tIRA and unemployed spouse

[doneby35]

Does anyone know if i'm able to contribute to both mine and spouse's tIRA using my own income because she's unemployed, effectively allowing me to invest 11,000 as opposed to 5,500?

And does anyone recommend against maxing tIRA this year if my MAGI is 106,000 (I didn't start 401k contributions until just recently so MAGI will not be lower) instead of the 98,000 limit for a full deduction? With 106,000, I believe I only get a partial deduction.

[Frankies Girl]

For the first part, yes. As long as you made over 11K in earned income, you can contribute $5,500 to your IRA and same for your spouse's IRA.

Not sure about the second part. Never made close to 106K even combined salary. ;)

[doneby35]

haha i hope you do some day. Thanks for answering the first part.

[letired]

If you're using Vanguard mutual funds (as opposed to ETFs), one advantage of maxing the tIRA  even if you don't get the full deduction is it gets you closer to the 10k threshold for Admiral shares, assuming these are new(er) tIRAs.

[letthelightin]

In the past when I could only take a partial tIRA deduction, I put only the amount I could deduct into the tIRA, and I put the remainder into a Roth IRA. If you put it all into the tIRA, you would then have non-deductible contributions that, if I remember correctly, must be reported/tracked from year to year. IMO, it was just easier to put the extra into a Roth and and forget about it.

[doneby35]

I'm a little confused, is this what applies when I have an unemployed spouse and I file joint returns?

Non-active participant spouse (i.e., those with spouses who earn no income)   ≤ $183,000   Full deduction up to the amount of your contribution limit

OR this?

Married (filing joint returns)   ≤ $98,000   Full deduction up to the amount of your contribution limit

[doneby35]

anyone?

[dandarc]

I think its both.

Unemployed Spouse gets limit 1, you get limit 2.

Your spouse, being unemployed is not covered by a plan at work, so you're in the "not covered by a plan at work table" when looking at your spouse's tIRA deduction - $183K MAGI.

You, on the other hand, are covered by a plan at work, so you're in the "covered by a plan at work table" when looking at your own tIRA deduction - $98K MAGI.

[doneby35]

So i get to contribute 5500 to hers which is fully deductible and 5500 to mine which is partially deductible. Got it. thanks.