IRA Calculator

How this IRA calculator works

A traditional IRA lets a qualifying contribution come off taxable income today, then taxes the withdrawals later. This home page is that calculator. You type the balance you already have, the amount you add each year, whether the age-50 catch-up applies, whether the contribution is deductible, the tax rate you save now, the tax rate you expect on the way out, the annual return, and the number of years. Press Calculate. The result, the chart, and the schedule are computed in the browser. Nothing is sent to a server.

The 2026 employee IRA limit used on this desk is $7,500, with an extra $1,100 if you are 50 or older. Those figures come from the IRS retirement-plan announcement in November 2025. The form does not look up your income, your filing status, or whether a workplace plan covers you. Those facts decide whether a traditional IRA contribution is actually deductible. If a workplace plan covers you and your income is high enough, the deduction phases out. Type only a contribution you are allowed to make, and set the deductible switch to No when the deduction does not apply. The methodology lists the figures and what the estimate leaves out.

Growth here compounds once a year on the balance plus that year’s contribution. The contribution is added at the end of the year, the same convention the investment calculator uses. A 7 percent return for 20 years on a $22,000 balance and a $7,500 annual contribution is an illustration, not a forecast. Markets do not pay a flat rate, and a fee inside a fund reduces the return you should type. If you want monthly contributions, or a rate that compounds monthly, use the compound interest calculator and read its schedule.

What the two tax rates mean

The tax lines are the part people misuse. “Tax rate saved today” is the marginal rate you avoid if the contribution is deductible. At 22 percent, a $7,500 deductible contribution keeps $1,650 in your pocket this year. That cash is not added to the IRA unless you invest it yourself. The result shows it as a tax saving, not as extra principal. “Tax rate on withdrawal” is applied to the whole projected balance as if it were taxed at one moment. Real withdrawals are taxed year by year, and the rate can change. Treat that line as a way to see how sensitive the after-tax balance is to the rate you expect, not as a tax bill.

A Roth IRA reverses the timing. You contribute after tax, and qualified withdrawals are tax-free. The same return and the same years are not a fair comparison until you account for the tax you pay today to fund the Roth. Run the Roth IRA calculator with the same balance, contribution, return, and years, then compare its ending balance with this page’s after-tax balance. If your rate in retirement is lower than your rate now, the traditional deduction is often the better arithmetic. If your rate later is higher, or you want the withdrawals out of taxable income, the Roth can win even when the traditional balance looks larger before tax. Neither page applies the Roth income limit. A direct Roth contribution is reduced or blocked above the IRS income range for your filing status. The essay Roth and traditional are a tax-timing choice walks through that comparison without turning it into advice.

The accounts that sit beside an IRA

A 401(k) is the workplace cousin. The 2026 employee deferral limit is higher than the IRA limit, and a match is money this form cannot see. Use the 401(k) calculator when the savings happen through a paycheck and an employer match. Many people use both: the workplace plan up to the match, then an IRA for the amount the IRA rules allow. This site does not coordinate the two limits. You add them yourself.

Required minimum distributions start once you reach the age in current law. A traditional IRA is subject to them. A Roth IRA you own is not, during your lifetime. The RMD calculator divides a prior year-end balance by the IRS Uniform Lifetime factor for your age. It does not project the IRA on this page forward to that age. If you want the nest-egg path rather than one account, the retirement calculator draws savings through to a spending year and shows the contribution limits beside the result.

Social Security, a pension, and an annuity are separate checks. They do not belong inside the IRA balance. The Social Security calculator shows how the same benefit changes when you claim earlier or later. The pension calculator uses final pay, a multiplier, and years of service. The annuity calculator compounds a series of equal payments. Read them next to the IRA result when you want the whole retirement picture, and do not add the numbers together as if they were the same kind of dollar.

What this page will not claim

This is not a tax return, a custodian statement, or advice about whether you should contribute. It ignores the deduction phase-out, the Roth conversion pro-rata rule, early-withdrawal penalties, inherited-IRA schedules, and state tax. Inflation is not applied unless you lower the return yourself and treat it as a real rate. The income tax calculator estimates 2026 federal brackets on ordinary income and says what it leaves out. Read the disclaimer before you act on a figure, and confirm the current IRS limit before you write a check.

Start with the balance in the account today, not the balance you wish you had. Set the annual contribution to the amount you will actually add, capped by the limit that applies to you. Turn on the catch-up only if you are 50 or older by the end of the year. Leave the deductible switch on Yes only when you expect the deduction. The two tax rates can be equal. If you do not know the later rate, run the calculation twice, once at your current rate and once a bracket lower, and see how far the after-tax balance moves. Years is the count of contributions still ahead, not your age. Press Calculate. Clear hides the result so the next set of figures starts clean.

How to run the first calculation

The chart and the schedule show the same series the result uses. Balance is the account. The tax lines are not a second balance you can spend on top of it. If a number looks larger than the contributions you typed plus the starting balance, the difference is growth, and the after-tax line is that balance after the withdrawal rate you typed. If the deductible switch is off, do not treat “tax saved today” as a benefit.

The other tools stay one click away: mortgages, auto loans, investing, tax estimates, and everyday money. Each of those pages has its own inputs and its own formula. They are not renamed copies of this form. The finance calculator is the five-key time-value tool when you want present value, payment, rate, periods, and future value with nothing else attached. Use it when the question is the raw equation. Use this page when the question is a traditional IRA. Recent notes from the desk are listed below, and the full set is on the blog.

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