# Roth IRA calculator

> Calculate your 2026 Roth IRA contribution limit after the income phase-out, its growth, and whether a Roth or traditional IRA leaves more after tax.

Interactive version: https://www.calcopenly.com/finance/roth-ira-calculator
Subject: Finance calculators

The calculator first finds how much you may put in a Roth IRA this year: $7,500 for 2026, or $8,600 from age 50, reduced step by step as modified AGI crosses the phase-out range for your filing status, using the IRS worksheet in Publication 590-A. It then grows the current balance and a contribution at the start of each year at your return. For comparison, the same contributions go into a traditional IRA, where they are deducted now, taxed at your later rate on withdrawal, and the yearly tax saving is invested in a taxable account.

With the defaults, a single 35-year-old with $90,000 of modified AGI can contribute the full $7,500. Thirty years at 7% turn $10,000 plus $225,000 of contributions into $834,170.36, all of it tax-free.

Limits, income and tax rates are held at this year's levels. Withdrawals of earnings are tax-free once the account is 5 years old and you are 59½.

## Inputs

- **Tax year** (options: 2026, 2025)
- **Your age at the end of the year**: From the year you turn 50 the limit includes the catch-up
- **Filing status** (options: Single or head of household, Married filing jointly, Married filing separately)
- **Modified AGI**: Adjusted gross income with the add-backs in Publication 590-A Worksheet 2-1
- **Taxable compensation**: Wages and self-employment income; the contribution cannot exceed it
- **Contribution per year**
- **Years of contributions**
- **Investment return (per year)**
- **Current Roth IRA balance**
- **Tax rate now**: Your marginal federal plus state rate this year
- **Tax rate in retirement**

## Results

- Roth IRA balance at the end — main result
- Your contribution limit this year
- Eligibility
- Total contributions
- Tax-free growth
- Traditional IRA instead, after tax
- Roth advantage
- Break-even tax rate in retirement

## Formula

$$
R_{k+1} = (R_k + c_k)(1+r),\quad c_k = \min\!\big(c,\ \lceil L(1-\rho)\rceil_{10}\big),\quad \rho = \frac{\text{MAGI} - \text{start}}{\text{width}}
$$

## Worked examples

### IRS Publication 590-A Worksheet 2-2 example (2025, single, MAGI $151,000)

- Tax year: 2025
- Your age at the end of the year: 45 years
- Filing status: Single or head of household
- Modified AGI: 151,000
- Contribution per year: 7000
- Years of contributions: 1 year
- Investment return (per year): 0%
- Current Roth IRA balance: 0
- Tax rate now: 22%
- Tax rate in retirement: 22%
- **Your contribution limit this year: 6,540.00**
- **Total contributions: 6,540.00**
- **Eligibility: Reduced by the income phase-out**
- Checked against: IRS Publication 590-A (2025), Worksheet 2-2 Example—Illustrated, line 11: $6,540

### Defaults: single, 35, $90,000, $7,500 a year for 30 years at 7%

- Tax year: 2026
- Your age at the end of the year: 35 years
- Filing status: Single or head of household
- Modified AGI: 90,000
- Contribution per year: 7500
- Years of contributions: 30 years
- Investment return (per year): 7%
- Current Roth IRA balance: 10,000
- Tax rate now: 22%
- Tax rate in retirement: 22%
- **Roth IRA balance at the end: 834,170.36**
- **Your contribution limit this year: 7,500.00**
- **Traditional IRA instead, after tax: 792,570.71**
- **Roth advantage: 41,599.65**
- **Break-even tax rate in retirement: 16.51%**
- Checked against: Python decimal (prec 50): contributions at the start of each year; tax savings grow at 7% × (1 − 22%)

### Married filing jointly, age 55, halfway through the 2026 range

- Tax year: 2026
- Your age at the end of the year: 55 years
- Filing status: Married filing jointly
- Modified AGI: 247,000
- Contribution per year: 8600
- Years of contributions: 10 years
- Investment return (per year): 6%
- Current Roth IRA balance: 50,000
- Tax rate now: 24%
- Tax rate in retirement: 22%
- **Your contribution limit this year: 4,300.00**
- **Total contributions: 43,000.00**
- **Roth IRA balance at the end: 149,620.45**
- **Roth advantage: -79.61**
- Checked against: Worksheet 2-2 by hand: 8,600 × (1 − 5,000/10,000) = 4,300 (Notice 2025-67 range $242,000–$252,000); balances from Python decimal

### The $200 minimum near the top of the range

- Tax year: 2026
- Your age at the end of the year: 40 years
- Filing status: Single or head of household
- Modified AGI: 167,800
- Contribution per year: 7500
- Years of contributions: 1 year
- Investment return (per year): 0%
- Current Roth IRA balance: 0
- Tax rate now: 22%
- Tax rate in retirement: 22%
- **Your contribution limit this year: 200.00**
- Checked against: Worksheet 2-2 by hand: 7,500 × (1 − 14,800/15,000) = 100, below $200, so $200

### Income above the range: no direct contribution

- Tax year: 2026
- Your age at the end of the year: 40 years
- Filing status: Single or head of household
- Modified AGI: 170,000
- Contribution per year: 7500
- Years of contributions: 20 years
- Investment return (per year): 7%
- Current Roth IRA balance: 20,000
- Tax rate now: 22%
- Tax rate in retirement: 22%
- **Your contribution limit this year: 0.00**
- **Total contributions: 0.00**
- **Roth IRA balance at the end: 77,393.69**
- **Eligibility: No direct contribution (income above the range)**
- **Break-even tax rate in retirement: not applicable**
- Checked against: Notice 2025-67: phase-out ends at $168,000; 20,000 × 1.07^20 by Python decimal

### Catch-up starts at 50 during the projection

- Tax year: 2026
- Your age at the end of the year: 48 years
- Filing status: Single or head of household
- Modified AGI: 60,000
- Contribution per year: 9000
- Years of contributions: 5 years
- Investment return (per year): 6%
- Current Roth IRA balance: 0
- Tax rate now: 12%
- Tax rate in retirement: 12%
- **Total contributions: 40,800.00**
- **Roth IRA balance at the end: 48,526.97**
- Checked against: Hand calculation 7,500 × 2 + 8,600 × 3 = 40,800; balance from Python decimal

## Questions

### What is the Roth IRA contribution limit for 2026?

$7,500, or $8,600 if you are 50 or older, according to IRS Notice 2025-67. The limit is shared with traditional IRAs, so $3,000 in a traditional IRA leaves $4,500 for a Roth. You cannot contribute more than your taxable compensation for the year, and contributions for 2026 can be made until the due date of your 2026 return, not counting extensions.

### What are the 2026 Roth IRA income limits?

The contribution phases out between $153,000 and $168,000 of modified AGI for single filers and heads of household, and between $242,000 and $252,000 for married couples filing jointly. Married filing separately, if you lived with your spouse, the range is $0 to $10,000. At $160,500 single, halfway through the range, the limit falls from $7,500 to $3,750.

### How is a reduced Roth IRA contribution calculated?

Divide how far your modified AGI is into the range by the range width ($15,000, or $10,000 for joint and separate filers), multiply your limit by that fraction and subtract. Round the result up to the next $10, and if it is above zero but under $200, you may contribute $200. The IRS example in Publication 590-A: $151,000 single in 2025 gives $7,000 − 469 = $6,531, rounded to $6,540.

### Is a Roth or a traditional IRA better?

The Roth comes out ahead when your tax rate in retirement is higher than the tax you save now, and at equal rates it still wins slightly because a Roth shelters the full contribution. With the defaults at 22% now and later, the Roth ends $41,599.65 ahead of a traditional IRA whose tax savings are invested; the traditional IRA wins only if your later rate falls below 16.51%.

### Can I still use a Roth IRA if my income is too high?

Not by contributing directly once modified AGI reaches the top of the range, $168,000 single or $252,000 joint for 2026. The income limit applies to contributions, not to conversions, so many people contribute to a traditional IRA and convert it, the so-called backdoor Roth. Pre-tax money in any traditional IRA makes part of the conversion taxable, because the tax-free share is figured over the value of all your traditional IRAs (Publication 590-B, Worksheet 1-1).

### How accurate is the Roth IRA calculator?

Accuracy depends on your inputs and the method's assumptions. Decimal arithmetic uses 50 significant digits, but estimates, numerical methods and source data can be less precise; the displayed rounding does not remove those limits. It is checked against 6 worked examples whose answers come from independent sources; for example, “IRS Publication 590-A Worksheet 2-2 example (2025, single, MAGI $151,000)” is checked against IRS Publication 590-A (2025), Worksheet 2-2 Example—Illustrated, line 11: $6,540.

### Where does the method come from?

IRS Notice 2025-67: 2026 IRA limit and Roth IRA phase-out ranges; IRS Publication 590-A (2025), Table 2-1 and Worksheet 2-2; IRS Publication 590-B (2025): qualified distributions from a Roth IRA.

## Sources

- [IRS Notice 2025-67: 2026 IRA limit and Roth IRA phase-out ranges](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-25-67.pdf)
- [IRS Publication 590-A (2025), Table 2-1 and Worksheet 2-2](https://www.irs.gov/publications/p590a)
- [IRS Publication 590-B (2025): qualified distributions from a Roth IRA](https://www.irs.gov/publications/p590b)

_Note: financial information, not professional advice._