back door roth

[The Doc]

Hello

I have a few Q's about the back door roth. I would like to set up back door roths for me and my wife, can I do this for 2017 as well as for 2018 ? our combined income is around 210,000 a year, my wife earned about 20,000 a year. Any thoughts on best way to do this, I already am with fidelity for my 401k. Also should my wife put her income into her Roth or can I put my income into her Roth and if so am I allowed to manage her account, invest the money in her account or take it out ?

 

Thank you

[jacoavlu]

Too late for 2017.
You can do 2018 backdoor Roth’s for you and spouse.
It doesn’t really matter what money you use for the contributions.
If your spouse allows it, you can establish access for yourself to her account, at various levels of capacity (view only, manage funds, etc) depending on the brokerage.

[The Doc]

Great thanks ...

[PhysicianOnFIRE]

Your wife doesn't need any income to contribute to a spousal Roth IRA. DDD has step-by-step instructions for the backdoor Roth with Fidelity. You've got until Tax Day mid-April of 2019 to make the 2018 contribution. You can do it for 2019 as soon as Jan 2nd. $5,500 each for 2018, $6,000 each in 2019.

As far as where the money comes from, it shouldn't matter. It's after-tax money and money is fungible, so it doesn't really matter if it's yours, hers, or both as long as Fidelity lets you connect the account for funding.

Happy backdoor Rothing!
-PoF