AGI Calculator: Find Your Adjusted Gross Income
Adjusted gross income is the number your whole tax return hangs on. It is your total income from every source, minus a specific list of adjustments Congress lets you take before anything else, and it lands on line 11 of Form 1040. Credits phase out against it, IRA rules test against it, student loan relief keys off it. A rough AGI is not much use, because a $500 error can flip an eligibility test, so this page builds the figure the way the form does.
The AGI Calculator below is the full build: eight income lines, then the Schedule 1 adjustments with their statutory caps applied inside the calculation (student loan interest trimmed to $2,500, educator expenses to $300 per educator), then your filing status and tax year, so the result flows on to the standard deduction, taxable income, and an estimated federal tax with the year’s brackets shown. If you only need a fast gross-minus-a-few-adjustments estimate, the simpler adjusted income calculator does that job in six fields. This page is the filing-grade version.
Income (Form 1040 lines 1 to 8)
Adjustments to income (Schedule 1)
Planning estimate, not a filed return: phase-outs for the student loan and IRA deductions, capital loss limits, and the qualified business income deduction are not modeled. Amounts are rounded to whole dollars, as on Form 1040. Not tax advice.
Quick Answer
Key takeaways
- AGI sits on Form 1040 line 11: total income (line 9) minus adjustments from Schedule 1 (line 10).
- Two adjustments are capped inside this calculator, exactly as on the form: student loan interest at $2,500 and educator expenses at $300 per educator.
- Alimony only counts for pre-2019 agreements, and moving expenses only for active-duty military moves. Both fields say so, because both are commonly claimed in error.
- AGI is not taxable income (the standard or itemized deduction still comes off) and not MAGI (which adds items back, differently for each benefit).
- Quick Answer
- How this build follows Form 1040, line by line
- Every adjustment, with the cap or condition that governs it
- Worked example: $99,000 in, $83,050 of AGI out
- AGI is not MAGI, and the difference is per benefit
- What your AGI controls beyond the tax bill
- What competing calculators miss
- Frequently asked questions
- Add This Calculator to Your Website
- References
How this build follows Form 1040, line by line
The calculator mirrors the form’s own order, so you can trace every figure back to a line. Total income is built first, adjustments are subtracted second, and only then do deductions and brackets enter.
Total income (Form 1040 line 9). Add wages, self-employment profit, interest, dividends, capital gains, rental and pass-through income, retirement distributions, and unemployment or other income. The IRS states the starting point in its definition of adjusted gross income: gross income is all income not specifically excluded by law.
Adjustments (Schedule 1, flowing to line 10). Subtract the above-the-line list: retirement plan and IRA contributions, HSA, half of self-employment tax, self-employed health insurance, student loan interest and educator expenses within their caps, pre-2019 alimony, military moving expenses, early-withdrawal penalties, and any other Schedule 1 item. The official list lives on Schedule 1 (Form 1040) itself.
AGI (line 11), then taxable income. Line 9 minus line 10 is line 11. This calculator never lets AGI fall below zero, matching how planning tools present it. Taxable income then subtracts the standard deduction for your filing status and year, and the year’s federal brackets produce the tax estimate and your marginal rate.
Every adjustment, with the cap or condition that governs it
An adjustment is only worth what the statute allows, and the limits are where quick calculators go wrong. This table is the checklist to run before you trust any AGI figure, including this one.
| Adjustment | Cap or condition | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Student loan interest | Maximum $2,500 per return, with an income phase-out; not available if married filing separately | Schedule 1; IRS Tax Topic 456 |
| Educator expenses | $300 per eligible educator ($600 jointly if both spouses qualify) | Schedule 1; IRS Tax Topic 458 |
| Traditional IRA | Must be deductible: deductibility phases out with workplace plan coverage and income | IRS Publication 590-A; IRA deduction limits |
| HSA contributions | Annual IRS limit by coverage type; payroll contributions already sit outside wages | IRS Publication 969 |
| One-half of SE tax | Exactly 50% of the self-employment tax from Schedule SE | Schedule 1 line 15 |
| SEP / SIMPLE (self-employed) | Plan-specific percentage and dollar limits on net earnings | IRS Publication 560 territory; Schedule 1 |
| Self-employed health insurance | Capped at net earned income from the business; not for months you could join an employer plan | Schedule 1 |
| Alimony paid | Agreements executed before 2019 only (or modified to keep old treatment) | IRS Tax Topic 452 |
| Moving expenses | Active-duty military moving under orders only, since 2018 | IRS Tax Topic 455 |
One trap deserves its own sentence: an employee 401(k) deferral already comes out of the wages in box 1 of your W-2, so entering it again as an adjustment double-counts it. The plan field in this calculator is for SEP, SIMPLE, and self-employed plan contributions, and for amounts your W-2 has not already excluded. The same logic applies to HSA contributions made through payroll.
Worked example: $99,000 in, $83,050 of AGI out
The calculator is pre-filled with a single filer for 2026 who has a job, a side business, and a typical adjustment stack. Every figure below is what it returns.
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Wages $85,000 + self-employment $12,000 + interest $800 + dividends $1,200 | $99,000 total income |
| Plan contributions $8,000 + IRA $3,000 + HSA $2,000 + half SE tax $850 + student loan $1,800 + educator $300 | $15,950 adjustments |
| AGI ($99,000 – $15,950) | $83,050 |
| Standard deduction, single, 2026 | $16,100 |
| Taxable income | $66,950 |
| Estimated federal tax ($1,240 + $4,560 + $3,641 across the 10%, 12%, and 22% brackets) | $9,441 |
| Marginal bracket / effective rate on total income | 22% / 9.5% |
Before the tax figure, this household’s total coming in is an aggregate income question: everything from every source, with nothing subtracted yet. AGI is what remains once the Schedule 1 list has had its turn, and the $15,950 gap between the two numbers is exactly why the two pages compute different things.
AGI is not MAGI, and the difference is per benefit
Modified adjusted gross income starts from AGI and adds certain items back, but there is no single MAGI: each benefit defines its own add-backs. That is why this calculator reports AGI cleanly instead of inventing one MAGI figure.
| Benefit tested on MAGI | Main add-backs on top of AGI |
|---|---|
| Roth IRA eligibility | Traditional IRA deduction, student loan interest deduction, foreign earned income exclusion |
| Traditional IRA deductibility | Student loan interest deduction, foreign earned income exclusion |
| Student loan interest phase-out | The student loan interest deduction itself |
| ACA premium tax credit | Excluded foreign income and certain territory income |
| Medicare IRMAA surcharges | Tax-exempt (municipal bond) interest |
For a filer with only wages and common adjustments, MAGI and AGI are usually identical or within a few hundred dollars. The gap opens when foreign income, municipal bond interest, or an IRA deduction is in play, which is precisely when an eligibility test tends to matter.
What your AGI controls beyond the tax bill
AGI is the gatekeeper figure for a long list of tests. It decides whether IRA contributions are deductible and whether Roth contributions are allowed at all, it sets the phase-outs for education credits and the student loan deduction, and it feeds the premium tax credit for marketplace health coverage. The earned income credit calculator shows one of those tests from the credit side: the credit is computed on earned income but limited by AGI. Income-driven student loan plans and several state benefits run off AGI or a close relative, and some programs use their own definition entirely, which the effective income calculator approaches from the eligibility side. When a form asks for last year’s AGI to verify your identity for e-filing, it wants the filed line 11 figure, not an estimate.
What competing calculators miss
We analyzed the top-ranking AGI tools before rebuilding this page. The depth leader gets most of the build right and then stops one step early.
Winning move 1: AGI and its tax consequence on one screen. The strongest competitor (PaycheckTax Calculator) builds AGI well, then sends you to a separate tax calculator to see what it means. This tool carries the live page’s filing-status and tax-year engine with it: standard deduction, taxable income, estimated federal tax, marginal and effective rates, and the year’s bracket table with your bracket highlighted, all from the same inputs.
Winning move 2: the full Schedule 1 list, including the unfashionable lines. Most tools list five or six adjustments. This build includes self-employed health insurance, pre-2019 alimony, military moving expenses, and the early-withdrawal penalty, each with its eligibility condition written on the field, because those four are where real returns differ from toy examples.
Winning move 3: no fake MAGI, no withheld-tax shortcut. One ranking paystub tool subtracts tax withheld and calls the result AGI, which is simply wrong: withholding is a payment, not an adjustment. And where competitors print a single MAGI number, this page explains why no such single number exists and tables the add-backs per benefit instead.
Frequently asked questions
Adjusted gross income is total income minus the adjustments listed on Schedule 1 of Form 1040. It appears on line 11 of Form 1040: total income is line 9, adjustments are line 10, and line 11 is the result. Most credits, contribution limits, and phase-outs on the return test against this figure or a modified version of it.
Taxable income comes after AGI. Taxable income = AGI minus the standard deduction (or itemized deductions) and any qualified business income deduction. In the worked example, AGI of $83,050 minus the $16,100 single standard deduction for 2026 gives taxable income of $66,950, and only that amount runs through the tax brackets.
MAGI is AGI with certain items added back, and the add-backs differ by benefit: Roth IRA eligibility adds back the IRA and student loan deductions, Medicare IRMAA adds back tax-exempt interest, and the ACA credit adds back excluded foreign income. There is no single MAGI figure, which is why this calculator reports AGI and tables the common add-backs instead.
Two, exactly as the statute caps them: student loan interest is trimmed to $2,500 per return and educator expenses to $300 per eligible educator, inside the calculation. Other adjustments, such as the IRA deduction and HSA contributions, carry their own limits and phase-outs that depend on your full situation, so enter the eligible amount for those.
Only amounts your W-2 has not already excluded. Employee 401(k) deferrals already reduce the wages in box 1 of your W-2, so entering them again would double-count. The retirement plan field here is for SEP and SIMPLE contributions and self-employed plan amounts, which are genuine Schedule 1 adjustments.
On a filed return, large business or capital losses can push the computation below zero in uncommon cases. This calculator floors AGI at $0, which is how planning tools present it and how most eligibility tests effectively treat it. If your adjustments and losses genuinely exceed your income, file with software or a preparer who will carry the loss figures correctly.
Only for agreements executed before 2019, or later agreements modified to keep the pre-2019 treatment. Alimony under a post-2018 agreement is neither deductible by the payer nor taxable to the recipient, so it does not enter AGI on either side.
The reliable levers are the adjustments themselves: deductible traditional IRA contributions, HSA contributions, and self-employed retirement plan contributions (SEP or SIMPLE) reduce AGI dollar for dollar, subject to their limits. Most must be in place during the tax year; IRA contributions are the main exception and can be made until the filing deadline.
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References
- Internal Revenue Service, “Definition of Adjusted Gross Income” – the official definition and the line 9, 10, 11 structure of Form 1040. IRS: Definition of Adjusted Gross Income. Accessed October 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service, “Schedule 1 (Form 1040), Additional Income and Adjustments to Income” – the official form listing every adjustment this calculator includes. IRS: Schedule 1 (Form 1040). Accessed October 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service, “Instructions for Form 1040” – filing status, standard deduction, and tax table guidance behind the estimate. IRS: Instructions for Form 1040. Accessed October 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service, Publication 590-A, “Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs)” – IRA contribution and deductibility rules. IRS Publication 590-A: Contributions to IRAs. Accessed October 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service, “IRA Deduction Limits” – the workplace-plan phase-outs for the traditional IRA adjustment. IRS: IRA Deduction Limits. Accessed October 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service, Tax Topic 456, “Student Loan Interest Deduction” – the $2,500 cap and phase-out for the student loan adjustment. IRS Tax Topic 456: Student Loan Interest Deduction. Accessed October 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service, Tax Topic 458, “Educator Expense Deduction” – the per-educator cap on classroom expenses. IRS Tax Topic 458: Educator Expense Deduction. Accessed October 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service, Publication 969, “Health Savings Accounts and Other Tax-Favored Health Plans” – HSA contribution rules and limits. IRS Publication 969: Health Savings Accounts. Accessed October 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service, “Self-Employment Tax (Social Security and Medicare Taxes)” – the Schedule SE tax behind the deductible one-half adjustment. IRS: Self-Employment Tax. Accessed October 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service, Tax Topic 452, “Alimony” – the pre-2019 agreement rule for the alimony adjustment. IRS Tax Topic 452: Alimony. Accessed October 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service, Tax Topic 455, “Moving Expenses” – the active-duty military restriction on the moving expense adjustment. IRS Tax Topic 455: Moving Expenses. Accessed October 2026.