<prompt> Human: A lot of personal finance advice is straightforward applications of math: Keep expenses less than income. Pay off highest interest rate debts first. Compound growth is your friend.Then there are obvious legal requirements and benefits: Use tax-preferred retirement HSA accounts. Keep insurance in force. Know how self-employment taxes work. This post is about less-obvious ways to use loopholes little-known benefits in existing US laws to your advantage. Our friends in other countries are welcome to lobby for local versions in their associated personal finance subs.Here are some that you may not already know about:Taxes tax planning:- Take advantage of adjustments like IRAHSA contributions, student loan interest, tuition, moving costs, self-employment taxeshealh insurance paid,etc., to reduce taxable income if you are eligible. You can take these even if you do not otherwise itemize.- If you are not a full-time student and earn less than 30K single 60k jointly, you can use the Savers Credit to get a tax credit better than a deduction! for a portion of your IRA or 401k contributions, even for Roth contributions. You can even deduct a contribution to get your income to qualify. - Gifts and inheritances are generally not taxable to the recipient. Other untaxed income includes most insurance payouts and damage awards; child support; some scholarships; rebates and loyalty program bonuses. Remember that loans are not income, though forgiven loans typically are. - You pay no taxes at all on long-term capital gains if your taxable income including those gains is less than the top of the 15 tax bracket. That could be 95,000 gross income for a married couple filing jointly. You can can do this at any age.- Sales of a personal residence often have no capital gains tax as well. You have to have lived in the house as your primary residence two of the past five years; you get 250,000 per sale 500,000 for a couple. - If you rent a room in your house, part of all of your housing expenses including insurance and utilities can be Schedule E expense deductions against your rental income but you need to declare the rental income. You dont have taxable income deductions if your roommates who share the lease give you money to send to your landlord. - If you received a 1099 reporting income that wasnt really yours , e.g. for selling something on behalf of someone else, use a nominee distribution declaration to avoid being taxed on it.- If your spouse owes money to the federal government, use an injured spouse form to keep the IRS from withholding your share of a joint tax refund. This is different than an innocent spouse situation, where your spouse tried to evade taxes without your knowledge.Retirement:- Think you make too much to contribute to Roth IRA? Think again! The Backdoor Roth IRA may work for you. Theres even a mega-backdoor Roth for high-income people with certain 401k plans.- Employer contributions to your 401k dont count against the 18k limit. - If you change you mind about making an IRA contribution, e.g. your income becomes too high for it to be deductible, you can simply remove the money before the tax filing deadline without penalty.- Self-employed people have lots of options for retirement accounts, including a solo-401k and a SEP IRA. This can apply even if you have employment retirement savings.Health insurance:- If you change jobs and dont have insurance coverage for a time, you have 60 days to elect continuing COBRA coverage, during which time you are eligible to be covered even if you havent and wont pay for it. This works retroactively you can decide to take COBRA at day 59 if you do have major expenses, pay for it, and be covered for the previous 59 days. - You wont pay a penalty for lack of health insurance if you have a single brief coverage gap which is defined as less than three months. I.e. May 3 to July 31 is OK. May 1 to July 31 is not.  <response>: COBRA is only retroactive if you do not decline coverageRepeating: Dont decline coverage, just keep the paperwork and hold onto it just in case. 