IRA conversion questions. Do I understand this correctly?
I contributed $5000 to my traditional IRA for the 2010 tax year in early 2010. Later, I earned more money than I thought I would and I was no longer qualified to take the IRA tax deduction. My choices are (A) keep it as a non-deductable IRA which usually is a bad deal all around, (B) convert it to a Roth IRA, or (C) take the money back out of the IRA and pay tax on any gains. I would like to do (B). Even though I make too much money to contribute directly to the Roth, I believe that I can still contribute to a non-deductable IRA and then convert to the Roth, correct?
However, my $5000 is now worth much more since the stock market has been doing well. If I convert it to a Roth IRA by the 2010 tax date (and any extensions), then I don't have to pay taxes on the gains. But if I wait until the 2011 tax year or later, then I do have to pay taxes on the gains. Is that also correct?
Somewhat tax related:
Installed and used Turbo Tax 2 weeks ago. Said I owed about $60 for federal. My laptop crashed and I ended up reinstalling and redoing my taxes on my desktop (2 weeks after I did it the first time). I know there were more updates since I did it initially. This time when I did my taxes, it shows me getting a ~$2000 refund :O
Same forms used (same inputs) etc.
Is this something I should be worried about? I do plan on doing it from scratch one more time tonight in Turbo Tax.
As you have discovered, when one company finds a way to "create" a better product, the competition will follow.Is there a good and decent free place to file taxes?
I have used both HR Block and TurboTax online to file the past 3 years. And while, I can see them charging you to import W2 information automatically as this is some kind of service, this year however they both found something new to charge for. Having me pay just to keep my previously entered personal information. I think this is just absurd. What is the point of having an account if it keeps erasing everything. HR Block kept all other information like some security question which I don't know so I could not even log-in.
Does anybody know of a good free site, which will not delete all the information every time?
As far a tax questions. I am required to report interest income above $1 but I don't have to receive a 1099-INT below $10 so what do I do in between. The only way to enter interest is through a 1099-INT and without the form, I don't know what to enter such as the name or even the correct amount. The is no way to enter about $5 form somebody? Any ideas?
Thanks
Thanks as always for your time. I have a regular full time job and also am an independent contractor on the side. I file a schedule C-EZ for the contractor gig. For the contracting work, I paid substantial job-related educational expenses that caused the contracting job to be a net loss. Where do I report the job-related educational expenses? On schedule C as an expense, or schedule A as an unreimbursed employee expense?
I drive to the contracting job. Can I include these commuting expenses on schedule C?
Could have sworn I posted this question earlier today, but here goes again.
Finalizing my taxes and switched the checkbox in Turbotax from married filing joint to married filling separately and my fed goes way down but state goes way up and I wind up +$500.
This is our first year itemizing, first full year of paying on a mortgage, and we had a baby in december so return is already decent. Do I need to be concerned about going with the filing separately route? any downside? We had some tax credits for energy efficient upgrades(insulation), and a decent chunk of writeoffs for large donations of clothes and house stuff after the move to goodwill and kitchen and bathroom fixtures to habitat for humanity during some reno work. How do I allocate these when filing joint? Do I need to choose which of use gave the bathroom sink to habitat and which donated the kitchen cabinets?
Are mortgage/student loan interest deductions basically unusable if you fall under AMT?
Seems if your gross income is over a certain threshold there is no way to avoid it.
My mom invested in a Broadway show which acts as a Limited Partnership. She lives in NJ.
Just received a K-1 Form 1065. (I filed her taxes a month ago so have to amend, but that's a different issue.) It looks like she's paying ~25% to federal and ~10% to NJ on it.
However, the forms distributed also include a "New York Partner's Schedule" IT-204-IP, and even a "New York City Schedule K-1 Equivalent." Am I going to have to file New York State and even New York City taxes as well even as a non-resident? Will the NJ taxes go against the New York taxes, or is she going to end up paying close to 50% on this income?
father is almost 70 1/2.
1a) whats his minimum mandatory withdraw % from his 401k?
b) what if he is still working and his 401k is with his current company?
2) whats the max $/yr he and mom gift to children?
thx. mom/dad share bank acct. can they write a check for $24k? or must it be 2 separate $12k checks?
Hello, old member under a new name.
I am having some frustrating problems e-filing my taxes. I recently moved with my family, leaving behind a house that I purchased in 2009. I had previously amended our 2008 taxes to get the 2009 first time home buyer credit of $8000. I know this needs to be paid back since we did not live in the house for the required length of time.
However, using H&R block online, when I try and e-file my return it gets rejected with the following error, "With the first-time homebuyer credit you can't repay more than the actual credit amount you received." I have double checked my numbers and it all looks right, and matches the amended 2008 taxes. The recommendation from the software is to print of and mail a return, which I am fine with. But to make this more complicated I have already paid the tax bill on-line, and I don't see anywhere on the paper form to indicate that I have done this.
Also just something that I noticed that I think is right, but bugs me, is I had partial residence in 2 states. Each state calculates the amount of income they will tax, and the sum of these two amounts is much greater then the amount of money I earned. I double checked everything and it looks right.
Hello, old member under a new name.
I am having some frustrating problems e-filing my taxes. I recently moved with my family, leaving behind a house that I purchased in 2009. I had previously amended our 2008 taxes to get the 2009 first time home buyer credit of $8000. I know this needs to be paid back since we did not live in the house for the required length of time.
However, using H&R block online, when I try and e-file my return it gets rejected with the following error, "With the first-time homebuyer credit you can't repay more than the actual credit amount you received." I have double checked my numbers and it all looks right, and matches the amended 2008 taxes. The recommendation from the software is to print of and mail a return, which I am fine with. But to make this more complicated I have already paid the tax bill on-line, and I don't see anywhere on the paper form to indicate that I have done this.
Also just something that I noticed that I think is right, but bugs me, is I had partial residence in 2 states. Each state calculates the amount of income they will tax, and the sum of these two amounts is much greater then the amount of money I earned. I double checked everything and it looks right.
Are mortgage/student loan interest deductions basically unusable if you fall under AMT?
Seems if your gross income is over a certain threshold there is no way to avoid it.
Find a misc expense slot on the Schedule C for the education expenses. Remember that the commuting costs also count for education. there is NO distance test. I went from Ft Lauderdale to Orlando for 1 year taking classes at a Community college. Tangled with the IRS over that item and came out ahead. after the appeal They even accepted lack of toll receipts vs the additional mileage to avoid tolls
The problem with using the Schedule A Form 2106 is that you loose 2% of the top by using that form.
Commuting costs to the job as a contractor as deductible, especially where the contractor is a second job. Meals also as related with the client are also deductible.
Find a misc expense slot on the Schedule C for the education expenses. Remember that the commuting costs also count for education. there is NO distance test. I went from Ft Lauderdale to Orlando for 1 year taking classes at a Community college. Tangled with the IRS over that item and came out ahead. after the appeal They even accepted lack of toll receipts vs the additional mileage to avoid tolls
The problem with using the Schedule A Form 2106 is that you lose 2% of the top by using that form.
Commuting costs to the job as a contractor as deductible, especially where the contractor is a second job. Meals also as related with the client are also deductible.
Thanks for your reply! Regarding commuting costs as a contractor, I did some reading today and saw that you can only deduct it if you have a home office. Is this true? I don't have a home office.