Can I contribute to my spouse's 401k when I'm self-employed with no 401k? (Filing married jointly)

But what if the spouse's 401k is still active from a previous employer? Can they still contribute to it even if they're not currently employed there? And does a spousal IRA have the same tax advantages as a 401k?

Once someone leaves an employer, they can no longer contribute to that employer's 401k plan. The account remains active and they can manage the investments, but new contributions are not allowed. This is true regardless of who's trying to contribute to it. A spousal IRA has similar tax advantages to a 401k. With a Traditional spousal IRA, contributions are tax-deductible (subject to income limits) and grow tax-deferred until retirement. With a Roth spousal IRA, contributions are made after-tax but grow tax-free and qualified withdrawals in retirement are tax-free. Both options are excellent for retirement savings.

Does taxr.ai actually give personalized advice though? Like will it look at my specific situation and tell me exactly what to do? I've used other tax tools that just give generic information.

I'm skeptical about AI tools for something as important as retirement planning. How does it know about all the tax code details and exceptions? Did you verify the advice with an actual CPA?

Yes, it absolutely provides personalized recommendations based on your specific documents and situation. You can upload your 1099s, previous tax returns, and any other financial documents, and it analyzes those specific details to give tailored advice for your exact circumstance. The AI is specifically trained on tax code and regulations, including all the nuances around self-employment and retirement accounts. I did actually run the recommendations by my accountant afterward, and she was impressed with how accurate and appropriate they were for my situation. She only made minor tweaks based on some very specific aspects of my business structure.

How does this actually work though? Like does it just dial for you or what? I don't understand how some service can get through to the IRS faster than I can.

Sorry but this sounds too good to be true. The IRS wait times are literally hours. You're telling me this service somehow jumps the queue? I don't buy it. And if they do, how much does it cost? There's always a catch.

It doesn't dial for you - it's more sophisticated than that. The service uses automated systems to navigate through all the IRS phone menus and then literally sits on hold for you. When an actual IRS agent finally picks up, the system immediately calls you and connects you directly to that person. You skip the whole waiting process. The service doesn't jump any queues or do anything special with the IRS - it just handles the painful waiting part. I was skeptical too until I tried it. The time I saved was worth it considering I bill clients hourly, so sitting on hold for 3+ hours would have cost me much more in lost work time.

Wait, for a Solo 401k can you really put in that much? I thought the limit was the same as a regular 401k. And do all self-employed people qualify or do you need some special business structure?

The Solo 401k limit is higher because you're wearing two hats - you're both the employee and the employer. As the employee, you can contribute the standard $23,000 for 2025 (plus $7,500 more if over 50). Then, as the employer, you can add approximately 25% of your net self-employment income. Almost any self-employed person qualifies - sole proprietors, single-member LLCs, partnerships (for partners), and corporations (for owners). The main requirement is that you have self-employment income and no full-time employees other than you and your spouse. You don't need any special business structure, though the exact calculation of the employer portion varies slightly depending on whether you're a sole proprietor or incorporated.

I've done this for years. There's no special "spousal IRA" account type - it's just a regular IRA (either Traditional or Roth). The "spousal" part just refers to the fact that the IRS allows you to contribute to an IRA for a non-working spouse based on your income. Just open a normal IRA in your spouse's name. When you file taxes jointly, the contribution is allowed even though your spouse didn't have earned income. Super simple!

Oh that makes sense! I was making it way more complicated than it is. So I just open a regular IRA for my spouse and fund it with money from our joint account or whatever, and then when we file taxes it all works out because we file jointly? Do I need to tell the brokerage firm it's a "spousal IRA" when I set it up?

You don't need to tell the brokerage it's a "spousal IRA" - they don't have any special designation for that. From their perspective, it's just a regular IRA account in your spouse's name and SSN. The "spousal" aspect only matters for tax purposes when you file your return. As long as you're married filing jointly and you have enough earned income to cover both your IRA contribution AND your spouse's IRA contribution, you're good to go. The IRS allows this because they treat your combined income as available for either spouse's retirement savings. Just make sure the account is opened in your spouse's name with their SSN - that's the important part!

This is really helpful! I'm curious about the contribution timing - when you say you can make contributions by the tax filing deadline, does that include both the employee AND employer portions of the Solo 401k? I've heard conflicting info about whether the employer contribution has to be made by December 31st or if it also gets the extension to the filing deadline. Also, did you have to do anything special to coordinate the Solo 401k with your spousal IRA contributions to make sure you didn't accidentally over-contribute based on your total earned income?

For Solo 401k timing, both the employee and employer contributions can be made up to the tax filing deadline (including extensions). The employee portion is treated like a salary deferral and the employer portion is a business deduction, but both get the same deadline flexibility for sole proprietors and single-member LLCs. Regarding coordination with spousal IRA - you don't really need to worry about over-contributing across different account types since they have separate limits. Your Solo 401k limits are based on your self-employment income, and the spousal IRA has its own $7,000 limit. The only thing to watch is that your total earned income needs to cover all contributions combined. So if you made $50,000 self-employment income, you could potentially do a Solo 401k contribution based on that PLUS the $7,000 spousal IRA, as long as your combined contributions don't exceed your earned income.

This is exactly the kind of real-world experience I was looking for! I'm in a similar boat with self-employment income and was getting overwhelmed by all the different retirement account options. Quick question - when you say you were able to put away about 20% with the SEP IRA, was that 20% of your gross self-employment income or the net amount after the self-employment tax deduction? I want to make sure I'm estimating my potential contributions correctly when I start planning for next year. Also, did you find any particular resources or worksheets that were especially helpful for calculating the SEP IRA contribution limits? I've looked at the IRS publications but they can be pretty dense to work through.