Reuters Money

That tax deal isn’t all about tax cuts for the rich and unemployment bennies for the unfortunate. There are some sweet provisions in there for the vast middle, too. Dig deeper than the headline-grabbing rates, and you’ll find provisions that can help savers and investors, as long as they know how to make the most of them.

You’ve probably seen the big-picture provisions already, find them all in this Reuters factbox. Here are some details you may have missed, and what to do about them:

* Coverdell accounts live another day. These college savings funds are actually better for most families than the most widely-publicized 529 plans. They allow you to put away $2,000 a year per child in a plan you can usually direct yourself (without the additional fees of a state-run 529 plan.) And you can use the money for elementary and high school expenses as well as college. That pre-college break was slated to sunset at the end of this year and contribution limits were scheduled to fall to $500 in 2011. The newest version of the tax bill extends Coverdells for two more years. That means you don’t have to rush to spend down your Coverdell or transfer it into a 529. You can keep building now and worry about spending it down in 2012, when Washington will have this fight again.

* Two more years of a zero percent rate on some capital gains. It was originally seen as a one-year anomaly: The capital gains tax rate for folks in the 10 percent and 15 percent income tax bracket was zero for 2010. This bill extends that for two additional years, which means some serious planning opportunities for families. Families who support low-bracket relatives (they can be elderly parents or young adult kids over the age of 18; over 24 if they are students) can give them winning shares of stock instead of cash. The low-bracketers can sell the shares and pay nothing in gains taxes through 2012. It’s an economical way to help the starving grad students in the family.

* Charity will pay off for older taxpayers. In 2009, taxpayers over the age of 70 1/2 were allowed to send money directly from their Individual Retirement Accounts to charities without having to pay taxes on the amount they transferred. This was a big help to people who were required to take (and pay taxes on) mandatory distributions from their IRAs but didn’t have enough deductions to justify itemizing those charitable gifts. The new bill actually allows them to make that direct gift through January 31, 2011, and have it cover their 2010 mandatory distribution. What if you’ve already taken your distribution? Call the company that holds your IRA; there’s got to be a paperwork-heavy way to fix that.

* Other goodies have been extended. Some other favorite provisions will be extended through 2012. They include a $1,000 child tax credit, the generous American Opportunity $2,500-a-year tax credit for four years of college and a liberal deduction for interest on student loans. The moral of the story? Send your kids to school with a hug and a kiss. They’re saving you money.