If you are above the income limits to contribute to a Roth IRA, you can still contribute through a method called the Backdoor Roth IRA. You are taking advantage of the fact that there is no income limit to contribute to a Traditional IRA (although there is a limit to get the up front tax deduction) and the fact that you can convert Traditional IRA funds into a Roth IRA.

Since the Traditional IRA contributions where non-deductible (aka taxes were paid), there is no extra taxes to pay on the conversion.

One big thing to keep in mind:
The Pro-Rata Rule is used to determine how the conversion from Traditional to Roth should be taxed. If 100% of your Traditional IRA money is after-tax (non-deductible), then 100% can be converted tax-free. However, if you have other pre-tax (deductible) contributions in an IRA, the percentage of those accounts that are pre-tax would be taxed on the conversion.

Therefore, you must make sure you have no pre-tax money in an IRA (Traditional, SEP, or Simple IRAs). If you do, consider first moving that money into a Traditional 401k before doing the backdoor conversion.

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