlecyclone]

The income limits are based on the MAGI for the whole household. That's why the limit is higher for married filing jointly than for single people.

You're right that if you can't deduct a traditional IRA contribution, you'll be better off making Roth IRA contributions than a non-deductible traditional IRA contributions.

If you want to make pre-tax contributions, max out those employer 401(k)/403(b)/whatever contributions before you put money in an IRA.

[Calimerostache]

That’s what I thought. Thanks for the confirmation !