Can I make up for this tax planning mistake? (Phoenix: employment, landlord)

[Potential_Landlord]

I understand this is not legally binding advice. Still, I appreciate any help. Thanks so much!!!

We contributed the max to a spousal, regular IRA for my wife hoping to deduct the $5,500. However, my wife will start a job this year that has a defined-benefit retirement plan. So we cannot deduct this I suppose? We have both employer-sponsored retirement plans. Or can we still deduct it as long as our combined MAGI is below 96k? Thanks. This is the first year my wife works again after the kids. (Sorry meant to post this in "Personal Finance" forum. Thanks for moving.)

[wit-nit]

I would suggest calling either your tax accountant or the IRS customer hotline for a definitive answer.

[Burkmere]

Originally Posted by Potential_Landlord

I understand this is not legally binding advice. Still, I appreciate any help. Thanks so much!!!

We contributed the max to a spousal, regular IRA for my wife hoping to deduct the $5,500. However, my wife will start a job this year that has a defined-benefit retirement plan. So we cannot deduct this I suppose? We have both employer-sponsored retirement plans. Or can we still deduct it as long as our combined MAGI is below 96k? Thanks. This is the first year my wife works again after the kids. (Sorry meant to post this in "Personal Finance" forum. Thanks for moving.)

And this is related to the Phoenix forum how?

[yukon]

There is usually a minimum employment period and a specific enrollment time before employees are covered by an employer retirement plan. Are you sure your wife will be eligible to participate by 12/31/17?

[phx1205]

Originally Posted by Potential_Landlord

I understand this is not legally binding advice. Still, I appreciate any help. Thanks so much!!!

We contributed the max to a spousal, regular IRA for my wife hoping to deduct the $5,500. However, my wife will start a job this year that has a defined-benefit retirement plan. So we cannot deduct this I suppose? We have both employer-sponsored retirement plans. Or can we still deduct it as long as our combined MAGI is below 96k? Thanks. This is the first year my wife works again after the kids. (Sorry meant to post this in "Personal Finance" forum. Thanks for moving.)

Was the contribution for the 2016 or 2017 tax year? Assuming it was for 2017, you should be able to get the money back without any problems. Contact the company where you have the account and tell them the situation and you want to request an excess contribution refund. You can do that before April 15th, again assuming the contribution was for 2017.

[Zathras]

If she had ANY contributions to the 401k by herself or her company, that could potentially nullify the deductibility of both her AND your IRA contributions. This happened to us. Her employer mistakenly enrolled her in the 401k against her wishes. She had one paycheck with a contribution in Jan, which she had reversed on a subsequent paycheck. The following year the company reported it (in error of course) and the IRS ended up rejecting our entire IRA contributions on our 1040. I had to write a lot of letters to get that straightened out as I recall. I think it was October before they finally accepted our 1040.

Our entire tax system is a boondoggle with so many details. Best to get professional advice on things like this.