Business and Personal Finance Dictionary

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• ABOVE-THE-LINE DEDUCTION
  
  A deduction that is not itemized on Schedule A. Instead, it is subtracted from total income on the Form 1040 to arrive at a taxpayer's adjusted gross income. Since the adjusted gross income amount is entered on the last line of page 1 of the 1040, any tax breaks used in arriving at this amount -- such as allowable IRA contributions, student loan interest and moving expenses -- are known as above-the-line deductions. Above-the-line deductions can be used by taxpayers who don't itemize as long as
  
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