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My wife has a traditional IRA from a prior job that I would like to convert to a Roth IRA, in order to start backdoor Roth contributions. Am I able to do this and still have it count for 2016? It's not critical but I'm due a large refund this year so it would be easier to pay the taxes now.
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Mar 19, 2017 01:44
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I have kind of a complicated situation. My father bought a house last year with the plan that I would pay to renovate it and then buy from him to use as an income property. Renovations being renovations, costs escalated and timelines were overrun, so now it's the next year and no transactions have occurred. I've put $significant into the property (septic, foundation, siding, cabinetry, fixtures, etc). So here's my confusion. I know money I spent on renovations and improvements can be deducted from my income (at an amortized rate), but can I deduct that value for a property I didn't own during the year? Thinking ahead, when I do buy the property in a few months, can I then deduct those renovation dollars this year, or do they get rolled into something else (like my capital basis maybe) when I make the purchase? The more I think this through the more I think I'm going to need to find a good tax lady (fellow), but as I've always self-filed I don't know what I need to know when contacting one, so help with that would be great, too. Tricky Ed fucked around with this message at 06:00 on Mar 19, 2017 |
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Mar 19, 2017 05:55
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Leviathan Song posted:That thing sucks. Someone with access to the raw withholding formulas needs to make a better one that doesn't assume you're midyear and gives you some level of sensitivity analysis. Also it sucks that my state bases withholding on federal w-4. I'm always trying to minimize federal return without getting a state penalty without access to the actual formulas used. There is obviously math behind it. Give me the drat formula. Yeah, I'm not a fan either. It tries to give you exact withholding that will make this year work out but if you don't adjust it next year it will screw up next year.
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Mar 19, 2017 14:05
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Leviathan Song posted:That thing sucks. Someone with access to the raw withholding formulas needs to make a better one that doesn't assume you're midyear and gives you some level of sensitivity analysis. Also it sucks that my state bases withholding on federal w-4. I'm always trying to minimize federal return without getting a state penalty without access to the actual formulas used. There is obviously math behind it. Give me the drat formula. Here you go: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p15/ar02.html#en_US_2017_publink1000254783
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Mar 19, 2017 18:49
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I am self-employed and I have a small home office. I bought the house in '07 and began using it as a home office in '13. In past years I took the simplified deduction of $5/sq. ft, but I've decided to itemize this year since I kept better records and TurboTax recommends it. (perhaps this is dumb logic) TurboTax is asking for my prior depreciation amount from 2015, but since I took the simplified option, I don't have any info like that in my 2015 return (as best I can tell) It asks for "amount of prior depreciation" or "amount of prior AMT depreciation". What do I do? Leave those blank? TurboTax help is worthless on the subject.
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Mar 19, 2017 20:48
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I'm married filing jointly and trying to figure out why I owe around $2,300 (according to TaxAct). I've been doing my own taxes for a while, and my wife's since we got married, and this is my first time unexpectedly owing money. Our situation should be really simple: I have a W-2, she has two of them, and we have a few 1099-INTs and a 1099-DIV. That's pretty much it, since we rent an apartment, and as far as I can tell, we have too high of an income to qualify for any deductions or credits. Given how simple this should generally be, should I look into getting confirmation from an accountant, or just assume that TaxAct is correct and pay up? Also, if anyone else is in New York, what happened to being able to file state tax on the state website? I just went there to file like in previous years, and it looks like that option is gone now. It just says I have to either pay for software or an accountant. 
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Mar 20, 2017 05:43
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TheEye posted:I'm married filing jointly and trying to figure out why I owe around $2,300 (according to TaxAct). I've been doing my own taxes for a while, and my wife's since we got married, and this is my first time unexpectedly owing money. Our situation should be really simple: I have a W-2, she has two of them... One page back, mary had a little clam had a similar issue. Like him, it is probably because the multiple income sources are not withholding enough. The tax software is probably correct. You and your wife probably should adjust your withholding so you don't run into the same situation next year.
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Mar 20, 2017 11:47
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When I first moved to the US from Australia, Australian student loans (HECS: organized through the government, repayable based on hitting an income threshold) weren't required to be paid back based on my US income. As of this year, that changes, and it's set to make my taxes way more complicated. I'm sure this will be a "talk to an actual accountant" situation, but I figure I may as well ask here first to see if I can get some directions about how to go about this for some aspects of it. Problem 1: The Australian tax year is July 2016 to June 2017. All my US tax income documents return everything by calendar year. So... how do I deal with this? Problem 2: There are tax treaties between Australia and the US, and the way it's always worked in the past has just been "don't do an Australian tax return". Anyone have any links for the basic on international tax treaties, and how they affect the filing of US taxes? E.g. how do I deal with the fact that I will in the future pay student loans through my taxes for an Australian tax year that half crosses with the current US tax year. Problem 3: Would a foreign government student loan be considered a "qualified student loan" for US tax purposes? It seems to match all of the stated definitions I can find. But I don't know if there's an implied "must be a US loan" hidden in there somewhere.
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Mar 20, 2017 14:46
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TheEye posted:I'm married filing jointly and trying to figure out why I owe around $2,300 (according to TaxAct). I've been doing my own taxes for a while, and my wife's since we got married, and this is my first time unexpectedly owing money. Our situation should be really simple: I have a W-2, she has two of them, and we have a few 1099-INTs and a 1099-DIV. That's pretty much it, since we rent an apartment, and as far as I can tell, we have too high of an income to qualify for any deductions or credits. Given how simple this should generally be, should I look into getting confirmation from an accountant, or just assume that TaxAct is correct and pay up? First thing is always double check all your inputs cause typos can make for scary tax days. Second, yeah your paperwork is relatively simple but is it similar to previous years or did either of you start/end jobs, get raises, any other changes to financial status? All sorts of poo poo can throw your withholding out of wack. Check that 1099-div maybe you got a bunch of capital gains that are throwing you off. Can't help you about the NY thing, I do live in NY but I am a tax preparer myself so I use software.
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Mar 20, 2017 18:39
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coronaball posted:I am self-employed and I have a small home office. I bought the house in '07 and began using it as a home office in '13. In past years I took the simplified deduction of $5/sq. ft, but I've decided to itemize this year since I kept better records and TurboTax recommends it. (perhaps this is dumb logic) TurboTax is asking for my prior depreciation amount from 2015, but since I took the simplified option, I don't have any info like that in my 2015 return (as best I can tell) It asks for "amount of prior depreciation" or "amount of prior AMT depreciation". What do I do? Leave those blank? TurboTax help is worthless on the subject. Leave blank for regular/AMT/state. FYI, if you sell your home, the depreciation claimed is subject to the section 1250 recapture rules. Frankly, the $5/ft might be your better option, since you can also "double dip" and take the full mortgage interest/property taxes on A instead of sending some to the 8829 (and then eventually to schedule C).
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Mar 20, 2017 19:15
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TheEye posted:Also, if anyone else is in New York, what happened to being able to file state tax on the state website? I just went there to file like in previous years, and it looks like that option is gone now. It just says I have to either pay for software or an accountant. I think they just got rid of it. I was going to use it again this year to file for free, but the option wasn't there. I got stuck paying TaxAct $25 for state filing, which was more than my refund. I'm considering just paper filing next year
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Mar 20, 2017 21:05
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AbbiTheDog posted:Leave blank for regular/AMT/state. You lost me a little bit with that last sentence. Are you saying that if I itemize, I'm not getting the mortgage interest/property tax deduction for the rest of the house? Regardless, I think I'm gonna do a 2nd "test" return just with the $5/foot and see if it changes much/at all. And a new question: I paid for my son to attend an Early Engineers after-school class. Think I can count that as a childcare deduction? It was during working hours and I was paying someone to watch my child while I worked, so it seems like it ought to be.
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Mar 20, 2017 23:08
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JohnnyPalace posted:One page back, mary had a little clam had a similar issue. Like him, it is probably because the multiple income sources are not withholding enough. The tax software is probably correct. You and your wife probably should adjust your withholding so you don't run into the same situation next year. Epi Lepi posted:Second, yeah your paperwork is relatively simple but is it similar to previous years or did either of you start/end jobs, get raises, any other changes to financial status? All sorts of poo poo can throw your withholding out of wack. Check that 1099-div maybe you got a bunch of capital gains that are throwing you off. Yeah, I guess that's likely. Her two W-2s weren't simultaneous but were because of a job change mid-year, and yes it was a pretty dramatic increase in her income. So I guess the withholding at the first job wasn't enough because it couldn't account for the higher income at the second job? I didn't realize it was supposed to work like that. The capital gains in the 1099-DIV are pretty minimal so that's definitely not it. Ancillary Character posted:I think they just got rid of it. I was going to use it again this year to file for free, but the option wasn't there. I got stuck paying TaxAct $25 for state filing, which was more than my refund. I'm considering just paper filing next year Such an awful idea. Thanks NY government (and probably Intuit lobbyists).
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Mar 20, 2017 23:47
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A lot of states are ditching their homegrown e-files because the cost-benefit isn't there for them. Massachusetts killed Webfile this year because only 70,000 taxpayers (out of 3.5 million) filed their returns with webfile. They're basically foisting it on to the Free File Alliance which is a way for private companies to build "brand equity" and force people over a certain AGI to pay for their tax prep/filing. If you make under $64K in Mass you can use either Intuit or H&R Block to file your state taxes for free, but this is only online. If you file using actual tax prep software you're paying money to them to file. This didn't stop the State of Mass. from delaying refunds for efiles by 4-6 weeks even if you're not taking EITC. So this year there's no benefit to e-filing, just send in a paper return. (I'm grumpy about dealing with this after preparing all of my family members' taxes, something my dad used to do until he unexpectedly died in February). kefkafloyd fucked around with this message at 23:56 on Mar 20, 2017 |
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Mar 20, 2017 23:54
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coronaball posted:You lost me a little bit with that last sentence. Are you saying that if I itemize, I'm not getting the mortgage interest/property tax deduction for the rest of the house? Sorry, wasn't completely clear. If you do the safe harbor $5/ft, you also get to take the FULL property taxes and mortgage interest on A, PLUS you don't need to worry about the depreciation recapture on the home.
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Mar 21, 2017 01:03
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I have three 1099-R this year. One from rolling an old SEP-IRA into my 401k. One from backdoor roth. One from mega-backdoor roth. As far as I understand, the only one that has any taxable amount is the mega-backdoor (the IRA lost value between contribution & rollover). When filling 1040a line 11 (IRA distributions), do I just add up gross distributions from the 1099-R for 11a, and put the total taxable amount in 11b? edit: ohh, the mega backdoor goes on line 12, and i found the appropriate instructions in the form. I think the answer is yes. Illusive Fuck Man fucked around with this message at 14:29 on Mar 22, 2017 |
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Mar 22, 2017 14:20
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Was there a major change in the tax rules this year? I've been filing online with H&R Block. My W-2, Item 1 Income is 37,008 (basically the same from last year), and I have 3,635 in Withholdings (an increase of 100 from last year). But when I entered my info, it said that I owed 1,000 more than last year!
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Mar 23, 2017 19:45
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SirPhoebos posted:Was there a major change in the tax rules this year? Is that literally all there is to your return? Were you in school last year? If I estimate roughly you should be breaking even, not owing.
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Mar 23, 2017 22:09
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Epi Lepi posted:Is that literally all there is to your return? Were you in school last year? If I estimate roughly you should be breaking even, not owing. I compared it to my returns from last year and it looks like it's not factoring in my exemptions. I went over all my personal info, but everything appears to be correct. I sent a message to their help center, but if that doesn't fix it, I might try using a different site.
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Mar 23, 2017 23:08
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Blinky2099 fucked around with this message at 21:51 on Mar 20, 2018 |
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Mar 24, 2017 01:20
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I'm reading irs publication 527, page 16 on dividing rental expenses. It mentions the most common way is by square footage of rented rooms or by number of rooms. Is number of rooms number of bedrooms or number of total rooms. Ex, a 3 bedroom house, if 2 are being rented out you could claim 66% of utilities as an expense? Or is it total number of rooms including living room/dining room/kitchen?
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Mar 24, 2017 18:15
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Is it possible to make a mistake on your tax return that could somehow result in you owing the IRS more money than you earned in the tax year?
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Mar 25, 2017 21:17
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You could mistakenly enter your social security number on the income line.
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Mar 25, 2017 22:13
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Guy Axlerod posted:You could mistakenly enter your social security number on the income line. You could pretend you won powerball.
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Mar 25, 2017 22:52
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qkkl posted:Is it possible to make a mistake on your tax return that could somehow result in you owing the IRS more money than you earned in the tax year? You could forget to report basis on the sale of assets, I suppose. Or even better, the brokerage could report it w/o basis to the IRS while you leave it off the return. Or you could rollover a nice hefty retirement account and accidentally check the "early distribution" box. sullat fucked around with this message at 02:19 on Mar 26, 2017 |
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Mar 26, 2017 02:17
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Had the annoying realization today that 2% of AGI is a lot more now that we are MFJ.
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Mar 27, 2017 03:20
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Quick question: my wife attended an education conference and also meet up with some of the people who she has been doing independent contracting for. We were wondering if the cost of the trip (conference, airfare, and hotel) could be written off as a business expense on her schedule C next year. The conference officially was in a slightly different sub-specialty than the independent contracting work she has done so far (the conference was directed towards childhood obesity and her contracting has been mainly with adults) but the stuff discussed was quite useful for both. Also does the fact that the conference results in an additional minor certification matter? She also works as a standard employee at a different job in the same field. That job has a small allowance for continuing education which could pay for part of the conference. Would accepting that money for this trip affect the deductibility of the non-reimbursed portion? The reimbursement is paltry compared to the potential write off ($90 vs $1300) so if it affects things we'll skip it.
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Mar 27, 2017 15:29
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So Turbotax apparently nuked our entire tax data for 2016 that was ready to submit. The only reason we were using it was because it automatically imported Robinhood data. Is there anyone else that can also import that info or am I stuck re-keying all of 2016's taxes into Turbotax? I have a ton of trades I'd prefer not to key manually if I can pay someone else to import it. E: Nm just used Taxslayer. I really don't understand why Turbotax is such hot flaming trash when they charge so much. revmoo fucked around with this message at 01:58 on Mar 28, 2017 |
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Mar 28, 2017 01:33
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Do any goons offer a review of a prepared return and offer commentary or feedback? HR Block offers this for $80 at the end. I'm fairly certain I am on top of things, but have only ever filed online and never have used a professional... I don't think I'm leaving anything on the table but a second set of eyes would be nice. We have intermediate-complexity return (W2s, 1099s, and a K1).
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Mar 28, 2017 04:58
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quote:Quick question: my wife attended an education conference and also meet up with some of the people who she has been doing independent contracting for. We were wondering if the cost of the trip (conference, airfare, and hotel) could be written off as a business expense on her schedule C next year. Was this education conference in any way related to her employee/W2 gig? Were there any personal elements to the trip? (ie: did she visit nearby family, etc). You make it sound like the conference itself wasn't particularly the primary reason for the trip. You would not be able to deduct the portion that's reimbursed. It would not have an impact on the balance of the deduction. app posted:Do any goons offer a review of a prepared return and offer commentary or feedback? HR Block offers this for $80 at the end. I'm fairly certain I am on top of things, but have only ever filed online and never have used a professional... I don't think I'm leaving anything on the table but a second set of eyes would be nice. We have intermediate-complexity return (W2s, 1099s, and a K1). I've done that in the past. I think Furu was the last one to actually advertise anything in SA Mart though.
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Mar 28, 2017 12:11
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app posted:Do any goons offer a review of a prepared return and offer commentary or feedback? HR Block offers this for $80 at the end. I'm fairly certain I am on top of things, but have only ever filed online and never have used a professional... I don't think I'm leaving anything on the table but a second set of eyes would be nice. We have intermediate-complexity return (W2s, 1099s, and a K1). I know I get offers from those companies to do this work, but I always turn it down - not sure of the quality of people that do that. You probably won't get anyone that's licensed (here or otherwise) to do that for you, especially this time of year, for cheaper.
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Mar 28, 2017 16:12
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Admiral101 posted:Was this education conference in any way related to her employee/W2 gig? Were there any personal elements to the trip? (ie: did she visit nearby family, etc). You make it sound like the conference itself wasn't particularly the primary reason for the trip. Yes it was related. Her 1099 work is basically her W2 work but in a group setting so it was related to both. The conference was 100% the reason for the trip. I was just staring at the IRS guidance on educational expenses trying to think of reasons it wouldn't qualify. Excellent news on the reimbursement.
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Mar 28, 2017 17:59
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app posted:Do any goons offer a review of a prepared return and offer commentary or feedback? HR Block offers this for $80 at the end. I'm fairly certain I am on top of things, but have only ever filed online and never have used a professional... I don't think I'm leaving anything on the table but a second set of eyes would be nice. We have intermediate-complexity return (W2s, 1099s, and a K1). In general I would say stay far far away from HR block, I have a swarm of what i would consider less than an hours time to prep (not very difficult) coming to me and i am amending every single return. I could look at your return, msg me.
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Mar 28, 2017 18:26
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I strongly suspect my former employer pocketed the tax deductions from my and at least one coworker's paychecks, along with someone else who worked for one of his other companies. We didn't receive our W2s, and the employer is dodging all calls/texts, (except for a few, basically telling us he's "working on it" and "it'll be in the mail"). I'm not giving him the benefit of the doubt, because this is just the tip of the iceberg of all the shady poo poo he's pulled (not tax related), so this is definitely within the realm of possibility for him. I already contacted the IRS, turned out he still hasn't filed a W2 for me, so I had them send him a letter to pressure him. I advised the coworker to do the same, but I highly doubt it's going to do anything. I already calculated my deductions, have form 4852 filled out and ready to go. Right now I'm basically interested in getting him in trouble, because I know this is going to happen again next year, and I don't feel like pulling teeth to get an answer out of him only to have to wait til the last minute to file anyway. Also, if he isn't held accountable, he is certainly going to pull this crap on other employees. My question is, can the IRS do anything besides send him threatening letters? Is there a way I can escalate this? If this has happened to anyone else, I'm interested in hearing how things turned out in your case.
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Mar 28, 2017 23:11
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Jake Snake posted:I strongly suspect my former employer pocketed the tax deductions from my and at least one coworker's paychecks, along with someone else who worked for one of his other companies. We didn't receive our W2s, and the employer is dodging all calls/texts, (except for a few, basically telling us he's "working on it" and "it'll be in the mail"). I'm not giving him the benefit of the doubt, because this is just the tip of the iceberg of all the shady poo poo he's pulled (not tax related), so this is definitely within the realm of possibility for him. I already contacted the IRS, turned out he still hasn't filed a W2 for me, so I had them send him a letter to pressure him. I advised the coworker to do the same, but I highly doubt it's going to do anything. I already calculated my deductions, have form 4852 filled out and ready to go. Try the state. The state workmans' comp/unemployment office will crack down way faster and way harder than the IRS. IRS moves slow.
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Mar 28, 2017 23:30
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A family member is employed full time but on the weekends did some focus groups/online surveys and made about $1,000 in cash/giftcards. About $800 was through one company, the rest from several others. He was not issued any tax forms. Can he put the total on line 21 on the 1040 - "other income" and note it as focus groups/surveys?
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Mar 29, 2017 13:49
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I have a fellowship (National Science Foundation GRFP) to fund my PhD and I went to see a tax accountant today and he said I didn't have to pay taxes on it and this sounds weird to me. I have a W-2 from the university for when I was a teaching/research assistant from Jan-May but then my fellowship kicked in from June - now and none of that is on the W2. My university also refuses to do withholding on my fellowship money and only distributes it to me 3 times per year instead of the bi-weekly paycheck I was receiving as a TA/RA. I have a 1098-T that shows $30k in "scholarships or grants" on box 5 but from what the tax guy told me, I don't have to report any information in the 1098-T unless I'm trying to get education tax credits. This all sounds wrong but I did some googling around and someone mentioned reporting the fellowship income on a 1099-MISC but the instructions in that form say: Do not use Form 1099-MISC to report scholarship or fellowship grants. Scholarship or fellowship grants that are taxable to the recipient because they are paid for teaching, research, or other services as a condition for receiving the grant are considered wages and must be reported on Form W-2. Other taxable scholarship or fellowship payments (to a degree or nondegree candidate) do not have to be reported by you to the IRS on any form. See section 117(b)–(d) and Regulations section 1.6041-3(n) for more information. Which makes me think maybe I don't have to report it? Should I make an appointment with the actual IRS office and ask in person? e: the funding agency also offers no tax advice
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Mar 30, 2017 04:35
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IratelyBlank posted:I have a fellowship (National Science Foundation GRFP) to fund my PhD and I went to see a tax accountant today and he said I didn't have to pay taxes on it and this sounds weird to me. I have a W-2 from the university for when I was a teaching/research assistant from Jan-May but then my fellowship kicked in from June - now and none of that is on the W2. My university also refuses to do withholding on my fellowship money and only distributes it to me 3 times per year instead of the bi-weekly paycheck I was receiving as a TA/RA. I have a 1098-T that shows $30k in "scholarships or grants" on box 5 but from what the tax guy told me, I don't have to report any information in the 1098-T unless I'm trying to get education tax credits. https://www.irs.gov/publications/p970/ch01.html#en_US_2016_publink1000177991
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Mar 30, 2017 06:40
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Lord of Garbagemen posted:In general I would say stay far far away from HR block,  AbbiTheDog posted:I know I get offers from those companies to do this work, but I always turn it down - not sure of the quality of people that do that. As one of the people who does that kind of review for H&R Block (Best of Both), a to you too! I suppose that I shouldn't poke back too much at the "not sure of the quality of people" thing though since you can imagine the popularity a program of "do the same amount of tax work, only for less money than you'd get for a 1040EZ and a harder to reach client!" has with the really experienced preparers. But it is reviewed by the same tax professionals who do returns in the office, for what it's worth.If you're comfortable filing first and then amending, we do have an option called Second Look where we go over a previously filed return, which I imagine is offered in similar forms by other people. We'd charge to actually amend anything (which should tell you just how often we find issues on reflection), but if you don't come in at a crunch time like now it's generally free.
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Mar 30, 2017 18:01
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MadDogMike posted:
Don't fret, I've seen CPAs shovel out crap work as well. Problem with H&R is it's so drat hit or miss. Some of the preparers nail it, but frankly a lot of them fail on anything more than a W-2 and a house.
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Mar 30, 2017 22:43
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