65 years old taxpayer and Retirement Savings Credit

[RightOn]

Is there a problem to advise a 65 years old taxpayer to contribute to his IRA in order to get the Retirement Savings Credit (Form 8880)?
I think I have read before that under certain situation it might not be allowed to do so. Any opinion?

[Koss]

Retirement Savings Credit

I think you are disqualified from claiming the Retirement Savings Credit if you have any distributions from a qualified retirement plan, in the same year or in the year before or after the contribution.

But a 65-year old is not required to take distributions.

BMK

[Roland Slugg]

If the T/P is qualified to contribute to an IRA (or Roth IRA), such a contribution will make him eligible for the saver's credit (F-8880). Whether or not he actually GETS a saver's credit would then depend on that credit's eligibility factors. Those are: (1) his AGI; (2) the amount of all distributions he received from IRAs and other retirement plans in 2011, 2012, 2013 and up to April 15, 2014 (October 15, 2014 if an extension is filed for his 2013 return); and (3) his 2013 federal income tax (because the credit is not refundable). (He would also be ineligible if he is claimed as a dependent on someone else's return, or if he is a student.) There is a minimum age limit (18) but no upper age limit, except in the sense that at age 70½ a person can no longer contribute to an IRA.

Note: If the T/P is receiving social security benefits, they are NOT counted as amounts received from a retirement plan.