8 Roth IRA Dates for 2025 and 2026: A Calendar for High-Income Families

By Kevin Luu, Co-Founder and Chief Learning Officer. Reviewed on 2026-09-30.

The last day to contribute to a Roth IRA for 2025 was April 15, 2026, the original due date of the 2025 federal return. Filing an extension did not move it. If you missed it and no IRS disaster postponement covered your county, the 2025 window is closed, and the next deadline is April 15, 2027 for 2026 contributions of up to $7,500 per person ($8,600 at age 50 or older).

For a two-income household earning $750,000 to $3 million, the April date is only one of eight that matter. Your income is far above the Roth limit, so you get into a Roth through the backdoor, the mega backdoor or your child’s earnings, and each of those runs on its own calendar. Some of the dates fall on December 31, not in April.

The 2025 and 2026 Roth calendar at a glance

The contribution rule comes from IRS Publication 590-A (2025): you can contribute “for a year at any time during the year or by the due date of your return for that year (not including extensions).” April 15, 2027 falls on a Thursday, so no weekend shift applies. The IRS can postpone deadlines for taxpayers in federally declared disaster areas; check the IRS disaster relief page if you live in an affected California or Washington county.

Why a direct Roth IRA contribution usually does not work at your income

For 2026, the ability to contribute directly to a Roth IRA phases out for married couples filing jointly between $242,000 and $252,000 of modified adjusted gross income (IRS Notice 2025-67). A household with two professional salaries and RSU vests is well past that. RSUs count as wages at vest, so a refresh grant or a strong stock year can push income above the limit even in a year you expected to be lower.

That leaves three routes, each with its own deadline:

• Backdoor Roth IRA. Contribute $7,500 per spouse to a traditional IRA as a nondeductible contribution for 2026, report it on Form 8606, then convert it to Roth. The contribution deadline is April 15, 2027. The conversion counts in the calendar year you do it.
• Mega backdoor Roth. Only inside a 401(k) that allows after-tax contributions and converts them to Roth. It runs on payroll, so it ends with your last 2026 paycheck. See our comparison of the mega backdoor Roth and a brokerage account.
• Custodial Roth IRA for a child. Available only if the child has real earned income. Covered below.

December 31: the backdoor Roth date most families miss

The pro-rata rule decides how much of a backdoor conversion is taxable. Line 6 of Form 8606 uses the total value of all your traditional IRAs, which includes SEP and SIMPLE IRAs, as of December 31 of the conversion year (Form 8606 instructions). An old rollover IRA from a previous employer sitting there on December 31 makes most of your conversion taxable, even if you converted in March.

Worked example: a $950,000 household in Palo Alto

Assumptions (illustrative): Maya works at a biotech company, Josh at a large tech company, and their 2026 household income is about $950,000 including Josh’s RSU vests. They file jointly, have two children aged 6 and 9, and their federal taxable income is above $768,700, so their top federal rate for 2026 is 37% (Rev. Proc. 2025-32). Maya has $180,000 in a rollover IRA from a previous job. Growth between contribution and conversion is ignored.

1. Maya does a 2026 backdoor and leaves the rollover IRA alone. Her after-tax basis is $7,500. Her total IRA value on December 31, 2026 is $180,000 (the $7,500 is already converted, so it no longer sits in a traditional IRA). The nontaxable share of the conversion is $7,500 divided by $187,500, which is 4%. So $300 of the conversion is tax-free and $7,200 is taxable. At 37%, that is about $2,664 of federal tax, and she now has $7,200 of basis stuck in the rollover IRA to track for years.
2. Maya rolls the $180,000 into her current 401(k) before December 31, 2026 (only if her plan accepts roll-ins). Her traditional IRA balance on December 31 is $0, so the $7,500 conversion is essentially tax-free. Josh has no other IRA money, so his conversion is clean either way.

The difference is roughly $2,664 of extra federal tax for 2026, owed on pre-tax money she did not mean to convert, repeated every year the old IRA stays put, plus the recordkeeping. The decision is a date on the calendar, not a market call.

October 15: fixing a contribution you should not have made

The common mistake at this income level is a direct Roth IRA contribution made early in the year, before a bonus or an RSU vest pushes income over the limit. The excess is subject to a 6% tax each year it stays in the account (Pub 590-A). You have two ways out:

• Withdraw the excess plus its earnings by the due date of your return including extensions. If you filed on time without withdrawing it, Pub 590-A still allows the return of the contribution within 6 months of the original due date, with an amended return. For 2025, both paths end on October 15, 2026.
• Recharacterize it as a traditional IRA contribution by the due date including extensions, then convert it. The result is the same as a backdoor Roth done on purpose.

For a 2026 contribution, the same fix runs to October 15, 2027 if you extend. Families who receive late K-1s or large RSU sales often extend anyway, which buys time to decide.

How the Roth plays out in California versus Washington

California. California has no lower rate for capital gains (FTB), so gains in a taxable brokerage account are taxed at ordinary rates, up to 13.3% for 2025: the 12.3% top bracket (which starts above $1,485,906 of taxable income for joint filers) plus a 1% tax on taxable income over $1,000,000 (FTB 2025 rate schedules). Growth that ends in a qualified Roth distribution avoids that. For a household paying the top federal and state rates, tax-free growth is worth more than it is to most savers.

Washington. There is no tax on wages for 2026, and Washington’s capital gains tax (7% on taxable gains, 9.9% above $1,000,000) exempts retirement accounts (WA DOR). But Washington enacted a 9.9% income tax on AGI over $1,000,000 starting January 1, 2028 (WA DOR). How it treats retirement distributions is pending DOR guidance, which is one more reason Amazon and Microsoft families should not assume today’s rules will hold for decades.

A custodial Roth IRA for your child: same April deadline, different limit

A child of any age can have a Roth IRA if the child has taxable compensation. For 2026, the limit is the lesser of $7,500 or the child’s earned income (Pub 590-A). Allowance, gifts and investment income do not count. A 9-year-old who earns $3,000 in 2026 from paid work (a commercial shoot, real work in a parent’s side business at a fair wage) can have up to $3,000 contributed for 2026 by April 15, 2027.

For children under 12, this is rare, and it only works with documented, real work. Keep pay stubs or invoices. The first contribution also starts the child’s five-year Roth clock on January 1 of the year it is for, which can matter decades later. Our guide to the custodial Roth IRA for a child covers the account itself.

What to decide before December 31, 2026

1. Does either spouse hold a traditional, SEP or SIMPLE IRA with pre-tax money? If yes, can your current 401(k) take it as a roll-in before year-end?
2. Does your 401(k) allow after-tax contributions with in-plan Roth conversion? If so, your 2026 room is $72,000 minus your $24,500 deferral minus employer contributions, and it must go in through payroll by the last paycheck.
3. Will you do the backdoor as one step (contribute and convert in 2026) or split it (contribute in early 2027 for 2026)? One step keeps the paperwork in one tax year.
4. Did anyone contribute directly to a Roth IRA this year? If your joint MAGI ends up above $242,000, the allowed amount starts to shrink, and at $252,000 or more no direct contribution is allowed for 2026. Plan to recharacterize or withdraw the excess.
5. Does a child have documented 2026 earnings?

If you want this handled rather than tracked, the retirement and employee benefits team coordinates it with your RSU and equity compensation plan and your tax planning.

What to write down for your kids

A Roth IRA can outlive you. Roth IRAs have no lifetime required distributions for the owner, so these accounts often pass to children. Write a short note each year: which accounts are Roth, where the Form 8606 filings are kept, and why you chose Roth over a taxable account. A child who inherits the account without the reasoning inherits a balance, not the judgment behind it. Conversations fade. Documentation compounds.

Frequently asked questions

Can I still make a 2025 Roth IRA contribution if I filed an extension?

No. The deadline for 2025 contributions was April 15, 2026, and an extension of your return does not extend it. The extension does extend the deadline to withdraw an excess 2025 contribution or recharacterize one, to October 15, 2026. Any new deposit you make now counts toward 2026, with a limit of $7,500 per person, or $8,600 at age 50 or older.

If I deposit money in March, which year does it count for?

Between January 1 and April 15, a deposit can count for either the current year or the prior year. Pub 590-A says you should tell the custodian which year you intend. If you do not, the custodian can report it as a current-year contribution. For a backdoor Roth, label it clearly and keep the confirmation with your Form 8606 records.

When does the five-year clock start on a Roth IRA?

For qualified distributions, the clock starts on January 1 of the first year you contributed for, per Pub 590-B. A 2026 contribution made in April 2027 starts the clock on January 1, 2026. Each conversion has its own separate five-year period for the 10% early withdrawal tax. See when you can withdraw from a Roth IRA.

This is general education, and the right move depends on your family’s full picture. If you want a second set of eyes on your 2026 Roth steps before December 31, a Tax & Wealth Assessment with Age Five Family Office™ is the place to start.

Written by

Kevin Luu

Co-Founder and Chief Learning Officer, Bright Advisers

Kevin has advised high-income W-2 tech and biotech families since 2015, and leads the education-first Age Five Family Office from Brea, California.

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