Getting divorced will not affect your Roth IRA, nor will it affect your partner's Roth IRA.

Although you will file taxes as a single person after a divorce, your rules for contributing to a Roth, including contribution limits, stay the same. The limit is $7,000 per year each in 2024 for those under age 50, and $8,000 for those 50 and over.

However, when you get divorced, you’ll need to recheck the Roth IRA income limits to make sure they don't affect you. For example, if you were the primary earner in your marriage you could be above the individual income limit after a divorce.

Check the Roth IRA Income Limits

Getting divorced won’t normally affect your Roth IRA. If you were both making regular contributions before you got divorced, you can both keep doing so afterward. The only complicating factor is that you’ll need to check the Roth IRA income limits for your filing status. Here are the limits:

It’s important to note that it’s your status on the last day of the year—Dec. 31—that counts. So even if you got divorced on Dec. 30, you will count as divorced as far as the IRS is concerned.

After getting divorced, you should check the single row in the table above. If your individual income (or, more precisely, your 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:modified adjusted gross income or MAGI) is below the full amount, you can contribute up to 100% of your income or the Roth IRA contribution limit, whichever is less.

If your income falls within the partial range, subtract your income from the full level and then divide that amount by the phaseout range to determine the percentage that you are allowed to contribute.

If your individual income is above the full amount for a given year, you will not be a🧸ble to contribute to your Roth IRA for that ♍year.

Of course, the opposite might be the case as well. It might be that your partner was earning too m꧑uch to allow either of you to contribute to a Roth IRA when you were married, but as divorced you fall below the incomꦍe limit. In that case, you should look at whether a Roth IRA is now a good option for you to save for retirement.

Understanding Your Filing Status

If your individual income will be too high to allow you to contribute to yo🔥ur Roth IRA after you get divorced, you might think that you could get around this by contributing money before your divorce is fina𝓰lized.

That’s not the case, says Gail Rosen, a CPA in Martinsville, N.J. “The allowable contribution is calculated based on your earned income and filing status at the💦 end of the year,” Rosen said. This means that whatever filing status you are on the last day of the year is your status for the entire tax year.

However, this also𒀰 means that if you have already cont💖ributed to the Roth for the year and now your income disqualifies you, you still have time to undo the contribution before the tax year ends.

“If you made an IRA contribution and it becomes unallowable, it must be wit♍h🌃drawn by the due date of the tax return,” Rosen says. “This can occur if, for instance, you are a single person with no earned income,” or if you remarry.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

The Bottom Line

Normally, getting divorced won’t affect your Roth IRAs. You can keep contributing as you were before depending on the annual contribution limits. The exception is if your individual income is now high🎃er than the income limits for Roth IRAs set by the IRS🐟.

You can’t get around this by contribu🦹ting before your divorce is finalized, because itও’s your status on the last day of the tax year that counts. There are, however, indirect ways of contributing to your Roth IRA, even if you are above the income limits. Learn the income limits and possible strategies you can use to contribute to a Roth IRA.