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corkyg
FiLifer

corkyg asked 8 months ago in Individual Retirement Account (IRA)

If the IRA is only in my name and my husband doesn't have one, can I use his earned income to contribute to mine??

We are both 57. I don't work and his gross earned income was 8500.00. Can I contribute 6000. into my IRA??

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Hal M. Bundrick, CFP
FiLife Contributor
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Yep. As long as you and your husband file a joint tax return, your husband can contribute the $5000 limit, plus the $1000 "catch-up" limit as a "spousal" contribution.

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Michael Kitces
FiLife Contributor
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Corkyg,
Yes, you can make a spousal IRA contribution in this situation.

However, you will be "using" $6,000 of his earned income to do this, which means his IRA contribution will be limited to counting only the remaining $2,500. In other words, under the spousal IRA rules you can count his earned income towards your IRA contribution or his IRA contribution, but not both.

You can see more about spousal IRA contributions at: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/retirement/03/021903.asp

I hope that helps a little!

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