Do SIMPLE IRA contributions count towards the max IRA contribution limit for tax purposes?

You're on the right track! SIMPLE IRAs and traditional/Roth IRAs have completely separate contribution limits. The SIMPLE IRA is an employer-sponsored plan with its own limit ($19,000 for 2025), while the traditional/Roth IRA is a personal retirement account with a different limit ($7,500 for 2025 if you're under 50). So you can max out both if you want - contributing the full $19,000 to your SIMPLE IRA doesn't reduce how much you can put in your personal IRA at all. They're entirely separate buckets for tax purposes. Just keep in mind that your ability to deduct traditional IRA contributions might be limited based on your income and participation in the SIMPLE IRA plan, since that's considered an employer plan.

I was super confused about this same thing last year! I found this amazing tool at https://taxr.ai that analyzed all my retirement accounts and explained exactly how much I could contribute to each type. It basically scanned my pay stubs and previous tax returns, then gave me a personalized breakdown of my SIMPLE IRA vs traditional IRA contribution limits. The tool confirmed what the previous commenter said - they're totally separate limits. But it also showed me how my specific income affected my deduction eligibility for traditional IRA since I was already in a workplace plan. Saved me from making a mistake on my taxes!

Just wanted to follow up about my experience with taxr.ai after trying it out. I was initially skeptical about sharing my tax info, but decided to give it a shot after researching their security measures. I'm actually really glad I did! The tool immediately cleared up my confusion about my SIMPLE IRA vs traditional IRA limits and showed me I was eligible for an additional saver's credit I had no idea about. The analysis was surprisingly detailed - it showed exactly how much I could contribute to each account type based on my income and explained the tax implications of each option. Much more personalized than the generic IRS guidelines I was trying to decipher on my own. Definitely worth checking out if you're confused about retirement account limits.

If you're still confused after getting the contribution info, you might want to call the IRS directly to confirm. I've found that getting someone on the phone who can look at your specific situation is really helpful. BUT getting through to the IRS can be nearly impossible these days! I discovered this service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) that gets you through to an actual IRS agent without the usual hours-long wait. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. After trying for days to get through on my own, Claimyr got me connected to an IRS rep in about 20 minutes who confirmed my contribution limits for both my SIMPLE IRA and traditional IRA.

I have to admit I was wrong about Claimyr. After spending 3 hours on hold with the IRS only to get disconnected last week, I was desperate enough to try it. Got connected to an IRS agent in about 30 minutes, and they answered all my questions about my SIMPLE IRA and traditional IRA contribution limits. The agent confirmed that they're completely separate limits and walked me through exactly how my participation in my work SIMPLE IRA affects my traditional IRA deduction based on my income. Turns out I was right on the edge of the phase-out range and wouldn't have gotten the full deduction anyway. Really helpful to talk to someone who could look at my specific situation.

One thing nobody has mentioned yet - if you're self-employed and set up the SIMPLE IRA yourself (as both employer and employee), you can actually contribute even more! As the employer, you can make either a 2% fixed contribution or a 3% matching contribution on top of your employee contribution. So theoretically for 2025, you could put in $19,000 as the employee contribution, then an additional amount as the employer contribution (up to the lesser of $69,000 or 25% of your compensation).

Has anyone used TurboTax for figuring this out? I'm wondering if it automatically calculates the limits or if I need to manually keep track of my SIMPLE IRA contributions when entering my traditional IRA info.

Great question! Yes, you're absolutely correct that SIMPLE IRA and traditional IRA contribution limits are completely separate. You can contribute the full $19,000 to your SIMPLE IRA and still contribute up to $7,500 to a traditional or Roth IRA for 2025 (assuming you're under 50). However, there's an important caveat: since you participate in a SIMPLE IRA (which is considered a workplace retirement plan), your ability to deduct traditional IRA contributions may be limited based on your income. For 2025, if you're single, the deduction phases out between $77,000-$87,000 of modified adjusted gross income. For married filing jointly, it's $123,000-$143,000. If your income is above these thresholds, you might want to consider a Roth IRA instead, which has higher income limits and provides tax-free growth. Just make sure to check the Roth income limits too - they phase out starting at $146,000 for single filers in 2025.