Can You Open a Roth IRA for Your Child?

Yes, you can open a Roth IRA for your child, as long as your child has earned income from real work. If you're asking "can I open a Roth IRA for my child?", the IRS doesn't set a minimum age; the rule that matters is that contributions can't exceed the child's taxable compensation for the year.

For a minor, the account is usually a custodial Roth IRA: you open and manage it, but the money legally belongs to your child. This guide covers who qualifies, how much can go in as of 2026, the tax side, and the honest downsides. It's general education, not tax or legal advice.

Can you open a Roth IRA for your child?

Yes, if the child earned money by working. The IRS's contribution limit page says the most anyone can put into IRAs for 2026 is $7,500, "or if less, your taxable compensation for the year", and that there's no age limit on regular contributions.

So a 9-year-old with a modeling paycheck qualifies, while a 16-year-old whose only income is birthday money doesn't. It's the work, not the age, that opens the door.

The basics of how a Roth IRA itself works, including the withdrawal order, are in our Roth IRA for beginners guide. If you're still mapping out where kids' accounts fit in a family plan, our investing for beginners guide walks through the order of steps before you pick accounts.

What counts as earned income for a kid?

Pay for work done for someone, at a realistic rate, that you can document. The IRS doesn't publish a special list for children, so the normal rules about taxable compensation apply.

The cleanest situations:

• A regular job. A grocery store or lifeguard job with a W-2 is the easiest to prove.
• Self-employment. Babysitting, tutoring younger kids or yard work for neighbors counts. Keep a simple log of dates, clients and amounts.
• Work in a family business. Paying your child is allowed, but the work must be real and the pay reasonable for the task and the child's age.

There's a tax wrinkle in the family-business case. According to the IRS's family help page, if the business is a parent's sole proprietorship, or a partnership where each partner is a parent of the child, payments for a child under 18 aren't subject to Social Security and Medicare taxes. If the business is a corporation, those taxes apply regardless of age.

Paying a child for invented work, or at a wage nobody else would earn for the job, to shift money into a Roth IRA is the kind of arrangement that can fail an IRS review. If you go this route, a tax professional is worth the fee.

How much can you put in a child's Roth IRA in 2026?

The smaller of $7,500 or what the child earned that year. The IRS raised the IRA limit to $7,500 for 2026, and the limit is shared across all of the child's traditional and Roth IRAs.

The money doesn't have to be the child's own dollars. The IRS's example describes a student who earned $3,500 and says the student's grandmother can make the contribution on his behalf. That's how many families do it: the child keeps or spends the paycheck, and a parent or grandparent "matches" it into the Roth IRA.

Example (hypothetical): your 15-year-old earns $2,400 babysitting in 2026. You can contribute up to $2,400 for 2026, from your money or theirs. You couldn't contribute $5,000, even though the annual limit is higher, because the child only earned $2,400.

The deadline is the tax filing deadline for that year, not including extensions, so 2026 contributions can still be made in early 2027.

Who controls a custodial Roth IRA?

You do until your child reaches the age of majority in your state, then your child does. Fidelity explains that the custodian manages and invests the money until the child becomes an adult, typically between 18 and 25 depending on the state.

What that means in practice:

• The gift is your child's. You can't take the money back for your own use.
• You choose the investments while you're custodian, within the child's best interest.
• At the age of majority, the account moves into a Roth IRA in the child's own name, and they decide what to do with it.

That last point is the biggest downside for some parents. A 19-year-old can legally withdraw the contributions, so the conversation about why the money is there matters as much as the account.

How do you open a custodial Roth IRA?

Pick a provider that offers custodial Roth IRAs for minors, open it in your child's name with you as custodian, then fund and invest it. Not every broker offers this account type, so check before you start.

1. Confirm the earned income and keep proof: pay stubs, a W-2, or a dated log for self-employment work.
2. Compare providers. Look at account fees, minimums and the funds available. Our guide on how to choose a broker lists what to compare.
3. Open the account with your details as custodian and your child's Social Security number.
4. Contribute for the right tax year, never more than the child earned.
5. Invest the cash. Many families pick broad, low-cost funds for an account meant to last decades; our explainer on index funds for beginners shows how to compare them.

Does your child need to file a tax return?

Sometimes, and self-employment income is the usual trigger. The IRS says you must file Schedule SE and pay self-employment tax if net self-employment earnings are $400 or more, and that these rules apply no matter how old you are. The self-employment tax rate is 15.3%.

For income tax, the 2026 standard deduction for someone who can be claimed as a dependent is the greater of $1,350 or earned income plus $450, capped at the regular standard deduction, according to the IRS revenue procedure that sets the 2026 inflation adjustments. Many children with modest job income owe little or no income tax as a result.

Keep these points straight:

• A Roth IRA contribution isn't deductible, so it doesn't lower the child's tax bill.
• Filing can still be useful even if not required, because it documents the earned income behind the contribution.
• Kiddie tax rules apply to a child's unearned income, not to wages, and growth inside a Roth IRA isn't taxed each year.

Why do parents do this, and what are the catches?

Time is the main reason: money a teenager puts in can stay invested for decades. The catches are control, paperwork and the fact that investments can fall.

Example (hypothetical): $2,000 contributed at age 15, earning an assumed 6% a year with nothing added, would be worth about $36,800 after 50 years. That rate is an assumption for illustration, not a forecast, and real returns vary year to year and can be negative.

The five-year clock matters here too, because it starts with the first contribution. Our explainer on the Roth IRA 5-year rule shows why starting early can help later.

If you also want money for college or for flexible goals, a Roth IRA is only one piece. Our guide to the best ways to save money for your kids compares 529 plans and custodial brokerage accounts, and our rundown of 529 plan qualified expenses shows what education money in a 529 can actually pay for. If college is the main goal, start with how a 529 plan works, then weigh the pros and cons of 529 plans before you commit.

What if your child doesn't live in the US?

The Roth IRA is US-only, and most other countries don't have a direct equivalent for minors. Rules differ a lot, so check your government's site.

• UK: a child can have a personal pension, often sold as a Junior SIPP. GOV.UK says relief at source can apply on contributions up to £2,880 a year for someone with no earnings, but the money is locked until pension age. A Junior ISA is the more flexible option.
• Canada: the Canada Revenue Agency says you must be 18 or older to open a TFSA, or 19 in some provinces. Before that, families saving for education often look at an RESP instead.
• Australia: super is tied to work and has its own contribution rules; check the ATO before contributing for a child.

Next steps

• Confirm your child's earned income for the year and start a simple record.
• Learn how the account works long-term in our Roth IRA for beginners guide.
• See the full path from saving to investing in our step-by-step guide to start investing, and find ideas for earning more in our guide to making money online.

Returns are not guaranteed, and a custodial Roth IRA is a real gift to your child. If a family business is involved, talk to a tax professional before paying wages.