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Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.
Before Furu can get to it: tax specialist. The DC/MD thing is kind of a pain in the butt, but I think you basically have it right. Your amended return will reduce your MD tax burden and result in a refund, and when you file in DC you'll tell them how much you paid to MD for what months, and they'll reduce your tax by same (I did this for this year...basically told DC to exclude income earned in MD, and MD to exclude income earned while in DC).

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Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.
So I'm getting married this year, and am working on figuring out the tax implications and what I can do/take advantage of to maximize our tax savings. A few quick questions based on this:

1)Filing status is based on your status at the end of the year, so for me it will be married. Does this mean that I can change my withholding at work now to reflect "married" as my status (and therefore withhold less?)

2)The saver's credit lets you take a percentage of your qualified retirement contributions, but excludes you if you are a student. My income is slightly too high to qualify, but with my fiancee's we (married filing jointly) will be under the income limit. However, she is a student. Does this disqualify us entirely, or does it only disqualify the contributions that she makes to her own retirement account? (I.e., I can still claim my own because I am not a student and our combined income is less than 55k)?

3)Is there anything else (like the savers credit) that I could prepare for that a newly married couple might qualify for? No houses or anything like that, but I will be going from ~33k in income single to ~43k in income filing jointly.

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.
It makes a little sense to me as not 100% of that additional amount is gain - you've paid insurance premiums the whole time, so that money that is paid out is not simply coming out of nowhere - you've paid a fee to receive it.


To try one more time, does anyone have any insight into what changes I would make (if any) if I will get married in June? My fiancee is a student and makes about 20k/yr while I make 40k. Should I/can I change my withholding? Plan for any particular tax credits?

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.

Gimbal_Machine posted:

Just wondering why you'd go with this? Is it just the 'safe play'? If I had kept the money and done the work myself and bought a new car then installed new windows at a later time using 8k of my own money, I would be able to make the deduction, right? Seems logical to me that the decision to spend the insurance proceeds on energy upgrades was my decision to make, no?

Would the insurance have just paid you the remaining $4500 if you hadn't used it towards windows? Or was that amount only for the windows? I think if the money could have been used towards anything else, then you did legitimately "spend" all $8000 and should be entitled to the full deduction. I think that was confusion here...but IANATP

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.

seriously! posted:

In the year 2010, I took one class at a college (fall semester) costing me about $1100. I signed up for four spring classes but I did not attend.

I received a tax notice from the school (form 1098-t) early January saying that I was billed for $5500. This included the four spring classes I did not take and obviously did not pay for.

This tax year, students/their parents get about $2500 they paid in tuition reimbursed. I think my tax preparer used the information in this 1098-t to prepare my taxes.

Anyway, will this work itself out or do I have to tell him to redo my taxes and enter in the correct information?

The only way it will work itself out is if your university realizes their mistake and sends a corrected 1098-T to the IRS. Then the IRS will realize that you got a credit you shouldn't have and bill you for the difference. You'd have to redo the taxes to avoid this happening. Not sure if any penalties would be assessed?

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.

Monocular posted:

I'm eligible for a homestead credit in Wisconsin, and since I had roommates the form wants me to put down what percentage I paid in food, rent, and utilities. The rent is no problem because I can add, but what about food and utilities? We all bought our own food, and for utilities we'd just pay our share to the roommate in whose name they were. Can I just put down the rent and leave the others blank?

It sounds like this is actually pretty easy. If there were four of you, and you each bought your own food, then you paid for 25% of the food. If your utilities were divided evenly, then you paid 25% of the utilities, too.

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.
gently caress!

Just got a letter from Maryland saying that in 2009 I took the Tuition and Fees deduction on my federal tax but did not "submit a corresponding addition modification on my Maryland return". They are assessing $232 + interest in back taxes. After some googling, it looks like Maryland doesn't recognize the tuition and fees deductions so you're supposed to add back in the $4000 you deducted from federal income when calculating MD tax. Frustrating, as this is not at all clear from their online filing system (it would just go under "other additions"). Did I get this right? I can't seem to find any deductions in Maryland relating to being in school, so it just seems that I have to suck it up and pay this.

Is there any way to avoid paying the interest on it? I understand that with "honest mistakes" they will just charge you the back taxes?

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.

kaishek posted:

gently caress!

Just got a letter from Maryland saying that in 2009 I took the Tuition and Fees deduction on my federal tax but did not "submit a corresponding addition modification on my Maryland return". They are assessing $232 + interest in back taxes. After some googling, it looks like Maryland doesn't recognize the tuition and fees deductions so you're supposed to add back in the $4000 you deducted from federal income when calculating MD tax. Frustrating, as this is not at all clear from their online filing system (it would just go under "other additions"). Did I get this right? I can't seem to find any deductions in Maryland relating to being in school, so it just seems that I have to suck it up and pay this.

Is there any way to avoid paying the interest on it? I understand that with "honest mistakes" they will just charge you the back taxes?

Any love at all on this, even just to tell me I'm screwed, pay up?

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.

intensive purposes posted:

Thanks for the explanation of the self-employment tax.

For others that might be dealing with this, the reason that self-employment tax is different from income tax is that it rolls in FICA and Social Security taxes (which are normally withheld separately from income tax and are not refundable).

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.

Erwin posted:

I'm probably a moron but to me it seems strange that the OP doesn't address filing online, as there are so many choices, and surely one is better than the other.

HR Block or TurboTax. Both free, legit, and much easier to use.

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.

Mandalay posted:

Turbotax "Free" will still hit you for $31 for efiling the state return.

Oh, right. My state has free efile anyways so I always forget that.

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.

Pinkied_Brain posted:

So, my company is giving out RSUs (so basically stock) as compensation bonuses. And in the schwab website (through which they process it) there is an option of how to handle the stock awards, and the default option is "sell for taxes".

I noticed that my first award of 25 stocks become just 14, as 11 of them were sold for taxes.

Is there a better way for me to do this? Like would keeping the stocks for longer result in better tax rates somehow or is this something that I just have to pay no matter what just like my salary?

Furu got this, but basically what it comes down to now is say the taxes were $100: would you rather have $100 or $100 worth of shares (if you think the shares will gain value, you want the shares. If you think they will lose value, you want $100).

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.

Mattism posted:

You should have received a 1098-T from whatever school you attended that lists your qualified tuition expenses. I'm not at all familiar with Turbo Tax, but I'm sure it will calculate your credit (if any) once you plug in the information from that form.

Correct, Turbo Tax will use any information you provide from 1098-Ts to calculate any student credits, etc, you may get. In fact, if you tell it you're a student at any point it will specifically prompt you to enter your 1098T.

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.
Now that it is no longer tax season, I hope this question isn't too broad:

I just got married, and my wife is a student making nearly nothing. There are some tax credits (savers credit) that reward you for contributing to an IRA or retirement fund BUT they require that you not be a student. If one of us is a student and the other is not, how does this work?

Also, any tax credits or benefits of being married that I would need to watch out for?

Thanks!

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.
Nice, thanks Furo. Lick my married balls, government (just kidding, I love you government).

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.

Small White Dragon posted:

Should us lowly folks recognize this term?

I didn't but from his (har har) joke I get that it is an audit document =P.

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.
Were they Iraqi Dinars? (or Nazi Deutschemarks?) :tinfoil:

Hufflepuff or bust! fucked around with this message at 05:43 on Dec 2, 2011

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.

scribe jones posted:

people who don't google "<x> scam" before investing all their money in <x>, apparently

A friend of my mom's tried to convince her to "invest" in dinars - there are so many sites going around swearing that the dinar will RV ("revalue") by dropping 3 zeros, thereby making anyone that holds dinars 1,000x richer. What all these people seem to consistently fail to consider is the fact that this would instantly make every Iraqi a millionaire (and that it contradicts every example in history of how currency has changed in value). Google "dinar daddy" for a very entertaining read - watch out guys, the UN is going to change Iraq's currency in their computers, despite the fact that they have absolutely nothing to do with currency whatsoever!

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.

juststraightbangin posted:

Am I the only one missing the Google/Facebook spam about this? I've had two unrelated people inform me that they have made substantial dinar purchases and give me a very Unsolicited Emaily justification for doing so. I didn't ask either of them where they got the idea, but obviously it isn't a coincidence and there's some specific hustle going on that I'm not hip to.

It's just been around, people hear about it and if they are convinced there is usually some air of "it'll happen soon" that makes them tell people. Ridiculous. I really want to start a service where I just talk people out of this.

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.
Quick question: how does the saver's credit work when we are married filing jointly and one of us is a full-time student but the other is full-time employed? I know being a student disqualifies you, but it is unclear if only one of us is a student.

Another unrelated question: I own stock that was given to me by my grandfather as a minor. It was given to my dad in trust in TX under the "uniform gifts to minors", and on the stock account it states: STEPHEN MY DAD CUST AARON MYSELF UGMA TX.

Do I pay taxes on the dividends or does he, can he "transfer" the stock to me, and are there tax implications for doing so? I am no longer a minor or dependent, and the amount in question is ~1,500$

Hufflepuff or bust! fucked around with this message at 20:27 on Jan 12, 2012

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.

Admiral101 posted:

Whose identifying number (social security number or EIN) is on the stock account?

My pa's.

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.

Admiral101 posted:

Then he'll be receiving the 1099, and the IRS will be expecting him to pay the tax.

Thanks for the response! I think I included this on my taxes last year by mistake, then, but given the small amounts it apparently hasn't raised any red flags. Will keep this in mind for the future and see about transferring the stuff to me. If the shares are transferred to me, is this a taxable event for either myself or my dad? They are already "held" by me albeit in custodianship. How is my basis (for future sale by me) determined, is it the price when it is transferred, or when it was purchased?

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.

Admiral101 posted:

Depends on the value of the shares, but assuming your dad is married and the fair market value of the shares are below $26,000, then there's no taxable event or filing requirements. If they are above $26,000 then there's potentially gift tax implications, but unless your dad is a baller whose been giving away huge amounts of money for years then your dad (and you) won't owe anything for gifting.

Thanks for this - the value is definitely under that amount (only a couple thousand bucks). Now I just need to figure out the basis from when it was purchased a million years ago - to compound things, it is under a dividend reinvestment plan, so shares have been purchased in increments of about 10 dollars several times a year for like a decade, all at different dollar amounts. Oh well.

Also: I just found out that my wife hasn't been withholding anything from her earnings as a grad student, so our big refund just went down the tubes. Oh well.

EDIT: Do I have to figure out basis going back? Or is my basis if I sell it for a gain the difference between sale and transfer?
EDIT2: Nevermind, basis for gain is donor's basis. Crap.

Hufflepuff or bust! fucked around with this message at 16:19 on Jan 13, 2012

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.

Admiral101 posted:

If the basis isn't being listed on the investment statement, you may try calling the broker (if this stock is in a brokerage account). Basis in DRIPs can include account service fees and other poo poo that no one ever thinks of.

It's a DRIP run by the company, no fees but also not much reason to help me sort this out =P.

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.

Eris posted:

I have a really stupid question. I got married in September of this year for insurance reasons (shh, dont tell anyone, the wedding is in September!) and obviously, we need to file our taxes soon. I assume we should file married, filing jointly.

Stupid questions: Do we both fill out and file our taxes? Is one form enough for both of us? As in, we get one refund from our one jointly filed return, or do we both file?

Does that make sense?

Also, he's a grad student and makes less than $20k - should I even look into filing married, filing sep?

Married filing jointly will be one form (or online thing) all together, where you will input all the info about both you of you in one place (and get one refund, or owe one amount jointly).

If he's a grad student, probably not filing separately, it eliminates the tuition and fees deductions and the student loan interest deduction, which I assume he/you'll want to take advantage of.

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.

NancyPants posted:

I'm using Turbo Tax and it doesn't seem correct, but I'm also looking at the paper forms and I'm totally lost.

The first thing is my 1098-E says $1,227 paid in student loan interest. I paid part of this and my mother paid part. We're both liable for the loan, but she's a cosigner, my SSN is the borrower ID on the form, and I'm the only one who received one. After entering this form in Turbo Tax, my tax owed changed from $4 (it was $3 last year) to a refund of $191. I thought student loan interest paid was basically handed back to you up to the annual limit. Is this not even remotely how that works?

The second problem is I moved from Iowa to Nebraska in August 2011 while continuing to work in Iowa. My employer apparently didn't file my updated W-4 because my W-2 shows no tax withheld for Nebraska. Nebraska's IRS website says you're required to pay income tax to NE while a resident of the state and 1040-N schedule III allows for a credit of tax paid to other states. Where I'm lost is that I have no income from NE, and both the paper form and Turbo Tax seem to indicate I owe should have paid $0 taxes to NE.

What the hell am I doing wrong?

First question: That is not even remotely how that works. You don't get a refund, dollar for dollar, of student loan interest paid - if you pay $500 in interest, the government does not cut you a check for $500. Student loan interest is deductible from your income as an above-the-line deduction. So the credit you get will be amount of student loan interest paid times your tax rate (i.e., if you paid $100 in interest and are taxed at 15%, then you'll save 15$ in taxes by excluding $100 from your income).

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.

NancyPants posted:

Thanks for the explanation. That makes much more sense.

Does anyone have any answers for my 2 state return? I moved in August from Iowa to Nebraska and continued to work in Iowa. Nebraska only uses the federal W-4, which I updated to reflect my Nebraska address. I continued to have federal and Iowa withholding deducted from paychecks but have nothing on my W-2 for NE withholding. TurboTax seems to think I'm square with NE while getting a smallish refund from IA. Does that sound right?

My earlier reply seemed brusque - sorry if I came across as short. For question 2, I am definitely not a tax professional, but what I googled says:

the great state of Nebraska posted:

Partial-year residents of Nebraska who have income derived from or connected with Nebraska sources must file a Form 1040N and Nebraska Schedule III.
Partial-year residents are subject to Nebraska income tax on income included in federal AGI derived from or connected with Nebraska sources, while either a resident or nonresident of Nebraska.

This seems to indicate that because your income was not from "Nebraska derived from or connected with Nebraska sources", it is exempt from Nebraska state income tax - thus your tax software is correct.

For IA, you'd likely get a small refund because you were a non-resident for part of the year and you get a tax credit for the time you lived out-of-state per form 2011 IA 126 ("Iowa Nonresident and Part-year Resident Credit").

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.

Aquatic Giraffe posted:

I started a new job last month, didn't work last year so no taxes to file for 2011.

My new job is a freelance contract gig, so I have to do all the self-employment taxes. Since my income fluctuates from month to month I can't just put away X number of dollars each paycheck.

Is there any handy calculator for figuring out how much to take out of each paycheck and put away in a separate account for paying taxes next year? Or should I just make a habit of taking 30% out of each paycheck?

page 12

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p919.pdf

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.

demonachizer posted:

My wife and I file jointly and we both have income from normal jobs. In the last quarter of 2011 she started doing some side work as an independent contractor. She will probably take in 10k in 2012 from this work but this is a small fraction of our total income. Do we still have to file quarterly estimated payments if we generally get a return and if the 1099-MISC work is not the majority of her income?

You have to pay either 90% of your tax owed for that year, 100% of the tax you paid in the previous year, or owe less than $1000 after all is said and done for the year. Someone can correct me, but if tax on the 10k is less than 10% of your total tax, you should be OK. Otherwise yes you should file estimated payments to avoid the underpayment penalty.

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.

AbbiTheDog posted:

You are not correct about the 10% of total note. It's simply based on whether you paid in "safe" estimates during the year.

If you're a high-income taxpayer, the percentage to pay in rises to 110%.

If you live in a state that charges its own income tax, you might consider paying the state portion in early to increase your itemized deductions if you're not in AMT.

Thanks! The idea is that if you'll owe you should pay estimated taxes.

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.

The Macaroni posted:

Doing taxes through H&R Block online. I lived in Maryland for all of 2011, but I worked in Virginia and also own a rental property in Virginia. (The rental property income was $-500 after factoring in deprecation and expenses, according to my Federal return.)

I know I need to file a nonresident return for Virginia. When I first filled it out, it asked how much of my total wages were from Virginia. I entered the $50K in wages as well as the -$500 from the rental property. The system then told me I owed $2000 in taxes to Virginia. If I remove those wages, the amount owed goes to zero.

Did I do this wrong? I paid Maryland income tax on my Virginia taxes all year long, so it's not like I had no withholding. I've moved between states before and I don't remember ever having to pay an amount like this to the nonresident state.

there should be a section where you tell it how much you paid MD and it credits you for taxes paid to another state.

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.

squidtarts posted:

I got married last fall and just got a new job. I had to fill out my W4 form and because my husband makes a lot more than I do and I followed the steps on the form to calculate how much to withhold from each check, I ended up with something like only $44 deducted per pay period. That seems really low and I'm worried about getting screwed when it's time to file our 2012 taxes. My husband hasn't re-filed his form and is still withholding at the single rate. Would it be a good idea for me to do the same, just to be safe?

We're totally fine with having more withheld and getting a refund later so that we don't have to deal with the problems of not withholding enough.

There are a variety of calculators that should tell you what your husband and your combined tax liability would be for the year. As long as his withholding + your withholding * number of paychecks = your liability, more or less, you'll be fine. Better to avoid having a huge refund at the end of the year so you can do more useful things with that money (like, say, having it). It doesn't matter whose paycheck it comes out of...he could withhold enough for both of you, and you could have nothing withheld and you'd be fine.

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.

Chef Bromden posted:

I have a surprising amount of tax problems for someone who made so little money.
After last year's debacle I decided to go to H&R Block to get my taxes done. It was an absolute nightmare. the tax preparer I was scheduled to meet with called twenty minutes after our appointment was scheduled to start, to say she couldn't make it so they stuck me with someone else who only had about thirty minutes to help me.

I live in NY but worked in NJ, so I expected I would have to pay NYS something but that I would also have a NJ and Federal refund to offset that. That proved to be the case, and I owed NY 1400 or so dollars. The H&R block rep was very specific that I would only have to pay the difference, and that he had set it up so that my NJ and Federal Refunds would be used to offset whatever I owed NY. I had him repeat this, but he was very clear that I would not receive a check from NJ or the Federal, and that I only owed 1400-NJ-Federal. I just received two checks in the mail from NJ and the IRS. Should I just cash them and cut a second check to NYS IRS in that amount?

I am very confused and I don't want to owe anymore and I hate this tax system and I don't understand why this thread is the only place I can get sensible advice about taxes. I want to take it to the guy that has done my parents' taxes for the past 25 years, but apparently my father isn't speaking to him right now, so you goons are my only hope unless any goons happen to work in the Westchester, NY area want to help me out (yes I will pay you).

Oh, and can any goons who have worked for H&R Block explain what the "Compliance fee" is? I asked on H&R's facebook page and they gave the most evasive, kind of snarky answers possible.

*Ahem*

The H&R Block Guarantee: The H&R Block Guarantee is included with every tax return we prepare. If H&R Block makes an error on your return, we'll pay resulting penalties and interest. If you are audited, we'll explain your IRS tax audit notice and the documentation you should provide to the auditor.

http://www.hrblock.com/why-hr-block/our-guarantees.html

Get them to cough up, and next year call a goon :P

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.

furushotakeru posted:

Ah yes, another May, another love letter from Lacerte, another loving 10% fee hike.

How can they justify this? Either they are terrible at pricing their product or terrible at controlling costs.

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.

furushotakeru posted:

Just in case it wasn't obvious I was directly quoting Mitt Romney there, and I wasn't serious.

Fixed. Thanks safety net!

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.
Here's an odd situation: my wife worked as an editor for a publication based out of Slovenia. They paid her 1000 euros, of which they withheld 225 euros in Slovenian taxes. The remainder amounts to $984.71. They did not, and as far as I can tell, cannot issue her a W-2 or 1099. How do I report this? Do I say that she received 1000 euros in pay, and that she paid 225 euros in foreign taxes? Where does this info go? I'm telling her to quit this stupid job because the headache is not worth it.

Related: does anyone know how to file for a Slovenian tax refund?

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.

furushotakeru posted:

Yes the 1000 Euros is reportable as self employment income. You can claim a foreign tax credit for what was withheld to offset some of the US income tax. Use form 1116 to calculate the credit.

Where does the self employment income go? Do I pretend like she got a 1099?

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.
Posting here at the advice of the long-term investing thread:

I have two stocks that I have held forever (over a decade, at least) that have been enrolled in DRIP, with dividends getting reinvested continuously. Obviously this creates a nightmare for calculating basis should I ever wish to sell. I think that money would probably be better off in a Roth IRA - it amounts to about $2500 total across both stocks. These aren't through a broker, and I have some information in paper statements but this information is likely missing a chunk of data.

I will be, I think, in the 15% tax bracket this year - do I correctly interpret that I therefore don't have to pay capital gains tax, and thus would not need to determine basis? It occurs to me that I could save myself a lot of hassle by simply selling it all off in one fell swoop. I would owe short-term cap gains on the stuff purchased with dividends in the past year, but I have the records to figure that out. Everything else would have a 0% rate? I could then dump the money into a Roth and be happy. Does this check out?

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.

AbbiTheDog posted:

Any state taxes to consider?

Also if you ever have a restatement that pulls income/loses deductions and you bump up out from the 15% bracket you might be hosed. Even if it doesn't cost you any taxes, I'd still take a stab at the basis on your return.

Thanks for this response. I think for this year there is little chance of me moving out of the bracket, but state taxes is a good point. Yes, DC taxes. By "taking a stab" if I add up all the dividend payments I know about, and use average stock price for that year, to figure out amount invested (average yearly dividend) @ price (average price in 2002 for example) times number of years I've had it, is that close enough?

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Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.

Orange_Lazarus posted:

So I just read somewhere that a IRA deduction is actually not an itemized deduction and can be deducted alongside the standard deduction. I just wanted to confirm that before I start planning for the rest of this year and maybe next.

Any contributions to an IRA reduce your taxable income accordingly, whether you itemize or not. It is like having money used for pre-tax insurance premiums or etc.

Edit: oops, to a Traditional IRA, not a Roth. Unless you are thinking of the Retirement Savings Credit?

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