AGI Calculator

Adjusted gross income is your total income for the year reduced by a specific statutory list of "above-the-line" deductions found in IRC §62. Total income (Form 1040 line 9) gathers wages, taxable interest, dividends, capital gain, retirement distributions, unemployment and business profit. Subtract the Schedule 1 Part II adjustments — total on Schedule 1 line 26, carried to Form 1040 line 10 — and the remainder is AGI. On a 2025 return that lands on line 11a; on a 2024 return the same figure sits on line 11, because the IRS renumbered the form.

Pull last year's Form 1040 and read line 11 for a 2024 return or line 11a for a 2025 return. If you no longer have the return, request a free tax transcript at irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript — the Tax Return Transcript shows "ADJUSTED GROSS INCOME" as its own labelled figure. E-filing software asks for this number to verify your identity through the self-select PIN process; if you filed late and the IRS had not processed the prior return when you e-file, enter $0 as the prior-year AGI instead of the real figure.

Only the Schedule 1 Part II list. The common ones: educator expenses; health savings account contributions ($4,300 self-only or $8,550 family for 2025) on line 13; the deductible half of self-employment tax on line 15; SEP, SIMPLE and solo 401(k) contributions; self-employed health insurance premiums on line 17; penalties on early savings withdrawal; alimony under pre-2019 divorce decrees; traditional IRA contributions ($7,000 for 2025, plus $1,000 at age 50 or older) on line 20; and student loan interest up to $2,500 on line 21. Notably absent: the standard deduction, itemized deductions on Schedule A, and the §199A qualified business income deduction. Those come off AFTER AGI and reduce taxable income only.

No, and the gap is usually large. AGI is an intermediate subtotal; taxable income is what the bracket table is actually applied to. From AGI you subtract the greater of the standard deduction or your itemized total, then the §199A deduction, and for a 2025 return the new Schedule 1-A deductions as well. A single filer with $80,000 of AGI who claims the 2025 standard deduction has taxable income around $64,250 — the same person's AGI and taxable income differ by the full deduction amount. Credit eligibility is nearly always tested against AGI or a modified version of it, never against taxable income.

Because it is the yardstick Congress reached for whenever it wanted to means-test something. AGI or a modified AGI determines: whether a traditional IRA contribution is deductible under §219(g); whether you can contribute to a Roth IRA at all; the size of the child tax credit after its §24(b)(2) phase-out; earned income credit eligibility; the education credits; the premium tax credit for marketplace health coverage; Medicare Part B and D surcharges under IRMAA; the §1411 net investment income tax threshold; the 7.5%-of-AGI floor on medical expenses; and the starting point for most state income tax returns. A dollar of extra income can therefore cost far more than its marginal tax rate suggests once it crosses a phase-out edge.

Modified AGI starts at AGI and adds back items that a particular provision wants counted — most often tax-exempt interest, the foreign earned income exclusion, the student loan interest deduction, or the IRA deduction itself. There is no single MAGI: the Roth contribution limit, IRMAA, the net investment income tax and the ACA premium tax credit each define their own add-back list, so one taxpayer can hold several different MAGI figures at once. Compute AGI here first, then use the MAGI calculator to apply whichever add-backs the provision you care about requires.

A few levers survive December 31. A traditional IRA contribution can be made up to the filing deadline (generally April 15) and still count for the prior year — subject to the §219(g) phase-out if you or your spouse are covered by a workplace plan. An HSA contribution has the same deadline for anyone who was HSA-eligible during the year. Self-employed filers can establish and fund a SEP-IRA as late as the extended due date. Everything else — deferring a bonus, harvesting losses, bunching business expenses — has to happen before year end, which is why AGI planning belongs in December rather than April.