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My wife and I earn between $180,000 and $210,000 combined. The amount varies due to job changes and side consulting. She puts about 4% of her salary into a 401k which is fully matched. I put in 6% and that's matched up to 4%.

I want to save more money. I plan on increasing my 401k contribution to $13,000 per year. But I also want to put away more pre-tax money, if I can, in an IRA. Is it possible to put extra money in IRA when our combined income is this high? What is the exact figure that I alone can put in an IRA?

Thanks.

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    Traditional IRA contributions are not limited for high-income earners (or for those whose employers offer retirement accounts to their employees, regardless of whether an employee participates or not) whereas Roth IRA contributions are not permitted at all beyond a certain level of income. What is limited for Traditional IRA contributions is how much, if any, of the contribution can be deducted from current taxable income; high-earners don't get this break at all. For current levels of phase-out of this break look at the IRS website or Publication 590 for the numbers.
    – Dilip Sarwate
    Jun 12, 2014 at 18:50
  • Nice answer, why not load it as such?
    – JTP - Apologise to Monica ♦
    Jun 12, 2014 at 23:28
  • @JoeTaxpayer There are too many nuances, and the topic has been thrashed to death over and over again on money.SE. Since I just didn't have enough time to write an answer and frame it all correctly, I opted for the comment.
    – Dilip Sarwate
    Jun 13, 2014 at 2:37
  • Point noted. We probably have a duplicate post here, and this one should be closed. I'll look later today.
    – JTP - Apologise to Monica ♦
    Jun 13, 2014 at 11:43

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With these income levels you cannot deduct any IRA contribution. I.e.: you cannot save pre-tax, as you want.

But you still can contribute to IRA (as a non-deductible contribution), and using the "loophole" transfer the contribution to Roth (you are probably over the limit to be able to contribute to Roth directly).

For pre-tax contributions - max out your 401k.

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