ABSTRACT
Think of them as rolling the dice at the beginning of a game where stat modifiers are defined. Some will work to your advantage extremely well, while others are definitely shortcomings. To illustrate this with a more detailed example, let’s say that you netted $30,000 in self-employment income from your game-making activity, and that was your only income. Itemized deductions are filed on Schedule A and attached to Form 1040. The form consists of various deductions that may or may not be based on your AGI. Medical and dental expenses are subject to 10% of your AGI, but state and local income taxes have a flat $10,000 cap that also includes real estate taxes after the 2018 tax reform went into effect. While donations and SALT are the most well-known deductions, there are countless oddball deductions hidden away in Schedule A. Some of them are rarely or never claimed, because virtually no one ever qualifies.
