roth

[Guest johnny been]

what are the income limits for a roth in 2002?

johnny been

[Guest dmj1998]

one stop shopping:

http://www.rothira.com/

[Guest johnny been]

question remains: what are the income limits for a roth in 2002.i have been to the roth ira website but can not find the answer. can anyone simply tell me what the income limits are for this year ?

thanks,

jb

[John G]

Plain speaking from Barry's 1998 article (http://www.rothira.com/pickroth.htm )

"Not everyone is eligible to make a contribution to a Roth IRA. In order to qualify, a taxpayer must have earned income, at least in the amount of the Roth IRA contribution. For married couples, either spouse can have the earned income, so that a spouse with no earned income could still make a Roth IRA contribution, as long as the other spouse has earned income. There is also a maximum income cap for taxpayers to be eligible to make a Roth IRA contribution. For married taxpayers filing a joint return, the ability to fund the Roth IRA starts to phase out at $150K of modified adjusted gross income (MAGI), and disappears completely at $160K. For single taxpayers, the ability to fund the Roth IRA starts to phase out at $95K of MAGI and disappears completely at $110K. For married taxpayers filing separately, the phase out starts at $0 and ends at $10K."

I have not seen any info that says these income ranges have changed with the new tax rules.

Not sure why there should be any income ceiling, certainly it only cuts off a few percent of all taxpayers for a couple of thousand... but hey I only studied mathematical applications of public policy. We put a clamp on a 2k or 3K (now) Roth tax shelter but leave open a huge capability for 401k and other shelters. Go figure. I wonder how many person years will be spent writing the legislation, writing the rules, programming the computers, paying the accountants on the goofy phase out rules. Real productive work. All hail tax simplification!

[Guest johnny been]

thank you. i have not seen any increases for 2002 but just wanted to make sure.

jb