I just had a moment where I realized all of my past year's returns and tax docs are only on my computer and if something happened to my computer I'm f'd.

How are you storing past returns and docs?

I don't really want to do a physical hard drive because that doesn't solve the "what if my house burns down" issue.

2 places I'm thinking:

1. Google Drive - I use 2fa. Thinking about encrypting or even not encrypting and uploading to a private folder.

2. 1Password - Store as "Document"

Hopefully this is not too dumb of a question. I can see what I owe for given tax years (under Account Balance) and I can see the payments I've made (under Payments) but I can't see whether or what the payments have been applied to the interest that's accruing. Am I missing a way to do this (apart from DIY Excel good times?)

Hi,

I’d love to make sure I am thinking of this correctly.

Husband and wife owned assets in a Revocable Trust with their SSN as the tax identifiers. Non-community property state. Wife passed away early in 2026, so 50% of the account was stepped up in basis. Husband passed away later on in 2026. All of the assets were still held in the Revocable Trust with his SSN as the tax identifier.

My understanding is that the full account would now receive a step up in basis to his date of death. Is this correct?

Thank you!

Okay so I made a mistake early in the year and checked the “exempt from withholding” box while adjusting my tax info. My most recent paystub said my YTD federal taxes paid is $1,400. Last year, $7,900 was withheld through my W2, and I was refunded $3,950. I’m expecting my income to be roughly the same as it was last year, about $69,000. My question is what exactly do I need to do at this point to avoid penalties?

I’m asking about U.S. federal taxes in a regular taxable brokerage account.

Suppose I repeatedly sell and repurchase the same stock every five days, creating a chain of wash sales:

I start trading one share in January.

In June, I add a second share. From then on, I buy and sell both shares together in the same transactions.

After accounting for previous wash-sale basis adjustments, the two shares carry different accumulated losses.

My final purchase of both shares is November 20, and I sell both together on November 25, fully exiting the position. Assume the adjusted losses on that final sale are $10,000 for one share and $1,000 for the other.

On December 15, I accidentally buy one share of the same stock and hold it through year-end. Assume there are no other relevant purchases, including in other accounts.

My understanding is that this replacement share causes a wash sale for only one of the two shares sold. How do I determine which loss is deferred—the $10,000 loss or the $1,000 loss?

I’ve read that Treasury Regulation §1.1091-1(b) uses original acquisition order when the order of same-day sales cannot be determined. But here, both final shares were acquired together on November 20 and sold together on November 25.

Does the matching rule look back to the January versus June origins of the wash-sale chains, use the latest actual purchase date, or apply some other tie-breaking rule? Is there any permitted taxpayer choice?

I’d especially appreciate a citation or guidance addressing this exact situation.

We have a taxable joint brokerage with my 20 yr old son. He reports the earnings on his tax return. We've been putting all his gift money and earning there and it has grown to $40K. What will be the tax consequences if I remove my name from the joint account? Should I just keep my name in there?

Not related to tax. I am thinking of having him create a revocable trust and put this brokerage under the trust. I don't have any cost for the trust creation since my legal plan fully covers that. Is having the trust better than simply having a transfer on death beneficiary?

Hello,

My W-4 has an exempt status from federal taxing. I will have my recruitment incentive during the second pay period in 2 weeks. Is it going to be added to my regular biweekly amount? What taxes will I need to pay?

When i was a minor, I used to develop software and I got paid in LTC mainly but a couple tiny ETH transactions. I didn’t use online exchanges because of my age, only an offline wallet, which I changed multiple times to new wallets. I used the swap feature on Exodus to swap my LTC to USDC to preserve the value because I wasn’t able to sell it as a minor, but it ultimately lead to capital losses from swapping at the wrong times. I sometimes spent and sent LTC too.

I currently have $1100 USDC in an offline wallet, I’m an adult now and I want to sell it all, but I wanted to look into the tax implications before I move it into an online exchange. Consider any transaction records from the past gone, because it’s an absolute jumbled mess. Ultimately, I took a capital loss but I don’t care about writing that off. I just want to do the process safely, even if it means overpaying. I’m not sure if I should put the cost basis as $0, $1, or something else entirely.

USDC is a stablecoin roughly equal to the US dollar, but I worry the payment in LTC and swaps over the years may complicate it. Despite having an ultimate capital loss from swapping LTC to USDC, the swaps occurred over a course of years, and some were gains too.

Do I have to file back taxes? At the time, I believed I didn’t need to file as I had under 12.6K annual income as a minor. But now, I’m reading apparently $400 is the threshold to file, even as a minor?

I live in the U.S., in a state with no state income taxes.

My mother is reaching the stage of needing nursing care. 50+ years ago my parents bought multiple townhouse properties in a different state than she currently resides. Individually the homes are less than $200k each. She needs to sell to pay for care. My sister did mom's taxes last year and said selling 1 property last year was over a $30k tax hit. Now we need to sell the others, but that's an unexpectedly large % of the expected gain. My sister is not a professional. I think we could potentially help my mom more by hiring a professional tax preparer or accountant. How would I find a good professional (knowledgeable, trust-worthy, licensed, etc)? I've no idea how to go about this or what I'm looking for. Appreciate any advice.

Anyone trading US options from Australia? Just wanted to get an idea about how you manage the income statements during tax times, whether you treat it as a business income or CGT (Especially if you're doing it as a source of income). Based on what I read online, it needs to be treated as business income. Having doubts on how the records should be shown when lodging tax returns. TIA. I believe this depends on the volume of work as well, but would love to know how others are managing this. TIA.

Solo Canadian musician touring the US through my Canadian corp. Venues often withhold 30% (issued on 1042-S). I'm filing 1120-F to deduct expenses and get a refund. Due to Canadian provincial tax rules, leaving net profit in the corp triggers double taxation. To avoid this, I need to pay the remaining U.S. profit to myself personally as a performance fee/salary.

My Questions:

1. Is it allowed? Can my foreign corp legally deduct my owner/performer salary on Form 1120-F to zero out (or nearly zero out) the U.S. corporate profit?
2. How to do it properly? Must the corp register as a U.S. withholding agent and issue me a W-2 or 1042-S to claim this deduction, or is there a standard workaround for foreign loan-outs that avoids setting up U.S. payroll?

I have a client who has been receiving late payment penalty notices for a couple of years and I have no idea what to do at this point. His payroll tax was submitted before the due date. However, his payment was settled 4 days later, so the IRS says the payment was late. I've argued with them for 2 years over this. Is the payment date not actually the day you submit it but the day that the IRS processes it?

This may be a stupid question, but I saw that a local Jackson-Hewitt is hiring entry level tax preparers for next season. I’m currently a college freshmen, and I am currently taking financial accounting 1, so I know I have essentially zero experience. Is this something that only juniors and seniors will apply for or is it truly “no experience required?”

I will be receiving a settlement on a lawsuit brought by my husband, he would not have had to pay tax as the suit involved injuries and is medically-related…he has recently passed away…since I am now on the receiving end, will I owe tax since I am not him and was not the one injured?

Back in 2023 I inherited an IRA from my mom who passed (I believe this was originally my dads who passed before her). This is now sitting in my Fidelity as an inherited IRA and I’ve been taking the RMD.

Today I got an audit letter from state of Wisconsin that I missed the full amount on taxes because I had a 1099-R for it (which yes I somehow missed).

However on that 1099-R it has the full amount as a gross distribution. Does this make sense if it’s still sitting in an IRA? Would that still be a distribution?

Hi!

I recently paid taxes from past years and had it scheduled for the 15th. However when I logged in, it got rid of one of the year I owed and said that 2024 was pending. I did end up paying the full amount, outside of the 2025 refund being applied— which means it’s been overpaid.

Ive already contacted the TA—- to no response. I originally just filled out a form and emailed it. Would calling be helpful?

The notice to applying the refund doesn’t technically upload until 10/26, so I’m waiting on that.

This just sucks since I wanted to buy a mattress finally after sleeping on my floor for months after moving to an unfurnished place.

Any advice would be welcomed!

Hi folks.

I had a consulting business under a CA single member LLC with this 401k and 401K Roth plan.

I closed the LLC in Jan 2025, with the business having ceased operations in 2024.

I would like to roll them respectively into my traditional and Roth IRAs (housed at a different custodian). It’s possible I may want to rollover only the Roth 401K plan/portion. For IRS reporting I have them as plans 001 (regular) and 002 (Roth).

I don’t recall putting in any specific restrictions when setting them these plans beyond whatever was in the boilerplate, in terms of rollover.

I moved from CA to FL and set up a new FL single member LLC in Feb 2025, with a similar consulting service intention. However, I’ve not done any business under it. I will likely close it before EOY 2026. It did not have any retirement plan attached.

1. How do I need to proceed to roll the CA LLC 401K and Roth 401K? Is it possible to rollover just the Roth 401K (plan/)portion?

Of course it’ll go on my 2026 1040 tax return, but do I need to also do anything as administrator, besides reflect any change that goes on form 5500 as a result?

1. I’d like to take out my contribution basis from the Roth IRA (minus a less-than-5yr pretax IRA to Roth IRA conversion amount) including the contribution basis in the rolled over Roth 401k amount. I understand that once converted to Roth IRA, there is no restriction to be prorated (amongst basis and earnings like a 401k withdrawal) and is treated like any other directly contributed (non-converted) basis in the Roth IRA.

Am I getting this right? Anything else I need to think of? Do?

1. Also pretty sure I’m totally overthinking at this point, but does the existence of my Florida LLC (without any transaction to date) somehow mean a continuation of my being “in-service” vis a vis my plan under the old (now closed) CA LLC??

— I can close the FL LLC tomorrow if needed.

— I need to be able to do the rollover and Roth basis withdrawal as soon as possible/ in the next month or so.

Thanks a lot.

The beneficiary wasn’t named disabled on paper before the age of 46 so no ABLE account. This is also not a qualified disability trust incase the title didn’t indicate that already.

I am my mom’s trustee. I am trying to figure out if who did the trusts taxes the last 10 years missed out on using K-1. One person said her trust wouldn’t qualify for deductions or anything to lower the tax liability other than trustee fee and tax prep fee. I didn’t question it. My Finacial advisor is pressing me to find a qualified cpa to clarify whether this was true or not. The beneficiary also does not receive SSI in case that matters. I’m wondering if the cpas in the past thought she did and that’s perhaps where the potential mix up came from. Two of the last returns were marked qualified disability trusts without asking me about this. The trust document was in the folder stating it was a complex trust.

Please explain the schedule K-1 with the above type of trust to me. I’m wondering if I should have some returns amended because I did need to okay getting her teeth fixed and having cataract surgery of which insurances did not cover. Also car stuff and other general things for her quality of life over the years- computer, clothes, toiletries, holiday decorations etc.

The income up until this year was “high” because of some rmds from an Ira but I believe last year was the last. At 37% it broke my heart seeing so much money going to tax land. The trust is likely not going to last the remainder of her life so I hope there’s something I can do in the meantime.

If I do have the option of amending a bunch of returns I’m also concerned about what potential can of worms that would cause. Does the irs freeze those accounts and do their own investigation to make sure they’re not giving you back more than you’re due? I don’t really want to start anything that is going to make her go without unless it’s worth it.

TLDR Help me understand complex irrevocable special needs trust and k-1s to lower tax liability or if this is possible. Have had a few cps not specializing in these trusts and Finacial advisor recommended reaching out to a specialist but can’t find any in my areas. May have not had correct info over the years and need to amend taxes- is it worth doing? Worries about assets freezing during the process and mom going without. Mom not on SSI

Dad bought a $20,000 car and transferred it to his son Sam, who agreed to pay Dad back in installments of $1,000 per month. [After Sam lost his job and could not make the payments,] Dad, feeling sorry for Sam, told him he would only have to pay $15,000 [waiving the last $5,000]. Would you characterize the following as a part-gift/part-sale? OR COD subject to a price reduction? OR something else entirely?

Alternatively,

John bought a tractor worth $20,000 from his friend Joe two years ago. Joe allowed John to cover the cost of the tractor by making twenty equal payments of $1,000 each month. After he made the third payment, John lost his farming job and remained unemployed for 6 months. Because he did not ever expect to recover all that he was owed, Joe agreed to waive the remaining payments. If Burt were neither insolvent nor in bankruptcy proceedings, Sam’s gesture would cause Burt to have? Similarly, would you characterize the following as a part-gift/part-sale? OR COD subject to a price reduction? OR something else entirely?

Is there a difference between these two hypos?

Hi,

Not sure if this is the right place, but new to MA and am seeking a tax advisor based on some changes to my situation. Recommendations on how to filter through options?

- Resident of two states this tax year
- K-1 from a CA based S Corp (of which I am an active participant and but am a nonresident of CA for the entire tax year.) Not sure how much the S Corps PTET election would complicate it either.

Essentially, just looking for someone to help me navigate the multi-state issue (3 total) and K-1 distributions. Or, is this easily achievable through self preparation providers? I’m relatively knowledgable on tax concepts, but don’t want to wait until this last minute in the event I need professional assistance.

Thanks!

Location: US

Sorry if this is complicated or vague or just doesn't belong here, but I have legal residency in my home state due to family obligations and a career involving short term positions all over the place (doesn't make sense to re register myself and my car in every state i spend a few months to a year in). I'm considering a position in an area I've already worked, which is nowhere near my legal residence state, but housing in the area is extremely expensive. Housing just over the state line in a THIRD state is much cheaper, but I'm worried about being triple taxed and from what I've heard the two neighboring states don't have tax reciprocity agreements.

How bad could this potentially end up being for me if i were to live and work and be legally a resident of three different states for the better part of a year or so? Would I still have to file in the state I'm renting in if I don't own property or earn an income within the state? I've filed in two states before but one is always my home state and the other is where I'm working so it's been pretty straightforward.

Got a $19,000 CP283 penalty for late filing of Form 5500-EZ 2024 on a two-participant 401(k) S Corp owners. Filed the delinquent return on 10/15/2025 and included a reasonable cause statement with the filing.
Submitted an abatement response through the IRS online portal shortly after. It's now mid-October 2026 and my IRS online account just shows the original balance plus ~$400 in interest with no indication the abatement request was received or is pending.

I recall either uploading the penalty file to website or certified mailing (but I can’t find the receipt)!
Should I just call and request First-Time Abatement verbally at this point, or resubmit via certified mail form 843? If I call what do I ask ?
Does the interest get abated too if the penalty is removed?
Any experience with CP283 specifically or Form 5500-EZ penalties appreciated.

Likes to hire inept people that ask basic bookkeeping questions and hand in incomplete books. Personal return has a Sch E with two properties, state return, state LLC return. Taxpayer also also has three 1120 returns that require a balance sheet & each have a state return.

Type of client that wants to hand in late or very last minute abysmally prepared financials and expect you to have everything to them within days.

And yeah..they ignore everything in the engagement letter ugh.