To invest in an individual retirement account (IRA), you typically need to earn income during the year. There's one exception: A nonworking person with a working spouse can open a spousal IRA. It's not a wholly different kind of IRA, though it does have special rules. Here's how you could open a spousal IRA, along with strategies to help make the most of it as part of your retirement plan.
What is a spousal traditional IRA?
A spousal IRA is a retirement account for a nonworking spouse. This allows the nonworking spouse to save for the future in a tax-advantaged way despite not earning any income. With both a spousal and traditional IRA, your contributions and earnings may grow tax-deferred; you owe income tax only when you withdraw money.1 Note that contributions to a traditional IRA may be tax-deductible, depending on whether the working spouse is covered by an employer's retirement plan and your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI).
What is a spousal Roth IRA?
A spousal Roth IRA is an IRA that offers potentially federally tax-free withdrawals in retirement—including on investment gains—when certain conditions are met.2 The spousal Roth IRA must be funded with already-taxed dollars, unlike a traditional IRA, which is funded with tax-deductible dollars for eligible participants. (You reap those tax savings when deducting your traditional IRA contributions on your tax return.) Your eligibility to contribute to a spousal Roth IRA is subject to the same standard Roth IRA income limits. Note that each spouse can make a contribution to their own Roth IRA.
Spousal IRA rules
Contributing to a spousal IRA calls for following certain rules, including:
- You and your spouse must choose the married filing jointly status on your income tax return. Individuals who choose married filing separately are ineligible for a spousal IRA.
- As with all IRAs, there are contribution limits and other restrictions for both spousal traditional IRAs and spousal Roth IRAs. For tax year 2025, if you're married filing jointly, you can make full contributions to your spouse's Roth IRA if your MAGI is less than $236,000. If your MAGI falls between $236,000 and $246,000, you can make a partial spousal Roth IRA contribution. For MAGIs of $246,000 and above, you may not contribute at all to a spousal Roth IRA. For tax year 2026, if you're married filing jointly, you can make full contributions to a spouse's Roth IRA if your MAGI is less than $242,000 and a partial contribution for MAGI between $242,000 and $252,000. For MAGIs of $252,000 and above, you may not contribute at all to a spousal Roth IRA. You can make a contribution for the current year by the tax filing date (usually April 15) of the following year. So for 2025, you can make a contribution up to April 15, 2026.
- If the working spouse has a retirement plan at work, like a 401(k), there is an income limit for claiming the upfront tax deduction on a spousal traditional IRA. In 2025, you can’t claim the tax deduction if your MAGI is above $146,000 (though you can claim partial deductions for a MAGI of $126,000 up to $146,000). If your spouse isn't covered by an employer-sponsored retirement plan, or your MAGI is below $126,000, you may deduct the full contribution amount, up to the annual limit, in 2025. In 2026, you can't claim the tax deduction if your MAGI is above $149,000 (though you can claim partial deductions for a MAGI of $129,000 up to $149,000). If the working spouse isn't covered by an employer-sponsored retirement plan, or your MAGI is below $129,000, you may deduct the full contribution amount, up to the annual limit, in 2026.
- A spousal IRA's owner is the person whose name is on the account, which would be the nonworking spouse. Even if the working spouse is funding the IRA, their nonworking partner owns the account and controls the investments, beneficiaries, and withdrawals. There is no such thing as a joint IRA.
Spousal IRA contribution limits
Spousal IRA contribution limits are the same as those for regular IRAs.
The annual contribution limit for IRAs, including Roth and traditional IRAs, is $7,000 for 2025 and $7,500 for 2026. If you're age 50 or older, you can contribute an additional $1,000 for 2025 and $1,100 for 2026.
The annual limit covers contributions across spousal traditional IRAs and spousal Roth IRAs. For example, if you are younger than 50 and put $4,000 in a spousal traditional IRA, you could then potentially put no more than $3,000 in a spousal Roth IRA in 2025.
A working spouse can contribute up to that same annual limit to their own IRAs. Your joint household income must be at least enough to cover all IRA contributions for both spouses.
How to open a spousal IRA
Opening a spousal IRA is simple:
1. Choose an IRA provider
You need a financial institution for your spousal IRA. For convenience, you may want to consider working with the same institution where you or your partner already have accounts. Here's how to pick a brokerage firm.
2. Provide the requested information
The IRA provider will ask for personal information, including but not limited to your Social Security number, to set up your account.
3. Decide which type of spousal IRA you want
A spousal traditional IRA and a spousal Roth IRA have different tax treatments and eligibility rules. Consider your goals, as well as whether any income restrictions apply to you for contributing, as with a Roth IRA, or deducting your contributions, as with a traditional IRA. Get help for choosing between a traditional IRA and a Roth IRA.
4. Fund your account
Consider linking a bank account to make deposits into your spousal IRA. You can use money earned from your spouse's income during the year or existing savings to transfer into your spousal IRA.
5. Pick investments
Selecting investments can potentially help grow your money through market gains and compounding returns, all while you potentially benefit from tax advantages. Investment decisions should be based on your time horizon, risk tolerance, and financial situation. From there, log into the financial institution’s website to place trades, monitor your portfolio, and adjust investments as needed. Check out these investing ideas for your IRA.
How to make the most out of your spousal IRA
These strategies could help maximize your spousal IRA savings:
Start saving and investing early
The longer your money is invested, the more time it has to potentially grow. Even if you can't contribute the maximum allowable amount to your spousal IRA, stashing what you can each year is a good way to make progress and build an important financial habit.
Contribute the maximum when you can
Or at least get as close as possible. Even a 1% bump could translate to a lot more saved for retirement. If you fall short of the contribution limit one year, you can't save extra in future years to make up for it. These ideas could help you learn how to save money so you have more to invest.
Consider the tax benefits of both IRA types
Getting an upfront tax break from a spousal traditional IRA can be tempting, especially if you think you're in a higher tax bracket today than you will be in retirement, so your withdrawals would be taxed at a lower rate. However, tax-free retirement income with a spousal Roth IRA could also make sense. It could help you keep more of your money in retirement, since you wouldn't get taxed on those withdrawals, provided certain conditions are met.
Leverage spousal IRAs for Social Security planning
Having retirement savings in a spousal IRA to draw upon may allow you to delay taking Social Security, which could mean a higher payout later. Learn more Social Security tips for couples.