The IRS has officially moved the goalposts on who can fund a Roth IRA, and the new numbers for 2025 are worth a closer look before you file a contribution.
The agency raised the income phase-out ranges across the board, meaning a slice of earners who got locked out last year may now qualify.
For single filers, the range now runs from $150,000 to $165,000 of modified adjusted gross income, up from $146,000 to $161,000.
Married couples filing jointly get a bump too, with the window stretching from $236,000 to $246,000.
For anyone sitting just below those thresholds, the change is real money.
A full Roth contribution for 2025 is $7,000, or $8,000 if you're 50 or older, and that's after-tax money that grows and comes out tax-free in retirement.
If your income previously disqualified you by a few thousand dollars, you might now be able to slide a full contribution into the account.
The phase-out doesn't work like a cliff—it's a gradual reduction.
If your income falls inside the range, the amount you can contribute shrinks proportionally as you climb toward the top.
Cross the upper limit entirely and your allowed contribution drops to zero.
That's why a $2,000 raise can quietly cost you thousands in future tax-free growth.
There's a workaround that financial planners mention constantly but many savers still don't use: the backdoor Roth.
You contribute to a traditional IRA—which has no income limit for contributions—then convert it to a Roth.
The catch is the pro-rata rule: if you hold pre-tax money in any traditional IRA, the conversion gets messy and potentially taxable.
Clean it up first, or the strategy loses its shine.
One more wrinkle worth flagging: the phase-out is based on modified adjusted gross income, not your salary line on a W-2.
Deductions, certain foreign income, and other adjustments can pull your number up or down.
Guessing wrong can trigger a penalty on excess contributions, so check the actual figure before you fund.
If you're near the line, timing your contribution matters too.
You have until the tax filing deadline in April 2026 to make a 2025 contribution, which gives you room to see how your final income shakes out.
Some savers wait, calculate, then contribute the exact amount they're allowed.
The bigger picture: these annual adjustments are small, but they compound.
A few thousand dollars more in Roth space each year, invested over decades, can mean a meaningfully different retirement balance.
The IRS quietly hands out that opportunity every year through inflation indexing, and most people never check whether they qualify.
Our take: don't assume you're disqualified because you were last year.
The thresholds drift upward annually, and the gap between "I can't contribute" and "I can contribute the full amount" is often smaller than people think.
Final Thoughts
Spend ten minutes with last year's tax return and the new numbers—it could be the highest-paid ten minutes of your financial year.