Traditional IRA Contribution Deadline: 2019 & Beyond

Like many people, you may be working on finalizing your 2019 tax return before the April 15 tax-filing deadline. If so, there might be an opportunity for you to obtain a valuable tax deduction and boost your retirement savings at the same time, so it’s important to know when the traditional IRA contribution deadline is for the tax year.

Many people don’t realize it, but the deadline for making tax-deductible contributions to some qualified retirement plans actually stretches beyond the end of the calendar year. The traditional IRA contribution deadline (and 401k deadline) is actually the 2019 tax-filing deadline – i.e., April 15, 2020.

Stressing about taxes? Download Your FREE Guide: “5 Tax Hacks for Investors”

IRA Contribution Deadline: You Can Still Make Contributions for the 2019 Tax Year

The IRA contribution deadline for the 2019 tax year is April 15th, 2020. This presents a great opportunity to contribute to your traditional IRA if you haven’t already maxed it out, and by doing so, possibly reduce your upcoming tax bill if you qualify to deduct these contributions.

The annual IRA contribution limit for 2019 is $6,000 if you’re under age 50, plus $1,000 if you are 50 or older (the 2020 limits will be the same). So, if you haven’t yet contributed the maximum amounts for tax year 2019, you can still make a contribution any time before April 15 in order to reach the annual limit. You may even be able to open a brand-new traditional IRA if you don’t have one currently and possibly reap tax benefits for tax year 2019. (Note that contributions to Roth IRAs aren’t deductible, so this strategy doesn’t apply to them.)

For example, suppose you’re 55 years old and have contributed $4,000 so far to your traditional IRA for tax year 2019. You could make an additional contribution of $3,000 before this April 15 and possibly deduct this amount on your 2019 tax return.

So how do you know if your traditional IRA contributions are tax deductible or not? It depends on whether your employer offers an employer-sponsored retirement plan, such as a 401k. If not, the entire amount of your IRA contribution could potentially be tax deductible.

If your employer does offer a retirement plan, the deductibility of your IRA contributions will depend on how much money you earn. See the IRS site for more on when your deduction would start to phase out or be eliminated.