Contributing to Roth IRA and Income limits

If you go to the bottom of the page for the rothira.com link you posted, you will find another link to 2017 Roth IRA Income Limits. That page tells you it is MAGI and points you to IRS Pub 590-A for the definition. You can use Worksheet 2-1 in IRS Pub 590-A to calculate your MAGI.

Thanks for the reply.

So I start out January 2017 with $450 per month auto paid into my Roth IRA and and by December I have contributed $5400. Then in Jan 2018 I get my W2 and I see, oh crap, my MAGI is in that phase out limit. So now I have to go back and calculate and find that I was only allowed to contribute $4700. It's a bit late now because I've over contributed. And I don't know what salary my 2018 W2 is going to show, so there's a good chance I may have over contributed by the time I see that 2018 W2 in Jan 2019.

I guess one would have to just go through the process of taking back excess contributions each year.

thanks Roger

It's not too late. You have until the filing deadline (usually April 15) to withdraw the excess contribution.

Alternately, particularly if you are really on the cusp of the phase-out, you could just wait until you have your MAGI for 2018 computed early in 2019 and make your Roth IRA contribution then. Since you have until the filing deadline to contribute, you could make the contribution after you know your income.

You do potentially give up a year's worth of growth, but unless you are investing in bitcoin, giving up that potential growth may be worth the simplification of your taxes.