Accounts allow a working spouse to contribute to a non-working or lower-earning spouse’s retirement savings.
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What can you tell me about spousal IRAs? My spouse and I are in our 50s and are looking for ways to boost our retirement savings. In addition to being a homemaker and caregiver, my spouse works part-time.
Saving for retirement can be challenging for married spouses when one is not working full-time because of caregiving responsibilities or other reasons. Fortunately, there is a tax benefit that can help couples save for retirement. Spousal individual retirement accounts (IRAs) allow a working spouse to contribute to a non-working or lower-earning spouse’s retirement savings. The spousal IRA can be set up as a traditional IRA or a Roth IRA, allowing couples to save for retirement either on a tax-deferred basis or a tax-free basis.
How They Work A spousal IRA is not a unique type of IRA or joint account, but rather a separate IRA opened and owned in the name of the non-working or lower-earning spouse. The process of opening a spousal IRA is similar to opening a regular IRA. Many financial institutions such as brokerage firms and banks offer IRAs. Like a regular IRA, the benefits of a spousal IRA include boosting your family’s overall retirement savings in a tax-efficient manner. It can also provide the lower-earning spouse with access to their own funds in an unforeseen event like the death of their spouse, divorce or illness.
For traditional IRAs in 2025, the spousal IRA option phases out for spouses filing jointly where the contributing spouse is covered by a workplace retirement plan and has income between $126,000 and $146,000. If the contributing spouse is not covered by a workplace plan and is married to someone who is, the phase-out range is $236,000 to $246,000 in 2025 for traditional and Roth IRAs.
In 2025, each spouse under 50 can contribute up to $7,000 annually to an IRA, or $8,000 annually for those over 50, but the total contribution cannot exceed the taxable earned income reported on the couple’s tax return. Otherwise, the IRS limits contributions based on that income.
Roth or Traditional? Deciding whether to open a Roth or traditional IRA depends on your tax situation and financial goals. Traditional IRA contributions typically are tax-deductible in the year in which they are made and are beneficial during high-income earning years. Contributions grow tax-free until they are withdrawn during retirement.
Roth IRA contributions are not deductible, but qualified contributions plus any earnings grow tax-free and are withdrawn tax-free in retirement as long as IRS rules are followed. To withdraw investment earnings tax-free, the rules include that you must be at least 59½ at the time of the withdrawal and have held your Roth IRA for at least five years.
There are penalties for withdrawals from traditional and Roth IRAs before 59½ unless the owner qualifies for an exception. Traditional IRAs also require that the owner begin taking annual withdrawals, known as required minimum distributions (RMDs), from the plan the year that the owner turns 73 (or 75 beginning in 2033). Roth IRAs do not require RMDs until after the death of the original owner. Beneficiaries of an inherited Roth IRA generally will need to take RMDs to avoid penalties, although there is an exception for spouses.
For more information on the IRS rules of both traditional and Roth IRAs, see IRS.gov/retirement-plans/traditional-and-roth-iras.
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