Roth and Marriage

[TravisRADMD]

I'm befuddled. For the 2020 year I will have made too much to contribute to a Roth IRA directly. Easy, I completed a backdoor a couple months ago. My fiance makes below the income limit to contribute so we were planning on contributing directly to her Roth IRA before the year ended. Now I get confused. How does this work for her direct IRA contribution in 2020 if we then get legally married before 2020 ends and decide to file jointly if our income combined is above direct contribution limits? Should we do a backdoor IRA instead? If so, does the date of the marriage in relation to the Roth contribution(wether direct or indirect) matter if you plan on filing jointly? please advise. Thank you.

[billy]

even if you get married on dec 30, you will count as married for the whole year. If there is any question, just do the backdoor, its only one extra step.

[TravisRADMD]

even if you get married on dec 30, you will count as married for the whole year. If there is any question, just do the backdoor, its only one extra step.

Ok, I like that answer. However, are there any consequence of doing the Roth contribution indirectly if we don't pull the trigger this year? One thing we noticed are that the county offices are heavily booked at moment because of the elimination of walk-in appointments.

[ACN]

No consequences.

I started doing the backdoor Roth in residency to understand the protocol. Extra step is easy and I never worried about our income once we got married.

[CordMcNally]

Ok, I like that answer. However, are there any consequence of doing the Roth contribution indirectly if we don't pull the trigger this year? One thing we noticed are that the county offices are heavily booked at moment because of the elimination of walk-in appointments.

Technically the only consequence is that it'll take a few days until you can convert to your Roth. You'll also have the few extra steps come tax time, however, as ACN mentioned, it'll be good practice. In all, you're looking at less than a few minutes of extra time.

[TravisRADMD]

Thanks. Just started the backdoor for her.