One income, two IRAs: how a stay-at-home spouse saves for retirement

Yes: a spouse with no paycheck can still have an IRA

Yes. If you file a joint return, a spouse with little or no income of their own can contribute to an IRA based on the working spouse's taxable compensation. According to the IRS, the limit for 2026 is $7,500 per person, or $8,600 for someone age 50 or older, as long as the couple's combined contributions do not exceed the taxable compensation on the joint return. The account belongs to the spouse at home, in their own name.

People call this a spousal IRA, and IRS Publication 590-A names the limit after Kay Bailey Hutchison, the former Texas senator. It is not a special kind of account. It is an ordinary traditional or Roth IRA that the non-earning spouse is allowed to fund because of the household's earnings. In my work with one-income families, it is one of the most overlooked ways to double the IRA room a household has.

Why the IRS lets a non-earning spouse contribute

Normally you can contribute to an IRA only up to your own taxable compensation. The IRS page on contribution limits says that if your taxable compensation for the year is less than the dollar limit, it caps what you can put in. Under that rule alone, a parent who stays home with the children, or a spouse caring for a relative, would be shut out, even though the household's retirement depends on both of them.

The spousal rule fixes that. Publication 590-A says it applies when you file a joint return and your taxable compensation is less than your spouse's. Your limit is then the smaller of two amounts: the annual dollar limit, or the total compensation of both spouses reduced by the working spouse's own contributions for the year to a traditional IRA and to a Roth IRA.

The publication gives a simple example. A full-time student with no compensation is married to someone who earns $30,000 and puts $7,000 into a traditional IRA. The student can also contribute $7,000 for that year, because the $23,000 of compensation left over is more than the limit. The same logic works for a spouse who earns a little from part-time work: the rule looks at the couple's combined pay, not just the lower earner's.

Why it matters over a lifetime: the years at home with young children often come exactly when retirement savings have the longest to grow. Without the spousal rule, the at-home spouse could reach retirement with little or nothing in their own name. Funding an IRA for them during those years keeps both spouses building savings and gives the at-home spouse an account of their own, with their own beneficiaries.

How much a one-income couple can put away

The dollar limits change, so check the IRS figures for the year you are contributing for. These are the numbers the IRS lists now. Each applies per person, across all of that person's traditional and Roth IRAs combined.

In practice, a couple whose working spouse earns well above the two limits added together can fund both IRAs in full: for 2026 that is $15,000 for two spouses under 50, or $17,200 if both are 50 or older. A couple with modest earnings needs to watch the household ceiling. The limit is a maximum, not a target; a smaller amount you keep up every month usually does more than a large deposit made once and never repeated.

• 2026: $7,500 per spouse, or $8,600 for a spouse age 50 or older
• 2025: $7,000 per spouse, or $8,000 for a spouse age 50 or older
• Household ceiling: the IRS says combined contributions for both spouses cannot be more than the taxable compensation reported on the joint return
• No upper age limit: the IRS states that for 2020 and later there is no age limit on regular contributions to traditional or Roth IRAs

Traditional or Roth for the spouse at home

Either kind of IRA can be funded under the spousal rule, and the choice works the same way as for anyone else. A traditional IRA may give a deduction now and is taxed when the money comes out; a Roth IRA gives no deduction, but qualified withdrawals are not taxed. I walk through that decision in traditional or Roth: which IRA fits your situation.

Two details are specific to married couples. First, if the working spouse is covered by a retirement plan at work and the spouse at home is not, the at-home spouse's traditional IRA deduction can shrink as income rises. Publication 590-A says that for 2026 the deduction phases out when the couple's modified adjusted gross income is more than $242,000 and is gone at $252,000; for 2025 the range was $236,000 to $246,000. Above that range the contribution is still allowed, just not deductible. Second, Roth eligibility depends on household income for couples filing jointly, and the IRS updates those limits every year, so confirm the current table before you choose the Roth side.

Whether a deduction today or tax-free withdrawals later is worth more depends on your bracket now and what you expect in retirement. That is a tax question, and a CPA such as Joe Hockaday can tell you how a contribution would show up on your return.

Texas community property does not change the math

Texas is a community-property state, and couples in Dallas sometimes assume that means each spouse already owns half of the paycheck for IRA purposes. Publication 590-A answers that directly: apart from the spousal rule, each spouse figures their limit separately using their own compensation, and the publication says this is the rule even in states with community property laws.

So a spouse at home in Texas qualifies through the spousal rule and a joint return, not through community property. For most couples the result is the same, but the route matters if you are thinking about filing separately. The spousal rule requires a joint return, so talk to your tax preparer before changing how you file.

Questions to answer before you open the account

A few questions settle whether the spousal rule fits and which account makes sense. Most couples can answer them at the kitchen table with last year's return in front of them.

If any answer is unclear, talk with a licensed professional before contributing. The order of steps matters as well; I explain where an IRA fits after the emergency fund and expensive debt in a savings plan for a working family.

• Will you file a joint return for the year you are contributing for?
• Is the at-home spouse's taxable compensation less than the working spouse's?
• How much is the working spouse already putting into their own traditional or Roth IRA this year?
• Is the working spouse covered by a retirement plan at work?
• Is household income anywhere near the deduction or Roth limits?
• Is there an emergency fund, so a surprise bill does not force an early withdrawal?

Opening the account and meeting the deadline

Each spouse needs an IRA of their own. Publication 590-A is clear that you cannot both participate in the same IRA, so the spouse at home opens an account in their own name, names their own beneficiaries and funds it from the household account. The steps are the same as for any IRA, which I describe in opening a Roth IRA on your own.

Timing has some flexibility. According to Publication 590-A, contributions for a year can be made during that year or up to the due date of the return, not counting extensions, which for most people is April 15 of the following year. If you contribute between January 1 and that date, tell the institution which year the deposit is for. A monthly automatic transfer avoids the spring scramble altogether.

Once the account is open, make sure the money is invested. A deposit can sit in cash until you choose investments, and an account that looks funded may not be working toward retirement at all.

If the spouse at home later goes back to work, nothing has to be closed or moved. The same IRA keeps going, and once their own compensation is higher than the working spouse's, the spousal rule is no longer needed; each of you contributes based on your own pay. If the new job offers a retirement plan, the deduction rules for that spouse change too, so revisit the traditional-or-Roth question then.

Mistakes I see one-income couples make

None of these is complicated, but each one can cost money or create a problem with the IRS that takes time to unwind.

If too much has already gone in, act quickly. The IRS explains that an excess contribution can be withdrawn, along with any income it earned, by the due date of your return including extensions to avoid a 6% tax. Contact the institution holding the account and your tax preparer as soon as you notice.

• Assuming the spouse at home cannot have an IRA and skipping years of contributions
• Filing separately without realizing the spousal rule requires a joint return
• Adding traditional and Roth contributions for one spouse above that spouse's single annual limit
• Putting in more than the household's taxable compensation in a low-income year
• Leaving contributions in cash instead of investing them
• Never naming or updating a beneficiary on the at-home spouse's account

Setting up IRAs for both of you

I open traditional and Roth IRAs for families as part of a broader plan, and spousal IRAs come up in many first meetings with one-income households around Dallas. We look at the joint return, the working spouse's own contributions, the emergency fund and the monthly budget, then decide which account fits the spouse at home and how much to put in each month. For couples who would rather not pick funds themselves, a professionally managed account is another option, explained in how a managed investment account works.

I am a registered representative of PFS Investments Inc. and an investment adviser representative with Primerica Advisors, licensed for investments in Texas and several other states. Investments carry risk, including the possible loss of principal, and no return is promised. This is general information, not tax advice, so confirm the deduction side with your tax professional. A first conversation carries no obligation.

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