What Is the IRA Contribution Limit?

The IRA contribution limit for 2026 is $7,500 across all your Traditional and Roth IRAs combined. If you're age 50 or older, you can contribute an additional $1,100 catch-up, for a total of $8,600. This limit applies per person, not per account. A taxpayer with both a Traditional and a Roth IRA still tops out at $7,500 (or $8,600) total contributions across both for the year.

How much can I contribute to an IRA in 2026?

You can contribute up to $7,500 to your IRAs in 2026, up from $7,000 in 2025. That's the combined cap across all Traditional and Roth IRAs a person owns, not $7,500 per account. The limit is set annually by the IRS and adjusts for inflation, so always confirm the figure for the specific tax year before advising a client.

What is the IRA catch-up contribution for people 50 and older?

The IRA catch-up contribution for taxpayers age 50 or older is $1,100 for 2026, on top of the standard $7,500 limit, for a total of $8,600. You qualify for the catch-up as long as you turn 50 by the end of the calendar year. You don't need to wait until your birthday to make the higher contribution.

Does the contribution limit apply to both Traditional and Roth IRAs?

Yes. The $7,500 (or $8,600 with catch-up) limit is a combined cap that applies across Traditional and Roth IRAs together, not separately to each. A taxpayer who contributes $5,000 to a Traditional IRA can only contribute up to $2,500 more to a Roth IRA that same year before hitting the cap.

Do income limits affect how much I can contribute?

Income (MAGI) doesn't reduce how much you can contribute to a Traditional IRA, but it can reduce or eliminate the tax deduction if you're covered by a workplace retirement plan, and it can reduce or eliminate Roth IRA eligibility entirely at higher income levels. For 2026, the Traditional IRA deduction phases out between $81,000–$91,000 MAGI for a single filer covered by a workplace plan, and between $129,000–$149,000 for a covered spouse filing jointly. Roth IRA contribution eligibility phases out between $153,000–$168,000 MAGI for single filers and $242,000–$252,000 for joint filers in 2026. A taxpayer whose income exceeds these ranges may still be able to contribute to a Traditional IRA (just without the deduction) or use a backdoor Roth strategy, but that's a planning conversation, not a limit on the base contribution amount.

Quick-reference table: 2026 IRA limits

The $7,500 base limit is a $500 increase over the 2025 limit of $7,000, and it applies whether the account is Traditional, Roth, or a mix of both.

Why this matters for return prep

IRA contribution eligibility, deduction phase-outs, and catch-up timing are recurring questions every filing season, especially for clients contributing after year-end but before the filing deadline for the prior tax year. Getting the current-year limit and phase-out range right the first time, instead of relying on a number a client half-remembers from a headline, avoids excess-contribution corrections down the line.

If your firm is fielding the same "how much can I put in my IRA" question across dozens of clients every January, that's the kind of repetitive lookup SignalsHQ's automation is built to surface consistently during intake and review.