When determining how much can be contributed to your IRA, it may be helpful to know which income is not considered "compensation."

Per IRS Publication 590-A Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs), page 7:

What Isn't Compensation?

Compensation doesn’t include any of the following items.

• Earnings and profits from property, such as rental income, interest income, and dividend income.
• Pension or annuity income.
• Deferred compensation received (compensation payments postponed from a past year).
• Income from a partnership for which you don't provide services that are a material income-producing factor.
• Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) payments reported on Schedule SE (Form 1040), line 1b.
• Any amounts (other than combat pay) you exclude from income, such as foreign earned income and housing costs.

Note that any link in the information above is updated each year automatically and will take you to the most recent version of the webpage or document at the time it is accessed.