How to Calculate My Modified AGI
Modified AGI, or modified adjusted gross income, is an income figure used to determine your eligibility for different tax deductions and credits. Your eligibility for a number of tax deductions -- including the deduction for traditional IRA contributions when you or your spouse is covered by an employer-sponsored retirement plan, the ability to contribute to a Roth IRA, the tuition and fees deduction, the student loan interest deduction, the American Opportunity Credit and the Lifetime Learning Credit -- is determined by whether your modified AGI falls below certain limits. Each deduction or credit has a slightly different formula for calculating your modified AGI.
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Instructions
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Locate the adjusted gross income figure on your income tax return. It's on line 22 of Form 1040A and on line 38 of Form 1040.
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Look up the deductions you have to add back to your adjusted gross income to calculate your modified AGI based on the specific deduction or credit in which you are interested. The IRS details these requirements in publications about the deduction or credit. For example, IRS Publication 590 details the deductions to add to your adjusted gross income to determine whether you can contribute to a Roth IRA or deduct your traditional IRA contributions. IRS Publication 970 gives the formulas for figuring your modified AGI for the tuition and fees deduction, student loan interest deduction and the higher education tax credit.
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Add the required deductions to your adjusted gross income to find your modified adjusted gross income. For example, if you started with an adjusted gross income of $115,000 and wanted to calculate your modified AGI for being able to deduct your contributions to a traditional IRA when covered by an employer, add any IRA deduction, student loan interest deduction, tuition and fees deduction, domestic production activities deduction, foreign earned income exclusion, foreign housing exclusion or deduction, exclusion of qualified savings bond interest shown on Form 8815, and exclusion of employer-provided adoption benefits shown on Form 8839. If, for example, you claimed a $1,000 tuition and fees deduction and a $500 domestic production activities deduction, add $1,500 to $115,000 to find that your modified AGI equals $116,500.
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