Contribution Limits

• Spousal IRA contributions are special, because, in most cases, the IRS requires people to contribute earned income to their accounts. As of 2011, the maximum amount an individual can contribute to a Roth IRA is $5,000 if he is under age 50 and $6,000 if he is 50 or older. However, the IRA owner can only contribute up to his total compensation income if it is less than the $5,000 or $6,000 limit for an individual. The IRS defines compensation as income, commissions or salary earned from a job as well as military differential pay, nontaxable combat pay and alimony.
  
  

Spousal Contributions

• Spouses who file jointly with their partners are exempt from the compensation income requirement, provided that a couple's total IRA contributions do not exceed their joint income. For example, assume John is unemployed throughout 2011, but his wife, Sally, earns $70,000. Both are under age 50. John can contribute to his Roth IRA as long as he and Sally file jointly. Her income is large enough that both Sally and John could make the maximum contribution for their age, for a total of $10,000.
  
  

Income Limits

• Non-earning spouses who file jointly are subject to income limits that phase out high earners from making Roth IRA contributions. As of 2011, people who are married and filing jointly can make the maximum Roth IRA contribution if their combined incomes do not exceed $169,000. Those whose joint income is between $169,000 and $179,000 are allowed to contribute a percentage of the maximum. Joint filers whose income exceeds $179,000 are ineligible to make a Roth IRA contribution.
  
  

IRA Beneficiary Rules

• Spouses who are the sole beneficiaries of Roth IRAs are allowed to treat the account as their own, a privilege that non-spouse beneficiaries do not have. This means that they can add their name to the account and continue contributing to it as long as they live, or they can roll it into their own retirement account. However, inheriting spouses who are single filers and choose to treat a Roth IRA as their own must contribute earned income.