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Well hey, just got my enrolled agent application back successfully; now I can be wrong with authority! A little shocked though, it took just 21 days from submission to approval as far as I can tell, which seems crazy fast since I was led to expect 90 days or so. They running through them faster, or is my theory all the background checks they had to do for my CAA status reduced the time they needed to investigate more likely?
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Dec 12, 2023 01:24
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Nice, congrats!
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Dec 12, 2023 21:31
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tax folks how hosed is this MIT guy? https://twitter.com/billackman/status/1735499808176026038?s=46
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Dec 15, 2023 04:40
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Seems like self-dealing? Same thing NY is alleging trump did right? If that's true "very" is the term I would use to describe the level of hosed.
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Dec 15, 2023 06:10
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Not a tax guy but DAFs and similar structured charity donations are wildly fucky and so full of self dealing* that this barely registers. I am reasonably confident MIT’s experienced advancement legal staff (as evidenced by their extensive engagement with Epstein) fig-leafed this with enough arms length technicalities to give him cover. Trump was directly writing checks out of the charity account directly for incredibly blatant non-allowed expenses. Part of Ackman’s recent ire around the ivies was his own tax dodge ivy scheme where he donated $10M of (pre IPO) stock to Harvard with a contract that if it appreciated he had the option to buy it back and they had the temerity to sell it instead of holding it (this was in Levine’s newsletter recently) * Barbara Bush donating money to Katrina relief with the condition that it had to be spent on educational software from her son’s lovely company sticks in my mind.
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Dec 15, 2023 11:28
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in a well actually posted:Not a tax guy but DAFs and similar structured charity donations are wildly fucky and so full of self dealing* that this barely registers. I am reasonably confident MIT’s experienced advancement legal staff (as evidenced by their extensive engagement with Epstein) fig-leafed this with enough arms length technicalities to give him cover. well, to clarify the ackman bit, he did NOT have an option to buy it back if it appreciated. from Levine's Money Stuff: quote:The stock he was giving was valued at $10 million, but Ackman said he agreed with Harvard that if the value went below $10 million he would make up the difference. But if the company went public and the stock was worth more than $15 million, he would have the right “to allocate the excess realized value” above that amount to any Harvard-related initiative of his choice. and then money stuff quoting an ackman tweet, quote:In Wall Street speak, Harvard had a put to me at $10m, and I retained a call at $15m, with the right to allocate the excess value to the Harvard initiative of my choice. and the thing he was mad about, quote:He was informed that Harvard Management Co., which oversees the $51 billion endowment, had sold the stock back to Coupang in a private transaction in March 2020. Ackman said no one from Harvard Management or the administration contacted him at the time to ask if he wanted to buy back the stock or to apologize after the fact for missing out on $75 million of potential gains. so it's very different than how you described it. he was mad that harvard made a bad trade without consulting him, making him miss out getting his name on another building or program or whatever. he wasn't personally getting profits or missing any new tax benefit.
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Dec 15, 2023 13:18
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Charitable deductions should be capped like SALT imho. Tons of rottenness in the system
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Dec 15, 2023 13:50
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pmchem posted:well, to clarify the ackman bit, he did NOT have an option to buy it back if it appreciated. from Levine's Money Stuff: I’m sorry I mischaracterized the process where the billionaire who was upset because the university with a fifty billion dollar endowment liquidated his donation too soon because he felt they had no immediate need for a mere ten million dollars which prevented him from having a larger amount to control. If you’re a schmuck single digit billionaire Harvard is a terrible place to go for bang for your buck. A mere $10 million is in the minor gifts account.
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Dec 15, 2023 15:22
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pmchem posted:tax folks how hosed is this MIT guy? I think Bill worked pretty hard to present that to be something that it's not. And he presented the 60%/30%/50% charitable rules in a way that makes it seem like there is tax juice somewhere in all of this. Im specifically referring to this statement: This enabled him to receive twice as large a tax deduction, 60% vs. 30%, and to shelter a greater percentage of his adjusted gross income, up to 50% of AGI versus 30%. Donating to a public charity or a DAF or your own foundation don't yield different $ deductions. One dollar of a cash charitable donation leads to one dollar of tax deduction. The thresholds he's referring to are how much of these deductions you can take in a given year. Ie: a person with $100k of income can "only" donate $30k to their private foundation in a year and still get a deduction. Any excess charitable deductions over that threshold simply carry over to the following year. Bill didn't actually provide any insights into the $'s involved or the timing of all this so it's hard to speculate. But he's pretty clearly presenting a very specific/narrow/misleading angle to the situation.
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Dec 15, 2023 18:53
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About his only redeeming attribute was his war on Herbalife, and he failed.
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Dec 15, 2023 19:08
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Agronox posted:Charitable deductions should be capped like SALT imho. Tons of rottenness in the system SALT should not be capped so I technically agree.
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Dec 15, 2023 19:50
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Ackman was trying to do some weird thing where he donated shares but still wanted the potential upside of those shares and protected against any downside. I assume this was for tax reasons since he could have just waited to do the donation if he wanted to control it.
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Dec 15, 2023 19:52
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in a well actually posted:About his only redeeming attribute was his war on Herbalife, and he failed. I don't know how he missed on that one! They are now down considerably, but that's just because pyramids can't run forever. But I believe he capitulated a long time ago? I'm sort of surprised Harvard actually told Ackman that they sold the shares, I'm sure whoever his relationship manager (or whatever they call the guys who massage billionaires over there) probably just figured that all money is fungible, and they could just put his name on whatever effort they had on the board that he wanted to push. I guess he picked something really goddamn dumb and was like "put all 75M I made for you on those shares on this dumbassery". As far as the MIT thing, no matter how you paint it, funneling money to your wife's charity through the university is shady as hell, even if it only enabled him to realize more immediate tax writeoffs. And even though Ackman is only on their rear end because he wants their president gone. OK so for an on topic question - can I theoretically 1) Take these shares I have that are up 10000% 2) put them in a DAF 3) realize the full writeoff of their value as a charitable contribution 4) create a charity to "assist children in realizing their full potential and other buzzwords" by funding climbing and ski coaching 5) have the DAF donate the shares to that charity 6) The charity (or the DAF) sell the shares and pay no tax on the appreciation? 7) The charity happen to only buy poo poo for my own kid, and maybe pay my partner a nice salary for organizing it. Cus poo poo like this seems really goddamn common right now. Is there something I'm missing here?
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Dec 15, 2023 21:15
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1-6 are completely kosher under the tax code. 7 is just garden variety nonprofit status abuse/fraud.
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Dec 15, 2023 21:53
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smackfu posted:I assume this was for tax reasons since he could have just waited to do the donation if he wanted to control it. The deduction was made in 2017, so I assume that he wanted the deduction before the 2018 tax cuts went into effect.
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Dec 15, 2023 22:20
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I've got a side business that's grown a bit over the last year. I've had an EIN in my own name (sole proprietor) for a few years so that people can send me 1099s, but now I want to give it an actual name. The IRS website says that for a sole-proprietorship I just need to "Write to us at the address where you filed your return, informing the IRS of the name change." It sounds like there's no form and I just simply write a letter along the lines of: quote:I, SomethingAwful poster Harveygod, wish to do business as "Goatse's Meatshoes". and then mail that to the IRS office in Kansas City, MO. Can I just start doing business under that name as soon as I mail out the letter? Or do I need to wait for them to acknowledge it? Or will they even acknowledge it at all?
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Dec 21, 2023 21:21
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Harveygod posted:I've got a side business that's grown a bit over the last year. I've had an EIN in my own name (sole proprietor) for a few years so that people can send me 1099s, but now I want to give it an actual name. For one thing you can’t use that name, I’m already using it
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Dec 22, 2023 01:54
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Not a tax thing but a general business thing, you might have to register your DBA with your state.
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Dec 22, 2023 04:25
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Not sure if this is the right thread (if it's not please point me in the right direction) but here goes: My dad died in March. He had a couple hundred grand in an IRA that I was listed as sole beneficiary on, to my surprise. In my parents' will (my mom died in 2019), the rest of the assets were split between me and my brother. My brother is my sole surviving immediate family member and I want to split the IRA with him. However, because the inherited IRA is in my name only, I'm on the hook for the entire tax burden so I can't simply withdraw half and send him a check without screwing myself over. How can I calculate the correct amount to give to him, while holding back enough to account for the taxes I will be responsible for, trying to keep the after-tax split as 50/50 as possible? Edit: also, I went through the online withdrawal process just to see what it looked like and the max amount currently available to withdraw was a little less than half of what's in the account. What are the rules on inherited IRA withdrawal amounts? The Midniter fucked around with this message at 17:54 on Dec 29, 2023 |
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Dec 29, 2023 17:42
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The Midniter posted:Not sure if this is the right thread (if it's not please point me in the right direction) but here goes: Hey man, don't be in a rush to cash that thing out, the whole benefit of inheriting an IRA is that it will grow tax free. If you jam it all out now, you will pay the absolute maximum. I understand the headache tho, been dealing with an estate myself. I think you should take out the minimum, deduct your marginal tax rate, then split that with your brother. If your dad was subject to required minimum distributions, it's under his rules this year. Plug his dob into one of these calculators. Today is the last day to do it! https://www.aarp.org/work/retirement-planning/required-minimum-distribution-calculator.html If he wasn't old enough to be subject to RMDs, there is no rush.
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Dec 29, 2023 18:45
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You are probably under this new "10 year rule" which means you have 10 years to draw it down. Used to be you could hold onto it until you retired, but trump changed the rules. My plan on mine is to wait the whole 10 years to see if the law changes again. Let the growth compound as long as possible. Maybe your brother can't wait 10 years for the money, or you don't want to deal with cutting him a check every year. But if you cash the whole thing out ASAP, on hundreds of thousands you are both probably losing out on tens of thousands by paying the tax immediately.
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Dec 29, 2023 18:54
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Thanks for the info. My brother can't wait for the money, which is why I'm asking - his wife has been unable to work due to a myriad of health issues so he's been killing himself with OT to try to keep his family of 4 afloat and texts me every couple of weeks to inquire when they'll be getting the money. I don't intend to cash the whole thing out - just enough to cover his half minus whatever my marginal tax rate will be. It doesn't help that right now me and my wife are straddling marginal tax brackets which complicates things further. For my share, I plan to take the minimum distribution as required for as long as I can. I'm also in school with employer-paid tuition that counts as income above $5250 which I'll be responsible for when I file my 2024 taxes so ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh This poo poo sucks. It doesn't help that my piece of poo poo dad raided this IRA the past few years (which my mother mostly earned, she was the breadwinner) to pay for his nursing home care because he was too lazy to lift a single finger and get a home health aid or something instead of forking over $13k/month so he could watch TV all day and not have to worry about a thing. Sorry for the e/n but good loving riddance.
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Dec 29, 2023 19:36
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Withdraw half. Estimate what your marginal tax rate for 2024 will be (https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-provides-tax-inflation-adjustments-for-tax-year-2024) including state tax as well. If its split between two you can take a weighted average. Save that % in a bank account for your tax bill and send the rest on to your brother. Keep your half in the IRA and withdraw only as required.
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Dec 29, 2023 19:56
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Consider splitting the withdrawal over 2 years (it's a 1 week difference) to keep yourself inside the 24% marginal rate if you can. Surely your brother will be able to float another week on the 5 figure check you're about to cut him.
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Dec 29, 2023 20:10
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Trad IRAs got really crappy for inheritance purposes with that 10 year change compared to Roths or even brokerage/cash assets.
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Dec 29, 2023 20:55
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Could you give your brother more of the non-ira assets to avoid doing any withdrawal?
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Dec 29, 2023 23:04
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Guy Axlerod posted:Could you give your brother more of the non-ira assets to avoid doing any withdrawal? On the whole your idea does seem like a good idea if possible though. Pay brother in non-ira funds if possible to avoid a huge tax hit from pulling all the ira income out at once.
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Dec 30, 2023 01:30
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Is TurboTax deluxe edition sufficient for my needs if I have: W2, 401k, Roth IRA, HSA, no taxable investments? The website suggests Premier because I said I owned investments or whatever but the comparison basically says the Premier provides extra help for people selling investments, have rental property, and/or want to understand their tax history better. I can get it for free or pay $25 for premier. I feel like I don’t care about any of those extras.
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Jan 4, 2024 20:32
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Are you taking money out of the 401k, IRA or HSA or just saving into them? If you aren’t taking money out you can use freetaxusa.com and pay nothing.
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Jan 5, 2024 15:12
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tumblr hype man posted:Are you taking money out of the 401k, IRA or HSA or just saving into them? freetaxusa is good and not a scam, and you should never give Intuit money
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Jan 5, 2024 15:20
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Am I the only one who thinks tax prep sites like freetaxusa or turbotax are both much more complicated and error prone than using freefilefillableforms and reading the forms themselves?
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Jan 5, 2024 16:15
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Xenoborg posted:Am I the only one who thinks tax prep sites like freetaxusa or turbotax are both much more complicated and error prone than using freefilefillableforms and reading the forms themselves? I appreciate the convenience of being able to do both state and federal concurrently
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Jan 5, 2024 16:20
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Xenoborg posted:Am I the only one who thinks tax prep sites like freetaxusa or turbotax are both much more complicated and error prone than using freefilefillableforms and reading the forms themselves? My main worry is missing a form entirely. Like I doubt I would have correctly filed the correct net investment income tax if I started from a 1040.
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Jan 5, 2024 19:31
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CashApp Taxes will work for you, and is also free. (They took over Credit Karma's tax software when Intuit bought Credit Karma.)
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Jan 5, 2024 20:30
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Xenoborg posted:Am I the only one who thinks tax prep sites like freetaxusa or turbotax are both much more complicated and error prone than using freefilefillableforms and reading the forms themselves? I used to have the same mindset and then last year I hosed up one step in one the worksheets which gave me a number that was wrong in a non-obvious way which almost led me to claim a significant credit I didn’t actually qualify for. Now I pay for freetaxusa.
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Jan 6, 2024 04:50
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smackfu posted:My main worry is missing a form entirely. Honestly “not knowing you needed to file something” is one of the most common things I see people mess up themselves, even with software sometimes. dpkg chopra posted:I used to have the same mindset and then last year I hosed up one step in one the worksheets which gave me a number that was wrong in a non-obvious way which almost led me to claim a significant credit I didn’t actually qualify for. Yeah, my mom does my parents’ taxes herself from the forms (usually makes a spreadsheet to do the math checking), but she actually went through the H&R Block preparer training once. Had to see a professional a few times for advice still.
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Jan 6, 2024 18:14
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Another virtue of freetaxusa: I tried another software that appeared to be free for my income level. Only after entering all my data did it inform me that I would need to pay for an upgrade to handle any stock trade info. Freetaxusa will take whatever you throw at it and only ask for $15 for the state filing, which may as well be a "keep the lights on" donation for their service.
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Jan 6, 2024 21:25
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Xenoborg posted:Am I the only one who thinks tax prep sites like freetaxusa or turbotax are both much more complicated and error prone than using freefilefillableforms and reading the forms themselves? Unless you had a weird year where you moved states or bought a house, for most people their taxes are probably simple enough to do themselves via freefillableforms. I'd encourage them to just look at the form generated the previous year and see if they can figure out where the values in the filled in fields came from. If you can do that, and nothing substantial changed, you can almost certainly do the next year's taxes yourself.
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Jan 7, 2024 01:57
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Subvisual Haze posted:For the majority of tax filers you probably just put in your W2 taxable wages, and maybe a couple extra lines for stuff like interest income, HSA funding/withdrawals, IRA contributions/conversions, and maybe if people are being fancy dividends/capital gains on taxable investments. Then subtract the standard deduction in >90% of cases and voila. Yeah, with the caveat that if you CAN'T figure out how it worked, get some sort of support, software or human. Some people just have trouble or just don't want to bother, and that's not a moral failing; just make sure you do what you need to get it right. I say this primarily because I have seen just how bad personally prepared taxes can get even in the hands of otherwise smart people, and failing to get support when you need it is roughly equivalent to trying clueless do-it-yourself repairs, only possibly more expensive. Don't be afraid to do it yourself, but be sure you're confident you understand what you are doing. Admittedly the other headache is the government seem to keep changing things a lot in the last few years (the Covid stimulus stuff seems to have caused a lot of people agony in particular), so I don't blame the people who aren't required to do continuing education on this stuff having issues sometimes.
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Jan 7, 2024 08:24
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| # ? May 26, 2024 22:23 |
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The IRS is piloting it's own tax filing software, you should try using it if you are able. https://www.irs.gov/about-irs/strategic-plan/direct-file#participating-states
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Jan 7, 2024 15:00
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