I have been looking at opening Roth IRAs for my wife and I. I have yet to find a definitive answer (or at least be smart enough to figure out the answer) on what exactly is the $160K limit. With salaries and investment income taken into consideration - we make over $160K/yr. However, if you take out the pre-tax contributions to our retirement plans, mortgage interest deductions, child related deductions, pre-tax FSA and health-insurace, etc... then our reportable income on the 1040 is much lower....

.... do we still qualify for a Roth?

You may. Use Worksheet 2-1 on page 56 of Publication 590 ( http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p590.pdf ) to figure out if you qualify or not.

In general, the pre-tax contributions to retirement plans and FSAs are not counted in your AGI, so they aren't counted in your MAGI. However, student loan deductions and traditional IRA deductions (also not counted in your AGI) are added back in. Mortgage interest is a deduction after the AGI is figured, so it doesn't decrease your AGI or you MAGI, only your tax.

AJ