Several months ago, I cashed in an EE bond that netted me around $14,000 in interest, thereby kicking up my adjusted gross income a bit. I have put aside some of it to pay taxes on it, but I figured it was a good idea to open an IRA and that possibly, the monies deposited into said IRA would "cancel out" the money owed on the interest.
However, I did a trial run of my taxes yesterday and (possibly because I am on the ACA exchange and get a tax credit) it turns out I owe approx. $2K to Uncle Sam.
So, I am wondering:
1. By opening an IRA for my spouse, since we file jointly, is there any way to determine whether the IRA contributions between the two of us would make this $2 a "wash"? and
2. I know absolutely nothing about things like Turbo Tax, Quicken, etc. I'm wondering if it might be worth my while to get a trial version of same to insert various scenarios into the software (i.e. different IRA contributions, for e.g.) so I don't have to do all the math myself. This is of course assuming these programs do the math for you. (And gosh, in the 21st century, I sure hope they do).
Can anyone give me a bit of unofficial advice on this matter? Otherwise, my taxes are pretty simple. We don't own property, no one is self-employed, there is no HSA involved, etc.
Thanks so much!