The IRS has released its 2025 retirement account numbers, and the Roth IRA income limits are moving up again.
That matters because the Roth is one of the few accounts where your money grows tax-free and comes out tax-free in retirement — but only if you can get in the door.
For 2025, single filers can make a full Roth IRA contribution if their modified adjusted gross income is under $150,000, up from $146,000 in 2024.
The phase-out range now runs to $165,000.
Married couples filing jointly get a full contribution up to $236,000, with the ability tapering off completely at $246,000.
The contribution cap itself stays at $7,000 for anyone under 50, and $8,000 if you're 50 or older.
So the real change here isn't how much you can put in — it's who qualifies to put it in at all.
Here's why this keeps tripping people up.
If your income lands inside the phase-out zone, you don't get a flat yes or no.
You get a reduced contribution limit, and the math is fiddly.
Earn too much and contribute the full amount anyway, and the IRS charges a 6% excise tax on the excess every year until you fix it.
You can withdraw the excess plus earnings before your tax filing deadline, or apply it to a future year.
Either way, figuring this out after the fact is a headache nobody budgets for.
There's a legitimate workaround that high earners have used for years: the backdoor Roth.
You contribute to a traditional IRA — which has no income limit — then convert it to a Roth.
If you hold pre-tax money in any traditional IRA, the conversion gets taxed proportionally, which can turn a clean maneuver into a messy tax bill.
One more detail people miss: these are modified adjusted gross income thresholds.
Maxing out a 401(k) at work lowers your MAGI, which can pull you back under the limit.
So the number on your W-2 isn't the number the IRS uses.
If you're anywhere near these thresholds, the smart move is to check your MAGI before you fund the account, not in April.
A few hundred dollars over the line can mean a penalty instead of a tax break.
Our take: the annual limit bumps are small, but they quietly widen the on-ramp for middle and upper-middle earners who've been priced out of the Roth for years.
Final Thoughts
If you've been assuming you earn too much to qualify, run the numbers again — you might be surprised.