Individual Retirement Account Contributions for 2011, 2012

If you want information about individual retirement account contributions, you need to know what the IRA limits will be for this year because the IRA limits can and do change. Individual retirement account contribution limits are also affected by the age of the account holder.

IRA Contribution Limits Less or MoreThan 50 Years of Age

For example, if you are under 50 years of age, the maximum contribution you can make to a traditional or Roth IRA is $5,000 or the amount of your taxable compensation, which ever of the two is the smaller amount will be your contribution limit to your retirement account.

If you are more than 50 years of age before the new year begins, the maximum contribution you can make to a traditional or Roth IRA is $6,000 or the amount of your taxable compensation, which ever of the two is the smaller amount will be your contribution limit to your retirement account.

IRA Limits are Specific to Age not Filing Status and Catch Up Rule

If you are married and filing jointly, you would think your individual retirement contribution limit would be based on income tax return filing status, but it is not. IRA contribution limits are specific to age. For example, if the husband is 55 years of age, he would be able to contribute $6,000 to the IRA and if the wife was 49 years of age, she would be able to contribute $5,000 to the IRA for a combined total of $11,000 for the couple.

If you are under 50 years of age, and you contributed $3,000 to your IRA for the prior year and are ready to file income taxes by April 15 of this year, you can contribute the other $2,000 to “catch up” to the $5,000 maximum IRA contribution limit. This is a benefit for you because it allows you to reach the maximum contribution limit on that day which enables you to deduct the maximum amount on your tax return.

More Information on IRA Contribution Limits

You may be looking for more information on IRA contribution limits, such as, contributing more than the maximum amount, when IRA contributions can be made, maximum age for deducting contributions to IRA, employer pension plans, converting Traditional IRA to Roth IRA, and others.

Visit TurboTax Online and use the Free IRA Calculator to learn how much you can contribute to an IRA. By contributing the largest IRA amount you will be able to claim the largest IRA deduction and possibly increase your tax refund!