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IRA Resources

How Much Can I Contribute To An IRA?

I want to establish a traditional individual retirement arrangement (IRA) for my spouse, and I need additional information. What is the most I can contribute to a spousal IRA during the tax year?

If both you and your spouse work and both have taxable compensation, each of you can contribute up to $3,000 (or the amount of each IRA owner's compensation, if less) to a separate traditional IRA. Even if one spouse has little or no compensation, up to $3,000 can be contributed to each IRA if combined compensation is at least equal to the amount contributed to both IRAs and you file a joint return. You can contribute $3,000 to a separate IRA for your nonworking spouse if you file a joint return. Your total contribution to both your IRA and the spousal IRA for this year is limited to the smaller of $6,000, or your taxable compensation reduced by any contributions you make to a traditional IRA or Roth IRA. You cannot contribute more than $3,000 to either IRA for the year. If you are 50 or older in 2004, the most that can be contributed to your traditional IRA for 2003 is the lesser of:

. $3,500 (up from $2,000), or

. Your compensation that you must include in income.

Traditional vs. Roth IRA

Traditional IRA – A traditional IRA is a personal savings plan that gives you tax advantages for saving for retirement. Contributions to a traditional IRA may be tax deductible – either in whole or in part. Also, the earnings on the amounts in your IRA are not taxed until they are distributed. The portion of the contributions that was tax deductible also does not get taxed until distributed. A traditional IRA can be established at many different financial institutions, including banks, insurance companies and brokerage firms.

Roth IRA – A Roth IRA is also a personal savings plan but operates somewhat in reverse compared to a traditional IRA. For instance, contributions to a Roth IRA are not tax deductible while contributions to a traditional IRA may be deductible. However, while distributions (including earnings) from a traditional IRA may be included in income, the distributions (including earnings) from a Roth IRA are not included in income. For both IRA types – traditional and Roth – earnings that remain in the account are not taxed. A Roth IRA can be established at the same types of financial institutions as a traditional IRA.

What's an SEP IRA?

A SEP is a Simplified Employee Pension plan. Because this is a simplified plan, the administrative costs should be lower than for other, more complex plans. Under a SEP, employers make contributions to traditional Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs) set up for employees, subject to certain percentage-of-pay and dollar limits.

To establish a SEP, you:

- Can be a business of any size, even self-employed.
- Adopt Form 5305-SEP, a SEP prototype or an individually designed plan document.
- Cannot have any other retirement plan (except another SEP) if the model Form 5305-SEP is used to establish the SEP.

More information about SEPs from the IRS website.