I’m 15 and live in California. I’ve earned around $5,500 in 2026 doing short-form video clipping/content creation. About $1,000 is currently still sitting on the platform waiting to be withdrawn.

The account and linked bank account are in my name, and I’m the person who actually performs all the work. However, because I’m a minor, the platform required my mom to complete KYC using her identity. Support told me that because my mom completed KYC, they technically consider the income hers.

For federal and California tax purposes, does using my mom’s identity for KYC necessarily make the $5,500 her income, or can the income still be considered my earned/self-employment income because I actually performed the work?

I’m just so confused and frustrated right now, I thought the money would be reported as my income.

Let’s say your FAFSA covers tuition and fees and you get a few thousand back that you use for food, living expenses, etc. Do you need to report it for taxes?

Edit: even if they are not taxable, do you still need to report them?

Edit: I went to school like 6 years ago and I never reported as income. I’m worried that this was a crime

I recently inherited an IRA worth approximately 500k. Beneficiary IRAs are required to be dispersed in 10 years. I’m 51 wife is 52 household income is $250k. I’m curious what my best option would be tax wise as far as lump sum vs spread out evenly over the 10 year period. Is there anything I can do to avoid or limit the tax burden?

I thought I knew it, but discussing with some colleagues has gotten really confused.

Consider the following scenarios, which are wash sales?

Scenario A

• Starting with 0 shares of ABC
• Buy 100 shares of ABC on 8/1 @ $2
• Sell 100 shares of ABC on 8/15 @ $1

Scenario B

• Starting with 100 shares of ABC, purchased 2 years ago @ $2
• Buy 100 shares of ABC on 8/1 @ $2
• Sell 100 shares of ABC on 8/15 @ $1 from 8/1 lot

Scenario C

• Starting with 0 shares of ABC
• Buy 100 shares of ABC on 8/1 @ $2
• Sell 50 shares of ABC on 8/15 @ $1

I would have thought all 3 are wash sales. And if you replaced the manually "buy" with an RSU vest, it's still the same.

But now I'm being told they're not wash sales for A and B which seems wrong to me.

--

Edit 1: I think the parts that are confusing is that Rev. Rul. 56-602 supports no wash sales for A and B, and C is a wash sale; while Pub 550 implies all 3 scenarios are wash sales.

Edit 2: clarify the sell is from the 8/1 lots.

My EA preparer made an error on my 2024 CA return. I discovered it when I was preparing my 2025 return in 2026. It was not a calculation error, but a failure to report income that resulted in a refund of ~$450 more than I should have received. I immediately repaid the overpayment to stop the clock on interest accruing.

I contacted the preparer and he agreed to cover the interest and penalties, which he estimated would be about $250. But I just received the notice from FTB and they are saying I only owe $36.88. That is such a huge difference that I thought I would check in here to see if that sounds right.

P.S. I did review the return before it was submitted, but this income is from a new asset that I had just inherited and I didn't know how it was supposed to be reported, which is why I hired someone for the first time ever.

I've recently been laid off from my job and have a new one lined up, the onboarding is requesting a w-4 form which I have never had to do before.

From googling and looking around I understand the simplest way for single with no dependents is putting such (and I am,) but I run into a wall with the "extra withholding" box. It's _demanding_ a number of at least 1, and I can't put 0.

Im not even entirely sure what I'm SUPPOSED to put for it if anything. Everyone here knows you don't want to get this stuff wrong

I own a single member LLC and one of the my customers is offering me X00,000 non-qualified stock options as part of my compensation package. I am wondering if my LLC can be granted the stock options or whether I have to personally "accept" them?

Someone asked for advise about filing their 2025 taxes. I didn't have an answer so I thought I'd ask the community...

They didn't make any income last year but had a $10k loss in an investment. Since there is income this year, a tax advisor suggested they file for 2025 but not include the loss because it will trigger an audit and decrease their accumulated social security benefit. Does anyone have any insite? Thanks

Hey everyone,
My fiancé and I are 100% committed and view the legal registry date as just a formality (big wedding ceremony comes later). We were planning to register next year, but looking at the numbers, rushing to city hall before Dec 31st saves us roughly $4,000 in taxes.
Since $4k is way too much money to leave on the table, I want to double-check my tax logic:
Me: F-1 visa, currently NRA for tax purposes (no standard deduction). Got H1B lottery, effective in Oct.
Fiancé: Resident Alien (RA).
Plan: Get legally married this year and elect IRC § 6013(g) to file Married Filing Jointly (MFJ).
My understanding:

1. 6013(g) treats me as an RA for income tax, unlocking MFJ and the ~$32k standard deduction (saves us ~$4k, additional $16k*24%)
2. Both of us reside in the US and I will become an RA next year anyway, so worldwide income reporting isn't an issue (no foreign assets/income to worry about).
3. We both just have basic W-2s and minimal investment income.
4. Won't retroactively affect my prior NRA FICA tax exemptions.
5. Year 1 requires paper filing with a signed 6013(g) statement (e-file available starting Year 2).

Questions:
Is my logic solid? Is there any potential drawbacks that I’m missing?
Thanks in advance!!

We moved from California to Pennsylvania in the middle of last year. Our 1099-Rs don’t accurately reflect which state we resided in at the time of the distributions—they show a large amount as CA income that we actually received after we moved to PA.

Part of this is because it took us a few months after moving to get all our addresses updated with all our pension and retirement account providers, etc. But some of the providers also just issued a single CA 1099-R for the entire year’s payments, even though we updated our address and stopped CA withholding mid-year.

We gave our CPA detailed instructions about our move timeline and expected him to use that to fill out our California return. But we recently found out he ignored our instructions and just went fully off the 1099-Rs. This has resulted in us paying way more CA tax than we think we actually owe.

When we brought this up with him, he said it’s basically impossible to “disagree” with a 1099-R. He said it can’t be done through e-filing, and if we try, California will fight us and we’ll never get a refund of what we’ve already withheld. He claims our only option is to get revised 1099-Rs from our pension/retirement account providers splitting the income up by state based on our move date, and then he can amend using the corrected forms.

Everything I’ve read makes me think he’s wrong—that a 1099-R is just an information return, and we should be able to report income based on actual residency and be ready to defend it if CA comes asking. But maybe he knows something I don’t?

I would greatly appreciate any insight on how to handle this. Thanks!!

Edit: he also marked us as “Non-residents” for some reason on our CA return as opposed to part-year residents. But I think this is a much smaller deal than the overstatement of California taxable income…

We get a fair number of questions here that are some variation of:

"I'm an influencer/content creator. If I make a video about [vacation/clothes/car/restaurant/gym/whatever], can I write it off?"

Well, the Tax Court has finally given us an actual influencer case to talk about.

Meet Suleiman Sami, the taxpayer in Sami v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2026-69. The Tax Court case can be seen at:

https://dawson.ustaxcourt.gov/case-detail/8834-23

(Item number 73 is the opinion.)

Mr. Sami had a regular job as an IT manager, but he also operated a small marketing firm as a side gig. His side businesses included transportation services, ticket reselling, and social media influencing. His social media content focused heavily on celebrities, athletes, and entertainers.

And Mr. Sami was apparently willing to spend some serious money creating content.

Among other things, he spent thousands of dollars on celebrity experiences, including Grammy tickets, Emmy tickets, and experiences involving Benedict Cumberbatch, Matt Damon, and Mark Ruffalo. He then posted content from some of these experiences on social media.

The argument was essentially that these were marketing expenses. Meeting celebrities created content, content attracted followers, followers helped build his brand, and therefore the expenses were related to his business, and even helped expand his business.

There is some logic to that.

The Tax Court was not particularly impressed with that logic. The Court found that the primary purpose of these expenses was personal. The fact that Sami subsequently used the experiences to create social media content didn't magically transform them into ordinary and necessary business expenses under §162 (section 162 is the section of the tax code that deals with deducting business expenses).

So what should influencers and content creators take away from this?

Making content about something doesn't automatically make it deductible. If you take a vacation, buy clothes, attend a concert, eat at a restaurant, or do something else primarily for personal reasons, filming it and putting it online doesn't necessarily turn it into a business expense.

Otherwise, I'm starting a YouTube channel devoted exclusively to reviewing Caribbean resorts.

“Marketing” isn't a magic word. There needs to be a bona fide business purpose for the expense. What was the primary reason you spent the money, and how does it relate to actually carrying on your business? Is it ordinary and necessary for your business (something may be ordinary and necessary for a roofer or chef that is not ordinary and necessary for a courier or doctor)?

Keep meticulous records. Sami also had significant substantiation problems. Bank and credit card statements prove you spent money. They don't necessarily prove why you spent it. Keep receipts, separate business and personal expenses, and document the business purpose while you can still remember it.

Influencer expenses absolutely can be deductible. The Court did allow some expenses. The rule isn't that influencers don't get business deductions. It's that influencers are subject to the same basic rules as everyone else: the expense has to actually qualify as a business expense, and you need to be able to substantiate it.

A personal expense doesn't become a business expense just because you posted it on social media.

If you're a content creator, ask yourself why the business needed to incur the expense, then keep the records that will let you answer that question if the IRS asks three years from now.

Because “but I got 17,000 views!” is probably not the substantiation your examiner is looking for.

Also, shout out to u/GoatEatingTroll who has a great reply that I always link in influencer threads:

https://www.reddit.com/r/tax/s/c753Yv9Mw9

I’m in the unenviable position of having moved back to my home state and trying to help my aging and chaotic (autism, AdHd and mental illness involved) parents get their financial life in order. In the process I have learned with horror that 2016 is the last year they filed a tax return, and every year since they have been filing extensions but never actually filing a return or paying taxes after that. So no federal or state taxes have been paid, or refunds received, since 2016.

I’ve done digging around on their IRS online accounts and they aren’t in any immediate trouble, haven’t been audited, and IRS doesn’t have any outstanding actions against them. But I want to get them out of their hole and back on track before anything bad happens. My understanding from research (correct me if I’m wrong) is that the IRS generally wants people to at least get their last 7 years of taxes done before you can be considered “current” though for peace of mind I’d like to have them do all 9 years.

My major concern is that I’ve also discovered that my dad has not been having any taxes withheld from his social security payments, and their total income for the household is between $155,000-$170,000 ish with his SS included. As far as I understand it, this puts him in a bracket where his SS will be taxed at 22% come tax day. This has born out when I’ve prepared their returns for 2025, 2024 and 2023 and the owed taxes are showing as between $3,300 to over $6,000 depending on the year. My mom has normal W2s and has taxes withheld from those.

I have filed the 2025 returns but haven’t yet filed the 2023, 2024 or others— which I will need to file by mail. I’m getting very concerned because it seems like once I finish preparing their back taxes, they could owe upwards of $30,000 or more in unpaid taxes if the social security payments haven’t been getting taxed this whole time. And this isn’t even taking into consideration what state taxes (Oregon) will be due.

I’m looking for any advice that people have on handling a situation like this. My parents are already in significant debt and dealing with other financial crises such as having not paid their property taxes for years, either. There is no universe where they can pay these kinds of back taxes. I have read that it’s possible to ask for payment plans with the IRS, but don’t understand if it’s possible to do it for nine years worth of taxes. I’m also not sure if maybe I should prep all the returns but wait to file some of them until later when they’ve made progress on paying other years, so everything doesn’t come due at once. Any advice appreciated.

TLDR: my parents haven’t paid taxes since 2016 and might owe tens of thousands of dollars in back taxes that they cannot afford to pay. What can I do?

I just had a baby August

If eligible for Ctc and eitc

Do I put 4000 in step 3

I am single

I make 25000 a year

Average 642 a week

I’ll try to best explain this. So basically my mom used to work for my uncles business she would help out my mom at that time my mom opened a bank account in her name but with that business attached my mom also opened me one when I was under 18 so the account is mine but my mom had access to it. Years passed I am now 21 (my birthday is actually tomorrow 🙂) anyway my mom called me and said because my uncle has taxes unpaid they sent out a levy so they went after my moms account and then went after mine took everything like zero dollars left over. Doing some research it was because my uncle got the tax warrant and it went after every account that was connected so my moms and then mine because mine was connected cause we never disconnected cause we just never thought of it. So now I just started college and got everything taken. Is there anything I can do with a little research I found out I can request a refund by giving proof but can I do it myself or does it have to be my uncle or mom on my behalf. Any insight on this would be appreciated sorry if it’s hard to read I can clarify if any questions

I attempted to file my taxes this year using HR Block. My taxes are super simple. Standard deduction and taxes were paid from every paycheck. Expecting a return around $1300.

I tried to file my taxes, and it was rejected because I had forgotten they sent me a pin. I found the letter, and filed my taxes again and it was accepted.

4 weeks later, I just received Letter 4883c. I have called at random times every single day for the last 10 days, and every time it says the hotline is overloaded and no one can take my call and I can try online. I am unable to login online using my ID.me thing

I honestly don't know what to do. Any suggestions? Is there a chance this was from the rejected tax filing and my other filing with the Pin will go through?

Hey everyone, I am a professional video editor and have a question about doing a write off for a purchase for my Editing computer. I am a W-2 employee through a staffing company that has me contracted to a a fashion brand. I am fully remote and use my own computer to work on because either company I work for does not provide work computers which is about the standard for being a video editor.
It is looking like I will need to do a parts upgrade on my computer and since this is my work computer and not a personal entertainment device. Would I be able to write off a graphics card update?

I have used HR Block tax software in past years and they used to have a nice section that allowed me to estimate quarterly tax payments. I'm on W2, and my wife has variable income throughout the year from a combo of W2 and 1099.

Problem is that starting in HRBlock 2025, the software for the estimated taxes has been pared back and even has some major calculation errors (ie, likely a negative sign flipped somewhere so the more you pay the more it says you owe). Plus it no longer makes it easy to calculate estimated W2 witholdings, and forces you to guess at the quarterly payments. Does anyone use this software and can confirm this is not an isolated case?

I really like having a standalone software with all my data local. Does anyone else know of any good alternatives?

It might be categorized as a stipend. Does an employee need to file income tax if they have no other income, no wages or anything, and unpaid wages that they never received (no w2 no nothing)?

54 year old planning to retire to Portland in 4 years from Texas.
When I stop working I estimate my traditional 401 k will be 800k and I have a brokerage account of 1.2 million that has 1 million as capital gains.
With Portland charging so much for income tax and capital gains tax am I better off taking the hit while I still live in Texas. Do a full 401 k to Roth conversion in one year and rebalance my brokerage account getting taxed about 20 percent?

Hopefully this is the right group to post to.

Hello,

Back in 2022-2023, I had contributed to my traditional IRA and was able to max it out, I got a much higher job at the end of 2023 so I started contributing to my Roth IRA every year after that. Well looks like in 2027 I will be over the IRA income limit as a single person. So I am trying to do some research and planning regarding the best option for me. I do not pay state income taxes.

I have roughly $8,500 in my traditional IRA from previous years contribution. Max limit at the time was $6,500 and I fully funded it for the year.

Since I learned roth is better over traditional for high earners I have been maxing out my roth come first of the year since 2024.

I called my current brokerage and they said I would fund the traditional IRA for 2027 and convert it to roth. Fill out a 8606 form for the IRS and on my merry way. I asked the representation what about my current monies in the traditional IRA, they said it would not be an issue. They also advised me that they are not a CPA or tax person and to seek advice.

Being I currently have previously funded my traditional IRA and from my research I need to have the traditional account zeroed out before doing a backdoor roth what are my best options? I have done some limited research and came across the pro rata rule.

I did reach out to my current employer 401K company and they said they could transfer the monies from my individual brokerage account to my current employer 401K. Yet, I figured there has to be a better method.

I am currently in the 22% tax bracket and will be close to maxing it out for 2027 or rolling into the 32% tax bracket for a single individual.

I am trying to do this the most advantageous way possible for me to minimize taxes and/or losses.

I am open to tips and suggestions.

Thank you,