{
  "id": "ira",
  "version": "70b6174f4939",
  "status": "published",
  "name": "IRA Calculator",
  "question": "What will my IRA be worth?",
  "summary": "Projects a traditional IRA at retirement from yearly contributions within the IRS limit, the deductible part, the value after tax, and a Roth IRA with the same cost.",
  "category": "finance",
  "subcategory": "retirement",
  "url": "https://www.acalculator.org/finance/ira-calculator",
  "markdown": "https://www.acalculator.org/finance/ira-calculator.md",
  "kind": "schedule",
  "method": "Each year, contribution = min(your amount, the IRS limit), deducted = min(contribution, the deduction limit after the phase-out), and balance = (balance + contribution) × (1 + R); after tax = balance − retirement tax × (balance − nondeductible contributions).",
  "assumptions": [
    "The 2026 IRS limits and deduction ranges stay the same in later years, and your income stays the same.",
    "Your taxable pay is at least what you put in.",
    "Contributions are made at the start of each year, and the return stays the same every year.",
    "Today’s balance holds no nondeductible contributions.",
    "“After tax” taxes everything except nondeductible contributions at your retirement rate, as if you took it all out at once.",
    "The Roth IRA comparison ignores the Roth income limit.",
    "This is an estimate for planning, not financial advice."
  ],
  "inputs": {
    "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
      "age": {
        "title": "Your age",
        "description": "Your age at the end of this year.",
        "type": "integer",
        "minimum": 18,
        "maximum": 99
      },
      "retire": {
        "title": "Retirement age",
        "description": "The age you stop contributing. Contributions run for (retirement age − your age) years.",
        "type": "integer",
        "minimum": 19,
        "maximum": 100
      },
      "balance": {
        "title": "IRA balance today",
        "description": "What is in your traditional IRA now. It is treated as money that was never taxed.",
        "type": "number",
        "x-unit": "USD",
        "minimum": 0,
        "maximum": 1000000000
      },
      "contrib": {
        "title": "Yearly contribution",
        "description": "What you plan to put in each year. The calculator lowers it to your IRS limit if it is more.",
        "type": "number",
        "x-unit": "USD",
        "minimum": 0,
        "maximum": 1000000
      },
      "rate": {
        "title": "Expected yearly return",
        "description": "The yearly return. It stays the same every year.",
        "type": "number",
        "x-unit": "percent",
        "minimum": 0,
        "maximum": 30
      },
      "taxnow": {
        "title": "Your tax rate now",
        "description": "Your marginal income tax rate now: the tax a deduction saves on each dollar.",
        "type": "number",
        "x-unit": "percent",
        "minimum": 0,
        "maximum": 60
      },
      "taxlater": {
        "title": "Your tax rate in retirement",
        "description": "The income tax rate you expect to pay on withdrawals in retirement.",
        "type": "number",
        "x-unit": "percent",
        "minimum": 0,
        "maximum": 60
      },
      "covered": {
        "title": "Retirement plan at work?",
        "description": "Whether you, or only your spouse, can take part in a retirement plan at work. It can limit the deduction.",
        "type": "string",
        "enum": [
          "none",
          "you",
          "spouse"
        ]
      },
      "status": {
        "title": "Tax filing status",
        "description": "Single (also head of household, or married filing separately and living apart all year), married filing jointly, or married filing separately and living together.",
        "type": "string",
        "enum": [
          "single",
          "joint",
          "separate"
        ]
      },
      "magi": {
        "title": "Modified adjusted gross income",
        "description": "Your modified AGI (both spouses if you file jointly). It limits the deduction with a workplace plan.",
        "type": "number",
        "x-unit": "USD",
        "minimum": 0,
        "maximum": 1000000000
      }
    }
  },
  "outputs": {
    "total": {
      "label": "At retirement your IRA holds",
      "description": "The traditional IRA balance at the end of the last year before retirement, before tax.",
      "format": "money"
    },
    "afterTax": {
      "label": "After tax on withdrawal",
      "description": "The balance minus tax at your retirement rate on all of it except nondeductible contributions, as if it all came out.",
      "format": "money"
    },
    "contributions": {
      "label": "Your contributions",
      "description": "Every contribution from now until retirement, after the IRS limit.",
      "format": "money"
    },
    "growth": {
      "label": "Tax-deferred growth",
      "description": "The balance at retirement minus today’s balance and your contributions.",
      "format": "money"
    },
    "taxSaved": {
      "label": "Tax saved by deductions",
      "description": "Every deducted contribution times your tax rate now, added up.",
      "format": "money"
    },
    "roth": {
      "label": "Roth IRA with the same cost",
      "description": "What a Roth IRA would hold at retirement if each year you put in the contribution minus the tax the deduction saves.",
      "format": "money"
    },
    "better": {
      "label": "Better after tax",
      "description": "Which account leaves more after tax: the traditional IRA or a Roth IRA with the same cost.",
      "format": "text"
    },
    "gap": {
      "label": "By how much",
      "description": "The difference between the traditional IRA after tax and the Roth IRA.",
      "format": "money"
    },
    "deductible": {
      "label": "You can deduct this year",
      "description": "The most of this year’s contribution you can deduct at your age and income (2026 limits).",
      "format": "money"
    }
  },
  "defaultAnswer": {
    "inputs": {
      "age": 35,
      "retire": 65,
      "balance": 20000,
      "contrib": 7500,
      "rate": 7,
      "taxnow": 22,
      "taxlater": 12,
      "covered": "none",
      "status": "single",
      "magi": 90000
    },
    "outputs": {
      "total": 910292.9111012805,
      "afterTax": 801057.7617691269,
      "contributions": 225000,
      "growth": 665292.9111012805,
      "taxSaved": 49500,
      "roth": 725252.9807443237,
      "better": "Traditional IRA",
      "gap": 75804.78102480317,
      "deductible": 7500
    },
    "text": "At 7% a year, your IRA grows to $910,292.91 by age 65, or $801,057.76 after tax at your retirement rate."
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "given": {
        "age": 30,
        "retire": 31,
        "balance": 0,
        "contrib": 6000,
        "rate": 10,
        "taxnow": 22,
        "taxlater": 12,
        "covered": "none",
        "status": "single"
      },
      "expect": {
        "total": 6600,
        "afterTax": 5808,
        "taxSaved": 1320,
        "roth": 5148,
        "better": "Traditional IRA",
        "gap": 660
      },
      "source": "hand calculation in content.mdx"
    },
    {
      "given": {
        "age": 40,
        "retire": 41,
        "balance": 0,
        "contrib": 7500,
        "rate": 0,
        "taxnow": 22,
        "taxlater": 12,
        "covered": "you",
        "status": "single",
        "magi": 86000
      },
      "expect": {
        "deductible": 3750,
        "taxSaved": 825
      },
      "source": "IRS Publication 590-A Worksheet 1-2 with the 2026 single range $81,000 to $91,000; hand calculation"
    },
    {
      "given": {
        "age": 40,
        "retire": 41,
        "balance": 0,
        "contrib": 7500,
        "rate": 0,
        "taxnow": 22,
        "taxlater": 12,
        "covered": "you",
        "status": "joint",
        "magi": 130000
      },
      "expect": {
        "deductible": 7130
      },
      "source": "IRS Publication 590-A Worksheet 1-2 with the 2026 joint range $129,000 to $149,000; hand calculation"
    },
    {
      "given": {
        "age": 55,
        "retire": 56,
        "balance": 0,
        "contrib": 8600,
        "rate": 0,
        "taxnow": 22,
        "taxlater": 12,
        "covered": "spouse",
        "status": "joint",
        "magi": 245000
      },
      "expect": {
        "deductible": 6020
      },
      "source": "IRS Publication 590-A Worksheet 1-2 with the 2026 spouse-covered range $242,000 to $252,000"
    },
    {
      "given": {
        "age": 40,
        "retire": 41,
        "balance": 0,
        "contrib": 7500,
        "rate": 10,
        "taxnow": 22,
        "taxlater": 12,
        "covered": "you",
        "status": "single",
        "magi": 95000
      },
      "expect": {
        "deductible": 0,
        "total": 8250,
        "afterTax": 8160,
        "roth": 8250,
        "better": "Roth IRA",
        "gap": 90
      },
      "source": "hand calculation in content.mdx: no deduction, so the $7,500 is basis and only the $750 of growth is taxed"
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    "Internal Revenue Service, IR-2025-111 (November 13, 2025): IRA limit increases to $7,500 for 2026, with the deduction phase-out ranges. https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/401k-limit-increases-to-24500-for-2026-ira-limit-increases-to-7500",
    "Internal Revenue Service, Publication 590-A, Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs), Worksheet 1-2. https://www.irs.gov/publications/p590a",
    "Internal Revenue Code section 219(g)(2): the reduction is rounded down to the next lowest $10 (so the deduction limit rounds up), and a limit is not reduced below $200 unless it is reduced to zero. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/219",
    "Internal Revenue Service, Publication 590-B, Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs). https://www.irs.gov/publications/p590b",
    "Internal Revenue Service, Retirement topics: IRA contribution limits. https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-ira-contribution-limits"
  ],
  "related": [
    "roth-ira",
    "401k",
    "retirement-withdrawal"
  ],
  "changelog": []
}