If you stepped away from work to raise kids, care for a family member, or take time for personal priorities, retirement saving may still be on your mind. The good news: you may still be able to contribute to an IRA—even if you don’t have wages—if your spouse has earned income and you file a joint return.
That strategy is often called a spousal IRA. Below is a practical overview of how it works for traditional and Roth IRAs.
1) Spousal IRA basics (the two rules that matter most)
To contribute for a nonworking spouse, you generally need:
- A joint tax return, and
- Enough earned income from the working spouse to cover the combined IRA contributions for both spouses.
In other words, one spouse can have all the earned income, but you can still fund two IRAs (one for each spouse), as long as you stay within the limits.
2) Traditional IRA contributions (what’s deductible and when)
For 2026, a nonworking spouse can contribute up to:
- $7,500, or
- $8,600 if age 50+ by year-end (this includes the $1,100 catch-up amount).
Note: The IRA contribution limit is a combined cap across traditional + Roth IRA contributions for each person.
Whether the contribution is deductible depends mainly on whether the working spouse is covered by a retirement plan at work.
If the working spouse is covered by a workplace retirement plan:
The deduction for the nonworking spouse’s traditional IRA contribution phases out between joint AGI of $242,000 and $252,000 for 2026.
If the working spouse is not covered by a workplace retirement plan:
The nonworking spouse can generally take a deduction without an AGI limitation.
Working spouse note (traditional IRA deduction):
If the working spouse participates in a workplace retirement plan, the working spouse’s deduction phases out between joint AGI of $129,000 and $149,000 for 2026.
Reminder on AGI:
Joint AGI is essentially your taxable income items reduced by certain “above-the-line” deductions (for example, HSA contributions and certain self-employed retirement plan contributions).
3) Roth IRA contributions (simple rules, but income limits apply)
Roth IRA contributions are not deductible. Instead, the potential benefit comes later: qualified withdrawals can be tax-free.
For 2026, Roth IRA eligibility phases out between joint AGI of $242,000 and $252,000 for married couples filing jointly.
Two additional points to keep in mind:
- You still need enough earned income to cover the combined contributions.
- The annual IRA limit is a combined limit across traditional and Roth contributions. If you max out one, you generally can’t contribute to the other for the same year.
A practical planning tip
If your income is too high for a deductible traditional IRA contribution, but you still qualify for a Roth IRA contribution, it often makes sense to consider the Roth instead of making a nondeductible traditional IRA contribution. The long-term tax results can be very different.
Determine what’s right for you
Leaving the workforce doesn’t have to mean pausing retirement savings. A spousal IRA can be a straightforward way to keep building retirement assets while one spouse earns income.
If you’d like help confirming eligibility and choosing between a traditional and Roth approach, start with your advisor and review our tax planning resources.