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onefish posted:Is there a "proper"/required way to calculate cost-basis on taxable investments sold? Via http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/research_strategies/market_insight/financial_goals/tax/calculate_the_cost_before_you_sell.html, it suggests that First In First Out is IRS default... does that mean it's required, or could I calculate some other way. Any other resources I should know about for figuring this stuff out? If you want to sell specific lots of stocks you can, but you must designate a specific lot at the time you place the sale order, you cannot do it after the fact. Absent this, "first in, first out" is the rule. Well OK there is also an election that can be made for mark to market but hardly anyone would want to do that.
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Aug 17, 2011 18:51
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I'm a part-time graduate student paying my tuition in full (about $15k in 2011), with an AGI of under 60k. Single also. I've seen all these learning credits and it appears that the lifetime learning credit is the one for graduate school. What's the deal with these? How likely am I to receive the credit? Also, is there any other way being a student will impact my taxes next year? Just kinda curious, considering a good chunk of my income is going to education over the next year and I figure a few people here are probably in the same ballpark.
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Aug 18, 2011 15:41
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This is a two part question. This week I got a letter from the IRS saying that there were some errors in my 2009 tax return and that I owed some money. The 2 errors were: lifetime learning credit, and retirement income gross. I claimed $2000 deductible in 2009 due to paying $10k in tuition for grad school. How do I prove this to them? Second, I had some funds worth ~14k in 2009 that I bought originally in 2005 for maybe 10k. I bought them through my bank. My bank turned it over to New York state because they had been sending the statements to an incorrect address, which then got returned to them, so they thought I no longer existed or something. So IRS says I didn't claim 4k in income and wants to tax me on that. I still haven't gotten the money from New York state unclaimed funds. They tell me possibly this year October, but they don't know. During the entire time, the funds have been active, i.e they go up and down everyday according to the market.... they aren't frozen in time from the date they were turned over. Do I owe the taxes on the 4k gains if I never sold them? How do I prove to the IRS if I don't...
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Aug 22, 2011 03:41
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I still live at home and am 24, as, because I picked oh-so-wonderfully in the college major department, I owe $35,000+ and can't find a job. Will what my parents make gently caress me over in terms of qualifying for stuff like income-based repayment and the like?
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Aug 22, 2011 05:07
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CraigK posted:I still live at home and am 24, as, because I picked oh-so-wonderfully in the college major department, I owe $35,000+ and can't find a job. Will what my parents make gently caress me over in terms of qualifying for stuff like income-based repayment and the like? Unfortunately this has absolutely nothing to do with taxes so I can't help you.
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Aug 22, 2011 05:57
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furushotakeru posted:Unfortunately this has absolutely nothing to do with taxes so I can't help you. Ah, ok. I'll go try the student loan thread. Thanks.
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Aug 22, 2011 05:58
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op187gb posted:This is a two part question. This week I got a letter from the IRS saying that there were some errors in my 2009 tax return and that I owed some money. The 2 errors were: lifetime learning credit, and retirement income gross. I claimed $2000 deductible in 2009 due to paying $10k in tuition for grad school. How do I prove this to them? I really can't answer either of your questions. Is the IRS asking you to prove your education expenses? That is an audit, which isn't what you describe really. Are they claiming you aren't eligible to claim the LLC? Also, if the stocks weren't sold then why would the IRS be claiming that it is incom? If they were sold, why is the IRS only claiming $4k of income rather than $14k since you apparently didn't report the sales (or cost basis) on your return?
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Aug 22, 2011 06:00
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The irs claims that I shouldn't have claimed the 2k from llc because the school did not send them anything valdating this. I think ill just contact the school. Why would it be 14k if I only gained 4k on the position? I didn't sell... the money was turned over to the state, so I don't owe taxes?
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Aug 22, 2011 15:49
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My point is that the IRS doesn't know your gain was $4k unless you report it to them.
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Aug 22, 2011 15:54
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furushotakeru posted:My point is that the IRS doesn't know your gain was $4k unless you report it to them. Furu, why don't you get power of attorney for this poor soul and call New York and the IRS for him and see what's going on? I mean, they won't talk about this stuff to the taxpayer, and he's too busy to notify them on his own to see.
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Aug 22, 2011 16:39
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Are there any circumstances under which I could claim a vehicle purchase as a work expense? I assume not, as it would fall under commuting?
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Aug 24, 2011 21:31
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mastershakeman posted:Are there any circumstances under which I could claim a vehicle purchase as a work expense? I assume not, as it would fall under commuting? Use of your car for commuting purposes is considered a personal expense and is not deductible. If you are using the car for work too and not being reimbursed by your employer it might be deductible as an itemized deduction, subject to a floor equal to 2% of your income for the year.
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Aug 24, 2011 21:45
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Right, and I was doing that for miles I was travelling for work, not including commuting. I'm asking about purchasing a vehicle - is there any way to deduct the purchase itself? Specifically, earlier this summer I was working out of the home office 3 days a week and out of another 2 days a week, and writing off the mileage to the 2nd office. I didn't need a car to get to the home office, so would I have been able to deduct the purchase of the vehicle?
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Aug 24, 2011 23:14
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mastershakeman posted:Right, and I was doing that for miles I was travelling for work, not including commuting. I'm asking about purchasing a vehicle - is there any way to deduct the purchase itself? To the extent that it is used for business, yes. And as an itemized deduction subject to a 2% floor as stated previously. There are 2 ways to deduct auto costs: standard mileage rate or % of actual costs. If you drive 10,000 in a year and 4,000 of these are for work and are unreimbursed, then you have a 40% business use vehicle. You can choose to deduct 40% of your costs for depreciation, maintenance, insurance, gas, etc. instead of taking the standard mileage rate. However, most of the time standard mileage rate yields a higher deduction unless you drive a real gas guzzler, or have a really expensive car, or it is more than 50% business use.
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Aug 24, 2011 23:26
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I hope this is in the right place.  To make a long story short, my parents old van was stolen last month, they bought a new car, and later the van was found. Their insurance appraised the van at $5000, and said that my parents could either just let insurance keep the car but then my parents would have to pay the impound lot fees, or they could take the car and insurance would pay the lot fees. So my parents decided to gift the car to my partner and I. We're now trying to figure out title/tax info for the van. If my parents straight gift us the car, would we report that on our taxes as untaxable income - and therefore be screwed on our FAFSAs? We're both students. Would there be any way to report that they're selling us the car for some insignificant amount, but still pay taxes on it? We don't want to lose Pell/need-based grants. tl;dr Are there any tax ramifications for parents gifting a car to family members? Everyone involved is in Indiana, by the way.
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Aug 26, 2011 20:36
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quote:I hope this is in the right place. Gifts are never taxable to the recipient. There are no tax implications to you receiving a $5,000 van. You would not be reporting the van on your tax return. If the value of the van was much higher, your parents would have certain filing requirements, but that is not the case here.
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Aug 26, 2011 21:04
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Great, thanks! That's very reassuring.
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Aug 26, 2011 21:59
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This whole winter and spring I was suicidally depressed. As a result, I never filed my taxes for 2010. If I go to H&R Block or whatever, will they just take care of everything for me, or will I have some extra hoops to jump through?
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Aug 29, 2011 00:27
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Eyeball posted:This whole winter and spring I was suicidally depressed. As a result, I never filed my taxes for 2010. If I go to H&R Block or whatever, will they just take care of everything for me, or will I have some extra hoops to jump through? If you can find an office open at this time of year they should e able to help you file.
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Aug 29, 2011 00:40
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So, if I can't find an office, what do I do? Just go to a regular accountant?
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Aug 29, 2011 00:43
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Eyeball posted:So, if I can't find an office, what do I do? Just go to a regular accountant? Sure, there are tons around. Any of the tax people in this thread should be able to do it too if you're comfortable working long distance.
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Aug 29, 2011 03:30
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furushotakeru posted:If you can find an office open at this time of year they should e able to help you file. Subtle.
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Aug 30, 2011 16:00
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AbbiTheDog posted:Subtle. What? It is well known that most HRB offices are only open from mid Jan-April 15 (or 4/18 this year).
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Aug 30, 2011 18:24
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I think he was referring to:furushotakeru posted:If you can find an office open at this time of year they should e able to help you file.
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Aug 30, 2011 18:33
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So if I were to buy a new camera lens for my personal business (LLC, low 5 figure income) and I used it about 10% for personal use* how much do I get to write off? I know it isn't 90% because last year when I tried to do the same thing turbotax just didn't seem to bother including the deduction. *Seriously, only 10% or less, I don't take my DSLR camera anywhere.
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Sep 1, 2011 19:06
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Bobx66 posted:So if I were to buy a new camera lens for my personal business (LLC, low 5 figure income) and I used it about 10% for personal use* how much do I get to write off? I know it isn't 90% because last year when I tried to do the same thing turbotax just didn't seem to bother including the deduction. You should be able to deduct 90% of the cost.
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Sep 1, 2011 19:22
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furushotakeru posted:You should be able to deduct 90% of the cost. Welp. OK here is another brain buster for you. Tell me why I shouldn't move into a larger apartment, use a room exclusively for my business and deduct it as a home office. This is a part time business, and the home office expense would probably cost more than 60% of my revenue. Obviously I should talk to an accountant/tax lawyer about implementing this, but lets just spitball here.
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Sep 1, 2011 19:51
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Bobx66 posted:Welp. Sounds like a waste of money to me. The IRS probably won't care as long as you can demonstrate that the extra room is regularly and exclusively used for business and that it is an ordinary and necessary expenditure. However, your extra out of pocket costs for maintaining said office will almost certainly vastly exceed your tax savings for doing so.
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Sep 1, 2011 20:34
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furushotakeru posted:You should be able to deduct 90% of the cost. In all honesty, the IRS would have an insane time trying to prove this if they even bothered to at all.
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Sep 1, 2011 21:58
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I maxed out my 2011 Roth IRA contribution at the beginning of this year expecting that my income would be just under the $5k contribution room cutoff. It turns out that my MAGI will be high enough that I can't contribute at all. I still want to contribute the full amount via the Roth conversion backdoor described here. It looks like what I'll want to do is this (in order):
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Sep 2, 2011 22:45
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mister itchy posted:I maxed out my 2011 Roth IRA contribution at the beginning of this year expecting that my income would be just under the $5k contribution room cutoff. It turns out that my MAGI will be high enough that I can't contribute at all. Sounds right to me
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Sep 3, 2011 20:20
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My girlfriend just received a notice from Maryland that her 2008 tax return she filed showed that the amount listed for the federal return was higher than the amount listed for the state return on that year, and now they want 700 bucks in back taxes. She doesn't have records from that far back. Is there any way we can get copies of those records? Or will she just have to suck it up and pay it?
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Sep 5, 2011 22:53
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Chin Strap posted:My girlfriend just received a notice from Maryland that her 2008 tax return she filed showed that the amount listed for the federal return was higher than the amount listed for the state return on that year, and now they want 700 bucks in back taxes. She doesn't have records from that far back. Is there any way we can get copies of those records? Or will she just have to suck it up and pay it? She can call the IRS and request a "wage and income transcript." She can then compare this to the Maryland notice (she might need to call and get a copy of it from them first) to see where she went wrong.
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Sep 6, 2011 16:46
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Chin Strap posted:My girlfriend just received a notice from Maryland that her 2008 tax return she filed showed that the amount listed for the federal return was higher than the amount listed for the state return on that year, and now they want 700 bucks in back taxes. She doesn't have records from that far back. Is there any way we can get copies of those records? Or will she just have to suck it up and pay it? Many states (and the IRS) have a 3 year statute of limitations on tax return errors like this. Was this the return filed IN 2008 or FOR 2008?
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Sep 10, 2011 07:39
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Sharkface posted:Many states (and the IRS) have a 3 year statute of limitations on tax return errors like this. Was this the return filed IN 2008 or FOR 2008? It was for tax year 2008. Which is why I think they were sending it out now, to make it under the statute of limitations deadline.
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Sep 10, 2011 13:22
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Sharkface posted:Many states (and the IRS) have a 3 year statute of limitations on tax return errors like this. Was this the return filed IN 2008 or FOR 2008? It also depends on the date the return was filed as well. If she filed it late, the three years will be based on the date of the filing.
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Sep 10, 2011 17:22
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I kind of feel like I'm wasting everyone's time with this question, but my girlfriend lives in Iowa and she's just started being self-employed. We're trying to guess how much of her income she's going to have to pay back and if we're missing anything big that will bite us in the rear end. Basically we're trying to figure out how much of her $10,000-ish self-employed income this year is taxable so is there a good resource for reading up on Iowa tax law in relation to this?
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Sep 11, 2011 03:05
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I currently make $51,000/yr. as a contract employee for an American company. I'm trying to figure out how much tax I will owe next year. This has been very difficult for me to determine using Google and the IRS's website and everything at my disposal. It is further complicated by the fact that I am employed by an American company as an American citizen getting paid in American money to an American bank account, but I live abroad in Korea. Would anyone be able to point me in the right direction to determine this? I've been saving about $1,000/mo., but it has come to my attention that this may not be enough. I guess it depends on a lot of factors. I'm single and can claim no exemptions, I think. I've kept a few receipts that will probably total to $2,000 or so by the end of the year. From what I've seen, this seems like the right form: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040es.pdf ...and it would come out to about a $7,000 bill for me for the year with no exemptions applied. Another relevant detail: I started this job in March and it is a contract in the sense only that I don't get benefits from the company I work for. Does this estimate sound right? I will offer $25 by Paypal to someone that can definitively say what they think my tax bill will be and give me some pointers. $30 if you're amazing.
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Sep 12, 2011 05:19
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Vironic posted:I kind of feel like I'm wasting everyone's time with this question, but my girlfriend lives in Iowa and she's just started being self-employed. We're trying to guess how much of her income she's going to have to pay back and if we're missing anything big that will bite us in the rear end. It depends on what other income she has for the year and whether she is claimed as someone's dependent or not. If she literally is making this $10K and that is it and she is not a dependent, she will pay very little income tax but will pay 15.3% of her net income for self employment tax. Not sure what Iowa's tax rates are, sorry.
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Sep 12, 2011 05:47
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TreFitty posted:I currently make $51,000/yr. as a contract employee for an American company. I'm trying to figure out how much tax I will owe next year. This has been very difficult for me to determine using Google and the IRS's website and everything at my disposal. It is further complicated by the fact that I am employed by an American company as an American citizen getting paid in American money to an American bank account, but I live abroad in Korea. Would anyone be able to point me in the right direction to determine this? I've been saving about $1,000/mo., but it has come to my attention that this may not be enough. I guess it depends on a lot of factors. I'm single and can claim no exemptions, I think. I've kept a few receipts that will probably total to $2,000 or so by the end of the year. Depending on how much time you spend out of the country you might qualify for the foreign earned income exclusion, which would allow up to about $91K of income earned overseas to be exempt from US income tax. It is pro rated if you spend less than the full year out of the country, but you have to meet certain tests to qualify in the first place. If you are a 1099 worker then you would still owe self employment tax on your net earnings, but it seems most likely that you are an employee (ie they withhold social security and medicare taxes from your pay).
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Sep 12, 2011 05:50
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