💰 Roth IRA Calculator
See your tax-free retirement balance with 2026 IRS contribution limits and MAGI phase-out applied automatically. USA.
A Roth IRA calculator estimates the tax-free balance you could build in a Roth individual retirement account. Because you contribute money you have already paid tax on, qualified withdrawals in retirement — both your original contributions and every dollar of investment growth — come out completely tax-free. Enter your age, retirement age, annual contribution, and an expected return to see the projected balance and how much of it is untaxed growth.
The calculator compounds each annual contribution forward at your chosen growth rate to your retirement age. The defining feature of a Roth is what happens at the end: provided you are at least 59½ and the account has been open five years, withdrawals are not taxed at all. That is the mirror image of a traditional IRA or 401(k), where contributions are deductible now but every withdrawal is taxed later. Modelling both side by side is the clearest way to judge which suits your expected future tax rate.
Worked example. Contribute $7,000 a year from age 30 to 65 at a 7% average annual return and the account grows to roughly $970,000 — of which about $725,000 is investment growth you would never pay tax on inside a Roth. Held in an ordinary taxable account, that same growth could attract capital-gains tax running into thousands of dollars a year in retirement; the Roth wrapper is precisely what removes it.
Roth IRA eligibility phases out above certain incomes and annual contribution limits are set by the IRS and change most years — confirm the current rules with the IRS. Projections are illustrative estimates for education only, not financial advice.
| Year | Age | Contribution | Year-End Balance |
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How to use this calculator
Takes about 2 minutes.
- Enter your current Roth IRA balance and intended annual contribution
- Add your age, target retirement age, and expected return
- Enter your Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) and filing status
- The calculator applies 2026 IRS phase-out automatically
- Review your tax-free balance, total contributions, and tax savings vs a taxable account
Try these scenarios
Tap a scenario to load it into the calculator above.
Methodology & Sources
This calculator applies the 2026 IRS Roth IRA contribution limits ($7,000 base, $8,000 with the age-50 catch-up) and the MAGI phase-out windows for single, married-filing-jointly, and married-filing-separately filers. Growth is compounded annually using a half-year contribution convention. The "Tax Saved vs Taxable Account" figure compares the Roth balance against an equivalent taxable brokerage account assuming a 22% effective drag on annual returns.
- IRS — Roth IRA Contribution Limits
- IRS Publication 590-A — Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements
Last verified: May 2026.
Key concepts
Tax-free growth, tax-free withdrawals. A Roth IRA is funded with post-tax money, but qualified withdrawals — earnings included — are completely tax-free after age 59½ and 5 years of account age. For long-horizon investors in low-to-mid tax brackets today, this is typically the most powerful retirement wrapper available.
2026 contribution limits. $7,000/year if under 50; $8,000/year if 50+ (IRS). Contributions can be made up to the tax-filing deadline of the following April.
MAGI phase-outs. For 2026, single-filer contributions phase out between $150k-$165k Modified Adjusted Gross Income; married-filing-jointly between $236k-$246k. Above these, direct contributions aren't allowed — though the 'backdoor Roth' conversion remains an option for many.
Contributions vs. earnings. You can withdraw your contributions (but not earnings) at any time, tax- and penalty-free. This makes the Roth uniquely flexible compared with a 401(k) — though using it as a slush fund defeats the long-term compounding benefit.
No required minimum distributions. Unlike a traditional IRA or 401(k), a Roth has no RMDs during the original owner's lifetime. This makes it ideal for legacy planning — money can keep compounding tax-free indefinitely.
Frequently Asked Questions
Worked example — maxing a Roth IRA from 25 to 65
Picture a 25-year-old marketing analyst in Austin earning $58,000 — comfortably under the 2026 single-filer Roth IRA MAGI phase-out window of $150,000–$165,000 published by the IRS. They commit to contributing the full $7,000 annual limit every year until retirement at 65, investing in a low-cost target-date fund returning a 7% nominal long-run average (broadly consistent with global equity returns over multi-decade horizons).
The calculator runs an annual compounding loop using a half-year contribution convention. Each year, the prior balance compounds at 7%, then the contribution is added with half a year of growth. Mathematically: balance_new = balance_old × 1.07 + 7000 × (1.07)^0.5. Year one ends near $7,242. Year 10 ends near $103,000. Year 20 ends near $307,000. By age 65 — 40 years and $280,000 of total contributions — the balance lands near $1,495,000. Every cent of that is qualified-withdrawal tax-free under current IRS Roth rules (account age 5+ years and owner age 59½+).
Compare that to the same $7,000/year contributed to a taxable brokerage account, where dividends and realised gains face annual tax drag of roughly 22% on the gross return — common for the long-term capital gains bracket plus state tax. The effective net return drops from 7% to about 5.5%, and the same 40-year contribution stream lands closer to $1,015,000. The Roth wrapper has saved roughly $480,000 of after-tax value — and that figure is the headline output the calculator returns. Push the contribution age up by 10 years (start at 35 instead of 25) and the final balance roughly halves to around $720,000, illustrating again how compounding back-loads heavily into the final decade.
Common Roth IRA mistakes
- Contributing while above the MAGI limit. The IRS levies a 6% excise tax per year on excess contributions until the excess is withdrawn. Many high earners only discover this at tax-filing time the following spring. Always check Modified Adjusted Gross Income against the published phase-out before contributing, particularly if income is anywhere near $150,000 single or $236,000 married filing jointly.
- Leaving contributions in cash inside the Roth. A Roth IRA is an account type, not an investment. The tax-free growth benefit only matters if money is actually invested in something with growth potential — a target-date fund, index ETF, or diversified portfolio. Contributing $7,000 then leaving it earning 0.01% in a sweep account wastes the entire point of the wrapper.
- Tapping contributions early as a savings account. The Roth IRA allows tax- and penalty-free withdrawal of contributions (not earnings) at any time. That flexibility is genuinely useful in an emergency — but routinely raiding the account undoes the tax-free compounding the wrapper exists to provide. Use a separate high-yield savings account or cash ISA equivalent for short-term needs.
- Missing the 5-year rule on conversions. Each Roth conversion (including backdoor conversions) starts its own 5-year clock for penalty-free earnings withdrawal — separate from the account's original 5-year clock. Younger savers planning to access converted funds before 59½ need to track conversion dates carefully or face a 10% penalty on what they thought was tax-free money.
- Skipping the spousal Roth IRA. A non-working or low-earning spouse can still contribute to a Roth IRA as long as the working spouse has enough earned income to cover both contributions. Many couples leave a free $7,000 annual contribution slot on the table because they assume both partners need taxable wages.
When the Roth IRA wins versus other wrappers
The Roth IRA wins decisively for savers in the 12% or 22% federal bracket who expect to retire in a similar or higher bracket — almost universally true for anyone under 35 with normal career-growth expectations. Pre-tax accounts like the Traditional 401(k) or Traditional IRA win for peak-earnings savers in the 32%+ brackets who plan to retire on substantially less taxable income. For households squarely in the 24% bracket, splitting contributions between Roth and pre-tax is a defensible diversification strategy that hedges both the future tax-rate path and Congress changing the rules.
Sequencing matters as much as choosing. The IRS limits Roth IRA contributions to $7,000 ($8,000 if 50+) per year — small compared with the $23,500 Traditional or Roth 401(k) limit. The standard order most US planners recommend: first capture any employer 401(k) match in full (free money beats every other consideration), then max the Roth IRA ($7,000), then go back to fill the 401(k) up to the annual limit, then consider an HSA if eligible, then taxable brokerage. The Roth's place in the middle of that order reflects both its strong tax treatment and its tight contribution cap.
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