Q. Where did my adjusted gross income (AGI) get modified to modified adjusted gross income (MAGI).
A. On a work sheet and/or form for a specific tax attribute.
Your total income is on line 9 of form 1040 and your AGI is on line 11 of form 1040, and this leads to your taxable income on line 15.
MAGI does not show anywhere on form 1040 and is used to determine if you are eligible for certain tax benefits. How your AGI is modified depends on which tax benefit you are trying to claim. For example, for savings bonds for education interest exclusion, you have to add back the interest. Most MAGI calcs include adding back the foreign earned income exclusion.