Article Highlights: Charitable Contributions Educator Expenses Performing Artist Expenses State and Local Government Officials’ Expenses Health Savings Account Contributions Moving Expenses for Members of the Armed Forces Student Loan Interest Deduction Tuition and Fees Deduction Deduction for Early Withdrawal of Savings Deductible Part of Self-employment Tax Self-employed Health Insurance Deduction Alimony Deduction (pre-2019 divorce agreements) Business Pass-through Deduction Retirement Plan Deductions Most taxpayers think they have to itemize their deductions to claim them on their tax return. However, that is not entirely true. There are certain deductions that can be claimed while still using the standard deduction. Here is a list of those deductions: Charitable Contributions For 2020, non-itemizers can deduct up to $300 of cash contributions above-the-line. The $300 limits apply both to single and married taxpayers. Donations to donor-advised funds and private foundations aren’t eligible for the above-the-line deduction (2020 and 2021). The term “above-the-line” is a shorthand way of saying that the deduction reduces gross income when figuring adjusted gross income (AGI). Eligibility for many credits, some other deductions and sometimes the phaseout of the amount of the credit or deduction are based on AGI or modified AGI. For 2021, non-itemizers filing a joint return can deduct up to $600 of cash contributions, while taxpayers using the other filing statuses continue to be limited to $300. Unlike the 2020 version of this deduction, which is an above-the-line deduction, the 2021 deduction is claimed after the AGI is determined. Educator Expenses – A qualified educator can annually deduct above-the-line to a maximum of $250 of qualified unreimbursed classroom expenses. These expenses include: Books, Supplies (other than nonathletic supplies for courses of instruction in health or physical education), Computer equipment (including related software and services) and other equipment, Supplementary materials used by the eligible educator in the classroom, Professional development courses that are beneficial to the students for whom the educator provides instruction, and Personal protection equipment (PPE), disinfectant and other supplies used for the prevention of the spread of coronavirus after March 12, 2020. A qualified educator is generally a kindergarten through grade 12 teacher, instructor, counselor, principal or aide and works in a school at least 900 hours during the school year. Performing Artist Expenses - Some performing artists are allowed to deduct their employment-related expenses as an adjustment to gross income. For taxpayers to qualify for this special rule, all of the following criteria must be met: (1) They must have had two or more employers in the performing arts field during the tax year (don’t count nominal employers who pay less than $200), (2) Their business expenses must be more than 10% of their gross income earned as a performing artist, and (3) Their AGI before deducting the performance-related expenses can’t be more than $16,000. Married performers must file joint returns unless they lived apart all year. The two-employer requirement and 10%-of-gross-income requirement are applied to each spouse separately. However, the $16,000-AGI requirement applies to married performers’ joint income. State and Local Government Officials’ Expenses – Employee business expenses for a state or local government official are deductible above-the-line if the official is compensated in whole or in part on a fee basis. This provision is intended for officials who provide certain services to the government and who hire employees and incur expenses in connection with their official duties. Health Savings Account Contributions – Contributions to Health Savings Accounts (HSA) are also an above-the-line deduction. HSAs can only be established by eligible individuals who are covered by high-deductible health plans and generally not covered under any other health plan. There are statutory limits to the amounts that can be contributed to an HSA. Subject to statutory limits, eligible individuals may make contributions to HSAs, and employers as well as other persons (e.g., family members) may contribute on behalf of eligible individuals. An account holder gets a deduction for contributions to their HSA even if someone else (e.g., a family member) makes the contributions. However, since an employer’s contributions to an employee’s HSA are excludable from the employee’s income, the employee can’t also claim a deduction for those contributions.