Taxes Archives - The Finance Buff

Tax Deductions: Above-the-Line, Itemized, and Neither

Some tax deductions are neither above-the-line nor itemized. They’re available if you take the standard deduction, but they don’t lower your AGI.

The 2025 Trump tax law adds a new tax deduction for charity donations when you don’t itemize and lowers the deduction when you do, starting in 2026.

The 2025 Trump tax law made car loan interest deductible with many strings and only temporarily. See what qualifies and what does not.

The 2025 new Trump tax law didn’t extend the enhanced ACA premium subsidy. Manage your income carefully to stay under the tax credit cliff.

2025 and 2026 HSA contribution limits and HDHP qualifications for individual and family coverage. Small changes in 2026 due to mild inflation.

Follow this detailed walkthrough of how to report a Roth conversion in FreeTaxUSA after recharacterizing a Roth IRA contribution in the same year.

Follow this detailed walkthrough of how to report in FreeTaxUSA recharacterizing and converting backdoor Roth contributions from the previous year.

Follow this detailed walkthrough of how to report in FreeTaxUSA the backdoor Roth contribution made or recharacterized for the previous year.

If you get health insurance from ACA, the government sets the percentages of income you are expected to contribute toward a benchmark policy.

Follow these detailed instructions with clear explanation and many screenshots when you report your Backdoor Roth in FreeTaxUSA online tax software.

Follow these easy step-by-step explanation with screenshots when you enter the 1099-R form for your mega backdoor Roth into H&R Block tax software.