The deadline to contribute to a Roth IRA is Tax Day, which falls on April 15 in most years. That means you have until April 15, 2025, to make contributions that count toward the 2024 tax year, and until April 15, 2026, for the 2025 tax year. When April 15 lands on a weekend or holiday, the deadline shifts to the next business day.
How the Deadline Works
Each tax year’s Roth IRA contribution window opens on January 1 and closes on the federal tax filing deadline the following spring. So for any given year, you actually have about 15 and a half months to make your contribution. Money you deposit between January 1 and April 15 can be designated for either the current year or the prior year, so you’ll need to tell your IRA provider which tax year the contribution applies to.
This is the same deadline that applies to traditional IRA contributions. The IRS treats both account types identically when it comes to timing.
Tax Extensions Do Not Extend the Deadline
This is the most common misunderstanding about IRA contributions. Filing a tax extension (Form 4868) gives you extra time to file your return, but it does not give you extra time to make a prior-year Roth IRA contribution. Even if you extend your filing deadline to October, your Roth IRA contribution deadline remains April 15.
There is one exception worth knowing: if you contributed too much (an excess contribution), you can withdraw that excess by your extended filing deadline, including any earnings on the excess amount, without owing the 6% penalty that normally applies to overcontributions.
Contribution Limits for 2025 and 2026
For the 2025 tax year, you can contribute up to $7,000 to your Roth IRA, or $8,000 if you’re 50 or older. For 2026, those limits rise to $7,500 and $8,600 respectively. These limits apply to your total contributions across all traditional and Roth IRAs combined. If you put $3,000 into a traditional IRA, you can only put $4,000 into a Roth IRA for that same year (assuming the $7,000 limit).
Your contribution also can’t exceed your taxable compensation for the year. If you earned $5,000 in a given year, that’s the most you can contribute regardless of the official cap.
Income Limits Can Reduce Your Contribution
Unlike a traditional IRA, Roth IRAs have income-based phase-out ranges that can shrink or eliminate your allowed contribution. As your modified adjusted gross income rises past a certain threshold, the amount you’re allowed to contribute gradually decreases until it reaches zero. These thresholds differ depending on whether you file as single, married filing jointly, or married filing separately, and they’re adjusted annually for inflation.
If your income puts you in the phase-out range, you’ll need to calculate your reduced contribution limit before depositing money. Contributing more than your allowed amount creates an excess contribution, which is subject to a 6% penalty for each year it remains in the account.
When to Make Your Contribution
You can contribute any time during the year or wait until the following spring, but there are good reasons not to wait until the last minute. Money invested earlier has more time to grow tax-free. If you contribute $7,000 on January 2 instead of the following April, that money gets roughly 15 extra months of potential growth.
If you can’t contribute the full amount at once, most brokerages let you set up automatic monthly transfers. Spreading $7,000 across 12 months works out to about $583 per month. You can also make irregular deposits throughout the year and top off the remainder before the April deadline.
What Happens If You Miss the Deadline
If April 15 passes and you haven’t contributed for the prior year, that window is closed permanently. You can’t go back and make up for a missed year. You can still contribute for the current tax year, but the prior year’s contribution room is gone.
If you accidentally contributed after the deadline and your brokerage applied it to the wrong tax year, contact them as soon as possible. In most cases, the deposit can be recharacterized as a current-year contribution instead, as long as you haven’t already maxed out the current year.