Spouses that do not have enough earnings cannot contribute to an IRA

The IRS is pretty clear when it comes to these things, and the rule they have goes something like this: anyone who wants to contribute to an IRA account needs to have a means of earning an income. It is hard to misunderstand their phrasing, and they do apply it, as people who do not have an income cannot have such an account. However, there is an exception to this rule in the form of the spousal IRA!

It refers specifically to stay-at-home parents and people who are not working for whatever reason they may have but who have a spouse that is working, with whom they are filing taxes together. In these cases, the person can have their spouse open a savings account in their name, and contributions can be made in their name to that account. For such a spousal account to work, it needs to be made in the name of the partner that is nonworking, and all deductions and even the eligibility of the account are applied based on the spouse that is earning the money for the pair!

So if you know of a pair that is in such a situation, consider letting them know that there is a way for both of them to have their own accounts.