Can You Contribute to an IRA After Age 72? Traditional, Roth, and RMDs

Yes, you can contribute to an IRA after age 72. The SECURE Act of 2019 repealed the old rule that blocked Traditional IRA contributions past age 70½, effective January 1, 2020, and Roth IRAs never had an age ceiling to begin with.¹ The one requirement that still applies at every age is taxable compensation: wages, salary, tips, bonuses, or net self-employment earnings.² For 2026, the combined cap across all your IRAs is $7,500, or $8,600 once you count the catch-up allowance available to anyone 50 or older.³

Compensation is a hard ceiling. If you earned $4,000 from part-time consulting, $4,000 is the most you can contribute, regardless of the statutory limit.¹ Pension payments, annuity income, Social Security benefits, rental income, interest, and dividends do not count as compensation for IRA purposes.⁴ The contribution window for a given tax year runs from January 1 of that year through April 15 of the following year, and a filing extension does not extend it.⁵

Traditional IRA Rules Once You’re Past 72

The contribution is allowed. The deduction depends on two things: whether you or your spouse are covered by a workplace retirement plan, and your modified adjusted gross income. With no workplace plan in the picture for either spouse, you can deduct the full contribution at any income level.³

When a workplace plan applies, the 2026 phase-outs are:

Single filer covered by a workplace plan: full deduction at MAGI of $81,000 or below, partial from $81,000 to $91,000, none at $91,000 or above.
Married filing jointly, contributor covered: full deduction at $129,000 or below, partial from $129,000 to $149,000, none at $149,000 or above.
Married filing jointly, contributor not covered but spouse is: full deduction at $242,000 or below, partial from $242,000 to $252,000, none at $252,000 or above.⁶

Even if the deduction phases out entirely, you can still make the contribution. It just becomes a nondeductible contribution, which creates basis you’ll need to track (more on that below).

Roth IRA Rules Once You’re Past 72

Roth IRAs work the same at 75 as at 25. The gate is income, not age. For 2026, the Roth MAGI phase-outs are:

Single or head of household: full contribution below $153,000, phase-out from $153,000 to $168,000, none at $168,000 or above.
Married filing jointly: full contribution below $242,000, phase-out from $242,000 to $252,000, none at $252,000 or above.
Married filing separately: phase-out from $0 to $10,000, none at $10,000 or above.³

For someone still earning income in their seventies, the Roth carries a structural advantage worth understanding. Qualified withdrawals come out entirely tax-free once the account has been open at least five years and the owner is over 59½. And Roth IRAs are not subject to Required Minimum Distributions during the original owner’s lifetime.⁷ Money you put in at 74 can stay there and grow.

Contributing While Also Taking RMDs

Contributing after 72 usually means you’re also taking RMDs from a Traditional IRA or workplace plan. Under SECURE 2.0, the RMD starting age is 73 for anyone who reached 72 after 2022, and it rises to 75 beginning January 1, 2033.⁸

Nothing in the tax code stops you from contributing to a Traditional IRA in the same year you take an RMD. The two transactions are independent. A new contribution, however, does not satisfy your RMD. The RMD is calculated from your prior December 31 balance divided by an IRS life expectancy factor, and it must be withdrawn as its own distribution.⁸

Missing a full RMD is expensive. The excise tax on the shortfall is 25%, dropping to 10% if you correct the miss within two years.⁸ Any tax benefit from a new contribution is dwarfed by that penalty, so keep distributions current before worrying about contributions.

The Charitable Distribution Trap

This one catches people. Qualified Charitable Distributions let IRA owners age 70½ or older send money directly from a Traditional IRA to a charity and exclude it from taxable income; the 2026 QCD limit is $111,000, and a QCD can count toward your RMD.⁶

Here is the interaction: if you make a deductible Traditional IRA contribution after age 70½, the excludable amount of your future QCDs is reduced by the cumulative total of those deductible contributions.⁹ Contribute $7,500 on a deductible basis at 73, then try a $10,000 QCD at 76, and only $2,500 of that gift qualifies for the exclusion. Nondeductible Traditional contributions and Roth contributions do not trigger the reduction. If you make regular charitable gifts from your IRA, think carefully before claiming a deduction on any Traditional IRA contribution made after 70½.

Spousal Contributions When One of You Still Works

A spouse with no earned income can still receive an IRA contribution if you file jointly and the working spouse has enough taxable compensation to cover both contributions.¹ If one spouse earns $50,000 and the other has retired, both can contribute up to $8,600 each for 2026 (assuming both are 50 or older), for a combined $17,200, because the earner’s income covers the total. The non-working spouse can choose Traditional or Roth, subject to the usual deduction and MAGI rules. With the Traditional age cap gone, a non-working spouse well past 72 is eligible.

Higher Limits for the Self-Employed

Self-employed workers past 72 are not limited to the $8,600 IRA cap. SEP IRAs accept employer contributions at any age, and the employer must contribute on behalf of any eligible employee, including the business owner.¹⁰ You can also make regular IRA contributions, catch-ups included, to your own SEP-IRA, subject to the same $8,600 limit and earned income rules that apply to any IRA.

SIMPLE IRAs work along similar lines for small businesses: employees defer salary regardless of age, and employers make matching or nonelective contributions. Both SEP and SIMPLE IRAs remain subject to RMDs once you reach the applicable age. The advantage is the much higher employer-contribution ceiling, which lets an older self-employed person shelter significantly more income than a standalone IRA would allow.

Tracking Basis on Nondeductible Contributions

If your income phases out the Traditional IRA deduction and you contribute anyway, you’re putting after-tax dollars into the account. The IRS calls this basis, and tracking it matters because the portion of any later withdrawal (including RMDs) attributable to basis should not be taxed again.¹¹

Report nondeductible contributions on Form 8606, and file the form every year you make one. It calculates the taxable and nontaxable portions of your withdrawals based on the ratio of your total basis to the combined balance of all your Traditional IRAs. Lose the paperwork, and you can end up paying income tax twice on the same money. Keep every Form 8606 you file until all Traditional IRA funds have been distributed.

If You Contribute Too Much

Contributing more than your earned income allows, or more than the Roth MAGI limits permit, triggers a 6% excise tax on the excess for every year it stays in the account.¹ For workers over 72 whose earned income can vary year to year, this is a real risk.

You can avoid the penalty by withdrawing the excess amount, plus any earnings on it, before the tax filing deadline (including extensions) for the year of the contribution. If you already filed without correcting the error, you have up to six months after the original due date to withdraw the excess and file an amended return.¹² Act quickly. The 6% tax applies again the following year if the excess is still there.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – IRA Contribution Limits
2
Internal Revenue Service. Traditional and Roth IRAs
3
Internal Revenue Service. 401(k) Limit Increases to $24,500 for 2026, IRA Limit Increases to $7,500
4
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 590-A (2025), Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs) – Section: What Is Compensation?
5
Internal Revenue Service. IRA Year-End Reminders
6
Internal Revenue Service. 2026 Amounts Relating to Retirement Plans and IRAs
7
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs)
8
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Plan and IRA Required Minimum Distributions FAQs
9
Internal Revenue Service. Seniors Can Reduce Their Tax Burden by Donating to Charity Through Their IRA
10
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Plans FAQs Regarding SEPs
11
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8606 (2025) – Section: General Instructions
12
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 5329 (2025)