Roth IRA Calculator

What Is a Roth IRA, and Who Is This Calculator For?

A Roth individual retirement account is a personal retirement account funded with money that has already been taxed. Unlike a Traditional IRA, it generally does not give you an income-tax deduction when you contribute. In exchange, investments inside the account can grow without current tax, and qualified withdrawals of both contributions and earnings can be tax-free. The tax treatment is the reason a Roth is often attractive to someone who expects a long investing horizon or a higher tax rate later in life.

This calculator is for someone deciding whether a direct Roth IRA contribution is allowed under the 2026 income rules, how much of a proposed annual contribution can be made, and what the account might be worth at a chosen retirement age. It is not a 401(k) match or retirement-income calculator: it focuses on the Roth-specific income test and the possible value of tax-free investment growth. Enter your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI), not your pay before deductions. The result is an estimate, not a tax return or a prediction of future market returns.

2026 Roth IRA Contribution and Income Rules

The 2026 IRA contribution ceiling is $7,500 before age 50 and $8,600 from age 50 onward, including the catch-up amount. Roth and Traditional IRAs share that ceiling. Your own taxable compensation can also limit contributions, and your previous IRA contributions reduce what remains available. This tool assumes your compensation covers the calculated amount and that you have not contributed to another IRA; subtract those amounts yourself before funding an account. Your current Roth balance is not a new contribution and does not consume the annual limit.

Under IRS Notice 2025-67, the direct Roth contribution phase-out for single filers and heads of household runs from $153,000 to $168,000 of MAGI. For married couples filing jointly, it runs from $242,000 to $252,000. For married people filing separately who lived with their spouse at any time during the year, the range is $0 to $10,000. If you filed separately and lived apart for the entire year, the single range generally applies; use the single/head-of-household option for this income test, but confirm your circumstances with a tax adviser. The figures and default assumptions here apply to tax year 2026, not every future year.

How the Income Phase-Out Is Calculated

MAGI at or below the start of the applicable range allows the full age-based ceiling. MAGI at or above its end makes the direct contribution limit zero. Between those points, the calculator multiplies the age-based ceiling by the proportion of the phase-out band remaining: limit × (upper threshold − MAGI) ÷ (upper threshold − lower threshold). A positive reduced limit is rounded up to the next $10, with a $200 minimum, subject to taxable compensation. For example, a 45-year-old single filer with $160,500 MAGI is halfway through the $153,000–$168,000 band. Half of $7,500 is $3,750. If that person plans to invest $6,000, the first year uses $3,750, not $6,000.

Direct eligibility can be zero even though a backdoor Roth conversion may remain available at any income level. A conversion is not the same thing as a direct contribution and may generate taxable income under the pro-rata rule. This calculator deliberately sets new direct contributions to zero when MAGI is above the phase-out, rather than silently assuming a conversion. A qualified adviser can review whether a nondeductible Traditional IRA contribution and conversion make sense given your other IRA balances.

How the Retirement Balance Is Projected

The projection starts with your current balance and advances one year at a time until the target retirement age. At the end of each year it adds the lesser of your planned annual contribution and that year's modeled income-based limit. Existing money grows for the full year before the new contribution is added: next balance = current balance × (1 + annual return) + eligible contribution. Because contributions arrive at year-end, new dollars do not earn that year's assumed return. Total new contributions are summed separately; investment growth is the ending balance minus both the starting balance and the new contributions. If your target age is not above your current age, no future deposits or returns are projected.

The age-50 catch-up is reflected as you age: a saver starting at 45 uses the under-50 ceiling for five projected deposits, then the 50-and-over ceiling for later deposits. To isolate this effect, the tool holds your entered MAGI and 2026 tax thresholds constant across the entire projection. Real earnings, tax law, contribution ceilings and eligibility may change. It also assumes the same nominal annual return every year, no fees, no withdrawals, and sufficient taxable compensation. Try different returns and contribution levels to see how sensitive the result is; do not treat a smooth return as a market forecast.

Roth Versus an Equivalent Taxable Brokerage Account

The taxable comparison gives both accounts the same opening balance, year-by-year deposits, and investment return. In this simplified model, the brokerage account owes an assumed 15% federal long-term capital gains tax on its investment growth only when the full balance is liquidated at retirement. Principal is not taxed again. The after-tax brokerage balance is the gross projected balance less 15% of positive growth. The difference between that value and the projected Roth balance is the illustrative tax advantage. For clarity, there is no assumption of a tax deduction for either set of deposits.

This is intentionally a conservative illustration of the kinds of taxes a taxable account can face, not a complete tax forecast. It ignores annual taxes on dividends and realized gains, losses, different capital-gain brackets, state taxes, tax-loss harvesting, fees and changing tax rules. It treats the existing balance as though its entire amount were original principal in the hypothetical brokerage account, because the cost basis of a hypothetical past investment is unknown. The Roth result assumes withdrawals are qualified: generally the account must meet the five-year requirement and the owner must be at least 59½ or meet another qualifying condition. If you plan to retire earlier, the displayed balance is not necessarily all immediately withdrawable tax-free.

Using the Estimate Responsibly

Start by checking your filing status and estimated 2026 MAGI. Compare the displayed eligible limit with the annual amount you entered; a smaller limit means the projection caps direct Roth deposits. Revisit the estimate if your income changes, especially near a phase-out boundary. Next compare the starting balance, new contributions and investment growth: a large growth component is a consequence of both time and assumed return, not a promise. Finally compare the projected Roth balance with the simplified taxable after-tax balance. The 401(k), HSA and FIRE calculators linked above answer different questions about employer matching, medical savings and retirement targets; none replaces checking your IRA eligibility before making a deposit.