US Income Tax Thread: Bank error in your favor! GO DIRECTLY TO JAIL.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > US Income Tax Thread: Bank error in your favor! GO DIRECTLY TO JAIL.

Tyro: Nov 10, 2009

This might be a long shot but I figured I'd ask. I am mildly familiar with corporate accounting, not very familiar with tax accounting at all.

I'm applying for a job at a nonprofit. By going through their 990's, I was hoping to estimate an average salary to figure out where to start negotiations. It's a small association (gross assets $1.2M) The number I came up with is absurdly low unless either (1) they have a lot of part time employees, (2) they had high turnover and the actual number of employees is lower, or (3) I'm calculating something wrong.

Employees: 11 (from W3, assume this includes the Executive Director/CEO)
Reportable compensation of ED/CEO: $212K
Other salaries and wages: $302K

Does this mean the mean salary is $30K? Even for a nonprofit this seems low, especially when you consider that there's a Senior Director who makes $123K. When that person is accounted for the mean drops to just under $20K. The numbers from the prior year are very similar.

Is there something I'm missing?

# ¿ Jan 20, 2012 18:24

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# ¿ May 17, 2024 00:01

Tyro: Nov 10, 2009

Is it possible/feasible to change your permanent state of residence/domicile without actually physically moving there first? For example, if you plan to be out of the country for years and plan to move there when you return? Is it worth consulting with a tax attorney about? There are some decently significant state income tax implications.

# ¿ Apr 9, 2012 12:48

Tyro: Nov 10, 2009

I'm considering taking an early distribution from my 457 deferred compensation plan. As I understand it there are no tax penalties, just income tax on the distribution and a 20% federal withholding towards that tax? Is that correct?

# ¿ Jun 22, 2012 14:15

Tyro: Nov 10, 2009

Awesome, thanks for the confirmation. Wish I didn't have to pull the money out but that takes some of the sting out of it.

# ¿ Jun 22, 2012 21:32

Tyro: Nov 10, 2009

I withdrew some funds from a retirement account - in order to roll the money over and avoid paying the income tax, do I just have to invest the same amount into an IRA? It seems too simple - no goofy forms to fill out or anything, I just reconcile it when I file my taxes?

# ¿ Aug 24, 2012 12:57

Tyro: Nov 10, 2009

furushotakeru posted:

An indirect rollover an be completed within 60 days of receipt

Correct, that is what I am trying to do. Do I need to notify the receiving institution that the funds are being rolled over or can I just create an IRA, dump the money in, and do the paperwork when I file?

edit to add: A brief google shows I should notify the receiving institution so they can send in a form 5498?

Tyro fucked around with this message at 17:33 on Aug 24, 2012

# ¿ Aug 24, 2012 17:22

Tyro: Nov 10, 2009

Farside: I agree with Admiral101, I sold a car with a nonfunctional transmission for scrap last year and got a check for something like $550. Even if you only get $300, if I can do arithmetic, you'd have to be paying a 60% marginal tax rate (which no one does) for a $500 deduction to break even with that cash.

Not saying that's the best choice, but financially it's a no brainer.

# ¿ Sep 11, 2012 03:23

Tyro: Nov 10, 2009

I was working as a consultant, paid as an independent contractor. I bought a new smartphone so I could stay in touch with the client while traveling and intended to depreciate it. It was destroyed by an accident after only a few weeks. Can I deduct the full value of the phone in this year?

# ¿ Oct 31, 2012 12:51

Tyro: Nov 10, 2009

Thank you

# ¿ Oct 31, 2012 19:28

Tyro: Nov 10, 2009

I just wanted to say thank you to Furu and the other regular posters in this thread. I have asked a few small questions here over the years and always gotten good advice. Maybe I'm weird, but this is one of the megathreads I follow regularly just because I think some of the questions & answers are interesting.

# ¿ Feb 5, 2013 20:35

Tyro: Nov 10, 2009

Quick question: I own a rental property. I had to replace a window that a tenant broke. The windows are old as hell so I went ahead and replaced all of them.

Can I claim a prorated amount of the final bill as a "repair" expense for the broken window for this year, and depreciate the rest, or do I have to depreciate the entire thing as a capital improvement?

Thanks!

# ¿ Feb 1, 2014 17:11

Tyro: Nov 10, 2009

Sephiroth_IRA posted:

Are there any federal incentives for using public transit? At the moment the only money I would save by using the rail is wear/tear since I would essentially break even on gas and I don't have car payments.

You should be able to set aside $130/month pre tax to use for public transit.

# ¿ May 20, 2014 17:01

Tyro: Nov 10, 2009

Tomahawk posted:

Anyone have any recommendations for alternatives to turbotax? It seems they're going to try and charge me ~$80 this year versus the $15 I paid last year using the app.

I've got fairly straightforward circumstances (I don't own anything or have dependents, the most complicated things I've done are cash in stock options and go to school) so its not really a complex return

Go to your local library, get the paperwork, sit down and fill it out for free by hand?

# ¿ Dec 30, 2014 22:49

Tyro: Nov 10, 2009

If you sell a property (rental or primary dwelling - curious if this makes a difference) and had to pay contractors to do some repairs, and paid over $600 each, would you need to file 1099s for the contractors?

# ¿ Jan 27, 2015 13:01

Tyro: Nov 10, 2009

BEHOLD: MY CAPE posted:

If they did work for your business (i.e. a rental property) and they were independent contractors (i.e. not working for a business like an electrician or plumbing company) then yes you'd have to issue 1099s to them.

That makes sense, luckily the guy I hired is incorporated as a business.

# ¿ Jan 29, 2015 22:21

Tyro: Nov 10, 2009

Kaishek -

This resource should help you, even though you may not be a government employee. http://www.afsa.org/taxguide

# ¿ Apr 7, 2015 18:49

Tyro: Nov 10, 2009

You could make the case and those are some compelling points. I'm far from an expert, and I don't think DC is as bad about chasing people down as VA is. If it was me, I would probably switch the driver's license, and send a certified letter to whatever local DC office handles taxation informing them of your intent to switch your domicile to TX as of XYZ date (and save a copy). But I don't know where the bar is as far as what needs to be done, it's a gray area.

# ¿ Apr 8, 2015 22:58

Tyro: Nov 10, 2009

Joint bank account has no bearing.

You will have to look into the backdoor Roth IRA contribution method. It only works if you don't have any traditional IRA balance (or if you xfer it to a 401K or similar account).

edit: make sure you're not on REPAYE because that particular plan takes spousal income into account even if you file separately, unless you are truly "separated".

# ¿ Aug 13, 2016 02:08

Tyro: Nov 10, 2009

AbbiTheDog posted:

Depending on what you need, the IRS is godawful.

Best example is nondeductible IRA, which haunt you for eternity (or until all of your IRAs are drained). You fill out Form 8606 like a good taxpayer and send it in with your return, and then forget the next year since you didn't contribute/withdraw money from an IRA. Ten years go by, and then you pull funds out for whatever reason but lost your old return, because everyone says to toss it out after seven years.

So, you call the IRS for a record of the 8606 filed, and then the bad news comes in - the IRS doesn't keep that form. AT ALL. If you've switched brokers, or lost those records, you're hosed. But where, anywhere, does the IRS warn you about this? It doesn't. It's all trial and error.

I've had two clients run into this. Once client kept the investment records from the late 90s and we could back into the answer, but that took hours of extra time. The other one basically said "screw it" and paid tax on the full amount, since they figured that was cheaper than trying to pay me to figure it out.

Well

Uh

Guess I am keeping all the hard forms and digital backups for my nondeductible IRA > Roth IRA conversions. Forever.

# ¿ Jun 27, 2017 21:42

Tyro: Nov 10, 2009

Thanks for the heads up on that, I really appreciate it.

Quick question that I suspect I already know the answer to but am curious:

If a US citizen is a physical presence resident of a foreign country, and teleworking for a US based company, doing work that is in no way related to their country of residence - is that earned income eligible for the foreign earned income exclusion? Like if someone works remotely in State A for a company located and operating in State B, then just moves from State A to another country and keeps the same job, is that magically now foreign earned income based on their physical location?

# ¿ Jun 29, 2017 03:20

Tyro: Nov 10, 2009

mishaq posted:

Not an accountant or a lawyer but this can get messy fast

1) While uncle sam doesnt know or care, the us citizen in this case is reporting their income and paying taxes in their country of residence and working on valid citizenship/a visa in that country, right? ;-)
2) Be careful with state taxes, just because you leave the US and start working abroad doesn't mean your state of last residence's tax obligations go away. This can get VERY messy

If you're a 100% remote employee and trying to work abroad without both the company paying you knowing you're abroad or the destination country you're in knowing you're working there and paying appropriate taxes, you're setting yourself up for some serious potential buttfucking when it all comes crashing down

Don't try to do this on your own casually without immigration lawyers and accountants involved in my opinion.

Collecting pay in a US bank account with your company thinking you're in the US and performing your work in another country without a right to work in said country is both potentially a compliance issue for your employer, and tax evasion on your part for not paying taxes in the country you're a resident of.

Yeah I'm very familiar with the state tax issues, I'm in the foreign service.

Trying to think of ramifications of my wife continuing to work in the private sector during my next overseas assignment. The company is on board. This is a while away if it even happens. Not trying to game anything or trick anyone, just trying to think through the best way to do it.

# ¿ Jun 30, 2017 21:31

Tyro: Nov 10, 2009

Woohoo, thanks to coming back to the States early due to the COVID pandemic, my wife missed eligibility for the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion by about 2 weeks, costing us about $10K in taxes. :argh:

# ¿ Apr 4, 2020 14:01

Tyro: Nov 10, 2009

Goons rule, thanks, I'll look into that

# ¿ Apr 4, 2020 22:22

Tyro: Nov 10, 2009

Solkanar512 posted:

So what�s really fun is the past two years I�ve owed and the �Get My Payment� tool won�t let us enter any information. It just says �Payment Status Not Available� and elsewhere on the site it warns not to use the �Enter Info for Non-Filers�. I mean poo poo, I can wait but I hate not knowing what the hell is going
on and every source of data I find say �Just enter the info ya big dummy!!�. The IRS was somehow able to take the $88 I owed this year on the 15th just fine so I have to presume my return is processed.

Sorry, I just needed to vent a little.

This, plus I've moved twice in the interim so I doubt I'll ever see a paper check. Guess I'll get my money when I file next year.

# ¿ Apr 21, 2020 13:38

Tyro: Nov 10, 2009

BonerGhost posted:

A lot of people don't know you can update your address with IRS whenever you move without waiting for filing day (I sure as hell didn't before I did taxes last year) https://www.irs.gov/faqs/irs-procedures/address-changes/address-changes

I don't know that it would help for stimulus payments, but it might be something to do if you're locked in and have time on your hands.

Holy crap, thanks for this. I move like every 2 years so this is nice. Bookmarked!

# ¿ Apr 22, 2020 15:00

Tyro: Nov 10, 2009

Residency Evil posted:

Are there any good ways of finding a competent CPA? I've been doing my taxes using Turbotax/checking them in another program the past few years, but I'm wondering if I'm doing things the "right" way. My taxes aren't incredibly complicated: just a single state with two W2s, some stray 1099s on occasion for some minimal consulting income, and associated retirement/brokerage stuff. It's getting to the point where Turbotax ends up costing a not-insignificant amount of money, and I'm wondering if I could get a CPA to do them for not much more. We do itemize, and since a stray box can make thousands of dollars worth of difference, I'm wondering if I'm doing everything I can to pay the right amount of taxes.

How much should I expect to pay for a CPA? Would it be more than say, $500?
Anyone have any recs for PA?

Wife and I are in a roughly similar boat but don't itemize, and file separately for IBR/PSLF calculation. Plus dealing with equity/options on her end and occasional international stuff. I think we pay about $500/yr.

# ¿ Jan 14, 2021 01:03

Tyro: Nov 10, 2009

pmchem posted:

is anyone who filed taxes at the deadline still waiting on their electronic refund?

not an issue for me, I'm just curious as to how the IRS is doing this year (efficiency-wise)

Yes, and I'm glad to hear it's not just me, I was getting ready to call my accountant this week to make sure they had actually submitted everything

# ¿ May 31, 2021 23:04

Tyro: Nov 10, 2009

The Slack Lagoon posted:

Bit of an odd question, but does anyone know if the IRA tax credits can be claimed if you're MFS? And can they be claimed on top of the standard deduction, or will you have to itemize?

The income limit for deductible traditional IRA contributions for MFS is $10k in income unless it's changed in the last year or two. Your best option is a backdoor Roth (assuming the pro rata rule won't screw you).

# ¿ Jan 16, 2023 13:08

Tyro: Nov 10, 2009

Ha, whoops.

# ¿ Jan 17, 2023 01:27

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# ¿ May 17, 2024 00:01

Tyro: Nov 10, 2009

dpkg chopra posted:

Are you self employed? If so, you’ll still owe self employment taxes.

That's good to know, since my wife will likely qualify for FEIE next year as a 1099. Thanks.

# ¿ Apr 13, 2024 05:00

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > US Income Tax Thread: Bank error in your favor! GO DIRECTLY TO JAIL.