<prompt> Human: Pretty simple: I did my taxes and I owe money to the Fed to the tune of 280. Havent officially filed.Can I take that 280 or sufficient amount and start an IRA with it I dont have an IRA right now, and then claim that as pre-tax income so I can pay future me instead of the government?I also have a 401k going, if that makes a difference. ie, put extra into that.Thanks.  <response>: In order to offset 280 in taxes you are going to have to contribute 280 Your Marginal Tax Rate So if you are in the 20 marginal tax rate, and you want to erase a 280 dollar tax bill you need to do 280.2 1400. So in that example if you put 1400 into a traditional IRA your tax bill would go to 0. 