The IRS has released its annual inflation adjustments, and the numbers that decide whether you can fund a Roth IRA directly have shifted once more.
If your paycheck has grown over the past year, even a modest raise could quietly push you past a threshold you used to clear.
For 2026, single filers can make a full Roth contribution if their modified adjusted gross income stays under $153,000, up from $150,000 in 2025.
The phase-out range now runs to $168,000.
Married couples filing jointly get a full contribution up to $242,000, with the ability tapering off completely at $252,000.
Here is why this matters more than it used to.
A decade ago, these limits sat near $114,000 for singles and $181,000 for couples.
Wages in many fields have climbed since then, which means households that never thought of themselves as high earners are now bumping into a rule designed for top tax brackets.
The catch is that the limit is based on modified adjusted gross income, not your salary on paper.
Deductions you take, plus certain income like dividends and capital gains, all feed into the final number.
That is why two neighbors with identical paychecks can land on opposite sides of the line.
If you overshoot the range, you are not locked out of Roth savings entirely.
You can still make a traditional IRA contribution and convert it, a maneuver commonly called a backdoor Roth.
There is no income limit on conversions, but the paperwork gets fussier if you already hold money in a traditional IRA.
One trap worth flagging: contributing too much by accident.
If your income ends up above the phase-out after you have already funded the account, you owe a 6 percent excise tax on the excess for every year it stays in.
Fixing it means withdrawing the extra plus earnings before the tax filing deadline.
The simplest defense is to wait until you have your final W-2 or a solid year-end income estimate before writing the check.
You have until the tax filing deadline in April 2027 to fund a 2026 contribution, so there is no rush.
If your income swings a lot, a partial contribution sized to your best guess beats guessing wrong in the other direction.
Also remember these limits apply per person, not per household.
A working spouse can fund their own account using joint income, which is how a two-earner couple can sometimes double up.
A nonworking spouse may qualify too, provided the couple files jointly and earns enough.
A handful of states offer their own retirement savings incentives or matching programs for lower and middle earners, and those rules do not follow the federal thresholds.
It is worth a five-minute check before you assume the federal number is the whole story.
Our take: these annual adjustments are easy to ignore until they cost you.
Set a calendar reminder each fall to check the new figures against your projected income, and if you are anywhere near the line, talk to a tax professional before you contribute rather than after.
Final Thoughts
A little planning in November beats an excise tax headache in April.