If you earn only $3,000 doing part-time work after retirement, for example, you can contribute only $3,000 that year.
Most people who don’t have access to a 401(k) account at work can still contribute to an IRA, but the contribution limits are much lower. While workers can defer taxes on up to $17,500 using a 401(k) ($23,000 for those age 50 and older), they can only defer taxes on $5,500 using an IRA ($6,500 at age 50 or older). There’s also no match with IRA accounts or other types of employer contributions. Workers who earn more than the income limits. 1 If you have a workplace retirement plan, the deduction for your traditional IRA contribution is phased out completely if your AGI is $109,000 or more (married couple filing jointly) or $66,000 or more (individual), or $10,000 for a married person filing separately.  The tax deduction for traditional IRA contributions is phased out for people with workplace retirement accounts whose modified adjusted gross income is between $60,000 and $70,000 in 2014 ($96,000 and $116,000 for couples). While workers can defer taxes on up to $17,500 using a 401(k) ($23,000 for those age 50 and older), they can only defer taxes on $5,500 using an IRA ($6,500 at age 50 or older). There’s also no match with IRA accounts or other types of employer contributions. Workers who earn more than the income limits. IRA Contribution Limit. After age 50, you can put no more than $6,000 per year in your IRA(s). As regards contributions, the IRS sees all IRAs as one IRA. So if you have two IRAs, you can, for example, contribute $4,000 to one and $2,000 to the other. In addition, you can contribute no more than you earn. If you earn only $3,000 doing part-time work after retirement, for example, you can contribute only $3,000 that year You can contribute up to $5,000 to your own Roth IRA (up to $6,000 if you’re 50 or older during the year) and up to $5,000 for your wife (or $6,000 if she’s 50 or older), as long as you earned at least as much for the year as the combined contributions.  A Roth IRA is an individual retirement account to which you contribute after-tax dollars. Contributions and earnings can grow tax-free, and you can withdraw them tax-free after age 59½. Depending on your situation, a Roth IRA can be more flexible than a 401(k) or Traditional IRA. For example, if you have three IRAs with a total balance of $100,000, and you've made $10,000 of nondeductible contributions, even if all the nondeductible contributions were in one IRA, only 10% ($10,000 from a total of $100,000) would not be taxed at the time of any conversion or distribution. Basic Contribution Rules. You must have earned income in order to add money to an IRA. As of 2013, you can contribute a maximum of $5,500 or 100 percent of your adjusted gross income, whichever is less -- $500 more than you could contribute for 2012. If you are age 50 or older, the contribution limit goes to $6,500. This limit applies to the combined total of contributions to all IRA accounts. Suppose you are younger than 50 and add $3,500 to a Roth IRA. If you also own a traditional IRA account, you can add no more than $2,000 to it. If you're 50 or over before the end of the year, you're allowed to contribute up to an additional $1,000 for a total yearly contribution of $6,000; this is the IRS's way of encouraging you to save more in the final years before retirement. However, the amount you can contribute to a Roth IRA also depends on your income. To make the full contribution, your modified adjusted gross income must be less than $125,000 if you're single, or $183,000 as a married couple filing jointly.  Traditional IRAs. If you have income fromworking you can contribute up to 100% of a year’searnings or $2,000, whichever amount is less, to atraditional IRA. This amount is reduced by the amount ofany contributions to a Roth IRA (see below). With Roth IRAs, there are no age restrictions for contributions. Investors age 50 and older can contribute $5,500 for 2015, plus a catch-up contribution of $1,000 for a total maximum possible IRA contribution of $6,500. 
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how much can a retired person contribute to an ira