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Example. You are a full-time student with no taxable
compensation and marry during the year. Neither you nor
your spouse is at least age 50 by the end of 2023. Your
spouse has taxable compensation of $30,000. Your
spouse plans to contribute (and deduct) $6,500 to a tradi-
tional IRA. If you and your spouse file a joint return, you
and your spouse can each contribute $6,500 to a tradi-
tional IRA. Because you have no compensation, you can
add your spouse’s compensation, reduced by the amount
of your spouse’s IRA contribution ($30,000 - $6,500 =
$23,500), to your compensation (-0-) to figure your maxi-
mum contribution to a traditional IRA. In your case, $6,500
is your contribution limit, because $6,500 is less than
$23,500 (your compensation for purposes of figuring your
contribution limit).
Filing Status
Generally, except as discussed earlier under Kay Bailey
Hutchison Spousal IRA Limit, your filing status has no ef-
fect on the amount of allowable contributions to your tradi-
tional IRA. However, if during the year either you or your
spouse was covered by a retirement plan at work, your de-
duction may be reduced or eliminated, depending on your
filing status and income. See How Much Can You Deduct,
later.
Example. You and your spouse are both age 53. You
both work and you both have a traditional IRA. You earned
$3,800 and your spouse earned $48,000 in 2023. Be-
cause of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Spousal IRA limit rule,
even though you earned less than $7,500, you can con-
tribute up to $7,500 to your IRA for 2023 if you file a joint
return. Your spouse can contribute up to $7,500 to their
IRA. If you file separate returns, the amount that can be
contributed to your IRA is limited by your earned income,
$3,800.
Less Than Maximum Contributions
If contributions to your traditional IRA for a year were less
than the limit, you can’t contribute more after the due date
of your return for that year to make up the difference.
Example. You are age 40 and earn $30,000 in 2023.
Although you can contribute up to $6,500 for 2023, you
contribute only $3,000. After April 15, 2024, you can’t
make up the difference between your actual contributions
for 2023 ($3,000) and your 2023 limit ($6,500). You can’t
contribute $3,500 more than the limit for any later year.
More Than Maximum Contributions
If contributions to your IRA for a year were more than the
limit, you can apply the excess contribution in one year to
a later year if the contributions for that later year are less
than the maximum allowed for that year. However, a pen-
alty or additional tax may apply. See Excess Contribu-
tions, later, under What Acts Result in Penalties or Addi-
tional Taxes.
When Can Contributions Be
Made?
As soon as you open your traditional IRA, contributions
can be made to it through your chosen sponsor (trustee or
other administrator). Contributions must be in the form of
money (cash, check, or money order). Property can’t be
contributed.
Although property can’t be contributed, your IRA may
invest in certain property. For example, your IRA may pur-
chase shares of stock. For other restrictions on the use of
funds in your IRA, see Prohibited Transactions, later in this
chapter. You may be able to transfer or roll over certain
property from one retirement plan to another. See the dis-
cussion of rollovers and other transfers later in this chapter
under Can You Move Retirement Plan Assets.
You can make a contribution to your IRA by having
your income tax refund (or a portion of your re-
fund), if any, paid directly to your traditional IRA,
Roth IRA, or SEP IRA. For details, see the instructions for
your income tax return or Form 8888, Allocation of Re-
fund.
Contributions can be made to your traditional IRA for
each year that you receive compensation. For any year in
which you don’t work, contributions can’t be made to your
IRA unless you receive taxable alimony, nontaxable com-
bat pay, military differential pay, or file a joint return with a
spouse who has compensation. See Who Can Open a
Traditional IRA, earlier. Even if contributions can’t be made
for the current year, the amounts contributed for years in
which you did qualify can remain in your IRA. Contribu-
tions can resume for any years that you qualify.
Contributions must be made by due date. Contribu-
tions can be made to your traditional IRA for a year at any
time during the year or by the due date for filing your return
for that year, not including extensions. For most people,
this means that contributions for 2023 must be made by
April 15, 2024.
For tax years beginning after 2019, the rule that
you are not able to make contributions to your tra-
ditional IRA for the year in which you reach age
70½ and all later years has been repealed.
Designating year for which contribution is made. If
an amount is contributed to your traditional IRA between
January 1 and April 15, you should tell the sponsor which
year (the current year or the previous year) the contribu-
tion is for. If you don’t tell the sponsor which year it is for,
the sponsor can assume, and report to the IRS, that the
contribution is for the current year (the year the sponsor
received it).
Filing before a contribution is made. You can file your
return claiming a traditional IRA contribution before the
contribution is actually made. Generally, the contribution
10 Chapter 1 Traditional IRAs Publication 590-A (2023)