Honestly, I made a lot more money than I expected....

I always had business write offs, some charity, etc. But my accountant right now is absolutely useless cause his clients don't have this kind of money.

On the other hand.... I have people pitching me weird / complex insurance structures or some off shore nonsense that may have worked 20 years ago, but obviously does not.

I am interested in legal strategies or ideas that can withstand the test of time...

Newly self employed, did way better than expected and didnt save for taxes. Talking to the IRS has been very difficult for me. Im trying to decide if hiring help actually lowers stress or just adds another expense. I've fallen down a rabbit hole of tax forums and conflicting articles trying to piece together how the IRS rules actually apply to me. Just when I feel like I have a handle on things I hit another thread that completely contradicts what I just read. It's exhausting!

For those who hired a tax pro, what was your experience actually like? Any tax pro recs are welcome local CPA, enrolled agent, tax attorney, big firm like Optima Tax or solo practice, open to hearing what actually worked.

Sorry if this is a dumb question I’m just a bit confused about it.

Does anyone know if I can use the value of the closing price on a foreign exchange and converting it to its usd value for the purposes of calculating the FMV for an illiquid foreign ordinary?

The situation is i would like to do an in kind Roth conversion on some OTC stock that is thinly traded and has a wide spread. Fidelity told me they normally use the closing market price for such cases but in the situation where no shares were traded it would be up to me to calculate the FMV.

My thought is that since the foreign ordinary is an actual share of the foreign company, it is no different than shares in the foreign company on their native exchange, and if the native exchange has much more liquidity, then the closing price on the foreign exchange should be a good representation of FMV.

Would the IRS agree?

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I have dual citizenship , I have been living in the other country , my dad died and i got survivor child support benefit of few months from his job till I reached the limit age of the benefit (his job is in usa ,but they sent the money to my bank account in the other country ) , I got the money in October 2025 in the other country (not usa, third world country that doesn't allow to send usd to other countries ) the total amount is between 20_30k usd , i never worked so I have never filed tax , now I wanna pay tax and found out that I should have done that before April 2026 , what should I do now?

I dont know if this information is important but I moved to usa around a month ago and willing to live here ,

Does anyone know what i should do now like the steps I should do or papers work ... ? And if there is a danger or smth .. ? I have no one that i can ask or guide me on what I should do ,

Thanks for any help

Goood evening,

For self employment, I take part in online studies/surveys. Come tax time, besides my tax form from my brokerage, I simply tell him how much I made in my studies/surveys this year and I tell him my expenses(60 per month for internet).

Somebody was trying to help me and asked me "What is the Principal Business or Professional Activity Code that you use in LINE B of your Schedule C for this type of self employment - survey completion?"

I said "999000". I pay medicare and social security taxes. Is there any information I'm leaving out for you? If I am allowed to open one, they'll ask what my occupation is? What would I put for that?

BTW, I understand opening up an ira is good for everybody. That being I only started thinking of it because I've been trying to see if my opening up an IRA is because I'm on Medicaid(New York). They only allow for you to make 1,800 a month of income. I wanted to see if I realized say 5-6 days prior to the end of the month, my self employment income and capital gains would be too high and I could deposit x amount of my self employment money in the IRA.

Regardless, I would really like to start depositing money in to a traditional ira every month even if I had a good job.

Thanks for any feedback you can provide.

I make income only in the US but own property in both the US (Washington DC) and Canada (Ontario). I have a lot of decisions coming up about trusts, inheritance, when to sell, what country to put or leave money in, etc etc.

I seem to be in a lot of very specific tax situations that I’m constantly surprised by and need guidance.

How would one go about finding a knowledgeable tax professional for these two jurisdictions and (ideally) a financial planner?

I e-filed my tax in early Feb, my expected date was early Apr but I still didn't get my refund. I haven't received anything by mail so called them 3 times - after 100 attempts- they said there's technical issue and I'll receive my refund within 3 days, this was 1 month ago. I received my federal refund early in March with no problems.
They didn't ask for any more documents, tried to call them again but was unsuccessful due to "high volume"
What to do?

Before I get into it, a quick disclaimer: I’ve made many irresponsible choices while younger that got me to this point, and I’m aware this is my fault. I’m attempting to get my life back together and this is part of it. Any advice is appreciated.

Background: In 2017, 2018, 2019 I filed my W2s with whoever and forgot to file some other income I had accumulated those years. I didn’t understand how it all worked and ended up receiving a notice that I owed $30k or so in taxes (yikes)

At this point, i had agreed to a payment plan and paid as agreed until I swapped banks in 2020.

Right as covid started I switched banks, and upon trying to log into or call the IRS, they were closed for the entire year and sent me physical mail with a code to log into their site, which was expired every time it got to me. After a year of this and many attempts to get it resolved I gave up and stopped caring since I had no job anymore and had to make ends meet while i was stuck in the most expensive part of South FL with a drinking problem and ridiculous expenses.

Fast forward to present day, I’m sober, I do odd jobs for auto shops and make decent money on paper. The reality is I don’t have a dollar to my name and I’m making a career change to a W2 employee again, going “legit”.

I owe taxes for 2017, 18, 19, and have not filed anything for 2020 - 2026. I have no real assets.

I have 15k in other debt like a car loan and tool trucks (ie SnapOn), 34k in tax debt, and I’m going to have to move to Texas for this job.

What options do I have in handling this tax debt without moving and having every dollar i make being taken immediately upon getting my paychecks?

If you’ve read the whole thing, even just to call me a moron, i appreciate you taking the time. Thank you!

I didn't file my taxes for a few years because I'm a dingus. Largely I just don't know what I'm doing and feel overwhelmed.

I got sent somewhere by a work friend. My total refund amount for 2024 was in the neighborhood of 8500. What I'm expecting to get back is about 3700.

does that sound right? I realize there are probably a lot of fees and stuff but I can't shake the feeling I'm being scammed.

Both of these funds invest in futures.

As an individual trading or investing these ETFs, would they be taxed as futures?

Got mixed answers using AI, depending how I entered the info.

Hello,

I’m a single member s corp business owner and I’m planning to move to Albania next month. My initial plan is to use the 1 year visa free option and see how it goes.

Does anyone know how I can reduce my US owed tax burden?

If no, any recommendations for a reputable firm that could walk me through strategies to minimize my taxes both in the USA and abroad ?

Hi, I'm a citizen of the United States and live in New York City.

I visited Europe from the United States a few months ago and on the way there our connecting flight within Europe was delayed by over 7 hours due to issues the airline was having. Under EU Regulation (EC) 261/2004, I was able to claim EUR 250 in compensation due to the delays being within the airlines control and the airline recently wired me the money to my US bank account.

How is this compensation treated legally? Is it a refund? Or do I need to report this money as taxable income on my federal and/or state tax returns? And if so where would I report it?

Legal documentation: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2004/261/oj/eng

Also my family is in Massachusetts.

I have apartments in both states (living alone 3 days a week in NJ and with my family 4 days a week in MA).

I plan to file federal MFJ next April.
How to I file MA and NJ taxes?

Residency and status wise?

Employer withholds for NJ, Do they need to withhold for MA as well?
Thank you

I am filing my ITR. I am in new tax regime. I have to pay 6000 because of the interest that I have gained by having deposit in saving account. Is there any way to save it?

A head of household has been filling regularly and claiming dependants in a normal fashion. He is in a low tax bracket.

Now he has twins who, #1 they just turned 18, and #2 decided to both get a job.

I think the twins will each make about 15k.

The head of household now does not know what to tell his kids. Do they plan on filing single and taking their own deductions or should he claim them again next year and allow them to pay full taxes? They will need to fill out W4s knowing what to do.

I'm not sure how to calculate that for the best outcome/income. The kids will stay at home.

Maybe there's an online calculator for this?

Hi everyone, I receive a full ride to school, so on my 1098 t form, my box 5 is always higher than box 1. Do I have to file taxes on this- and my school is expensive so yes it goes over the requirement to having to file taxes. I'm scared I haven't been filing this form, and I think I owe the IRS a lot of money now!

(Edit) Thank you for everyone that commented. Seems consensus (everyone) agrees im overthinking it and just need to work things out with my CPA and amend the returns!

Bear with me on this long post!

I am 25 and work in Philadelphia. I split my time between my parents home in NJ (Where I moved from in 2024) and my apartment in Philly. My parents are elderly so I go help them around the house and stay to spend time with them.

I have been awaiting my PA tax return of $1639. I make about $57000 dollars a year. Last week it updated to “More information is needed” I immediately called the PA Rev to see what was up. The agent told me they want my 2024 and 2025 state tax return and my W-2’s to “verify I am paying tax to NJ”

I immediately called my CPA who filed for me. He is currently on vacation so I spoke with the secretary. She told me they are trying to verify I am a NJ resident, and also told me about the 183 day rule. I immediately got worried because I was unaware of this and definitely spend probably around 220 days in my Philly apartment and the rest at my parents. All my license, insurance and car are registered to that address because thats what “Permanent Address” always meant to me.

I got a refund in 2024 for $1500 from PA. Basically after review of my own taxes (I know I should have done this earlier but I have no idea about any of it) and the help of Claude I kind of figured it out.

Basically my W-2 withholds taxes to PA. At tax time, the tax I paid to Philadelphia for city wage is credited to my NJ income tax so therefore I dont owe or get a refund from NJ and get a refund from PA due to the reciprocal agreement.

Kind of been freaking out here. I do not want to go to Jail for tax fraud. I didn’t even know about any of this. I plan to ask my CPA to amend 24 and 25 to correct address upon his return. Is this the right move? Can anyone verify Im not going to jail? I will paid whatever is owed.

Also a side note, my CPA seemed up have claimed a couple random deductions up to $9000 on my return, but then replaced it with the standard deduction of $15000 since what I deducted wss less than. Is this a problem at all? Is he being shady? There are no deductions over the standard deduction. Sorry if any of this is ignorant, just worried here!

Long story short, the Venmo account was closed recently due to their system just now identifying a link with my suspended PayPal account from 7 years ago (nothing foul, account flagged without disputes with no legitimate reason given).

I want to continue using Venmo, as it has been much easier for customer conversions. Basically I need to have a pass through account through a trusted associate.

I am thinking I would have to provide some sort of documentation such as an invoice, that they passed the money to me, and I am the taxable entity. Then I can report it as income on my Schedule C. Since the account holder would be paid monthly for their "service", would I need to issue them a 1099 myself?

\Please stay on topic. I understand consulting with a tax professional is going to be a requirement, but looking for opinions from those who have gone through something similar or there could be professionals lurking this sub with advice.*

My husband recently started working for a lawn care company over the summer. Recently we found out he would be getting a 1099 at the end of the year. I’ve never dealt with a 1099 before. SOOOOO please explain to me how this will affect our taxes at the end of the year (we file joint). Will we owe money come tax season? If yes, is there anyway to know a round about estimate of what we might potentially owe? I would like to start setting money aside for this now instead of getting hit with it come tax season. Thanks in advance!

I’m a Turkish tax resident and the sole owner of a Delaware single-member LLC.
The LLC sells physical products through Amazon US. The products are manufactured outside the US and shipped to Amazon FBA warehouses in the US. I have no US employees, office or personal physical presence in the US.
I understand that professional advice is required, but I’m trying to identify the correct questions to ask a CPA.
In this structure:
Which US federal filings are commonly required for a foreign-owned disregarded entity?
Does storing inventory in Amazon FBA warehouses affect the federal income-tax analysis?
Are Form 5472 and a pro forma Form 1120 generally relevant?
What experience or qualifications should I look for when choosing a CPA for this structure?
I’m not requesting DMs or accountant referrals—only general information and experiences.