Has anyone used the new Qualified Business Income deduction (QBI) with S-Corp income flowing through a QSST? I'm confused about who claims the deduction - the trust or the beneficiary?

@Alfredo, based on your situation with $380K in S-Corp income, you'll definitely want to get this right! The K-1 will be issued to the QSST with the trust's EIN, but your son will report all the income on his personal return and pay the taxes. One thing I don't see mentioned yet - with that income level, your son may need to pay estimated taxes quarterly since there's no withholding from S-Corp distributions. The trust will still file Form 1041 but it's essentially just an informational return showing the pass-through to your son. Also, make sure your QSST election was filed properly with the IRS within the required timeframe (usually 2 months and 15 days after the stock transfer). If you missed that deadline, you could lose S-Corp status entirely. Your accountant should have handled this, but it's worth double-checking since the consequences are severe.

Don't forget about local taxes! I'm in Pittsburgh and completely missed that I needed to pay quarterly estimated taxes to the city too. Got slapped with a penalty my first year of freelancing. Most tax software handles federal and state but often misses local obligations.

TurboTax and other tax software definitely handle both federal AND state taxes, but here's the catch - they don't automatically submit your quarterly estimated payments. They'll calculate what you should pay each quarter, but you still have to make those payments yourself throughout the year. At tax filing time, they'll prepare both your federal and state returns. But for quarterly estimated payments during the year, you need to handle those separately by submitting the appropriate forms to each tax authority (federal, state, local).

One thing to keep in mind about the Earned Income Tax Credit - your income might actually be too HIGH if you're single with no kids. For 2024 taxes, I think the income limit for single filers with no qualifying children is around $17,640 and you said you made $18,000. BUT definitely still file because: 1) You might still qualify for education credits if you took classes 2) Your actual taxable income might be lower after deductions 3) There might be state tax refunds available depending on where you live

Pro tip: Use tax software to run the numbers both ways - with and without claiming certain credits/deductions. That way you can see what gives you the biggest refund. Most of the major tax software options let you try different scenarios before filing. Look into the Saver's Credit too if you did make retirement contributions. It's designed for lower-income folks and can give you a credit of up to 50% of your retirement contributions up to a certain amount.

Quick question about this whole 1099-NEC situation - does it make more sense to use TurboTax or H&R Block when you have one of these forms? I'm in the same boat but haven't started my taxes yet.

Hey! I went through this exact situation with my education internship last year. The fact that you received a 1099-NEC means you're considered an independent contractor for tax purposes, even though it was an internship for college credit. This is actually pretty common with paid educational placements. A few key things to know: - Yes, you'll need to file Schedule C and pay self-employment tax (about 15.3% on your net earnings) - BUT you can deduct legitimate business expenses like mileage to/from the school, any supplies you bought for the classroom, etc. - Keep good records of any expenses related to this work For the financial aid question - this income will count toward your AGI, which could potentially affect your FAFSA calculations for next year, but $2,800 likely won't have a huge impact. Since you're already using FreeTaxUSA, they have good guidance for Schedule C. Just make sure to answer "yes" when they ask if you're self-employed (even though it feels weird!) and enter your teaching assistant work as your "business." The good news is this is totally manageable, and lots of students deal with this same situation. You've got this!

Pro tip: early morning updates usually happen around 3-6am EST. Late night crew knows whats up lol

Just went through this last week! E-filed on Tuesday and it showed up on my transcript Thursday morning. The Return Transcript updates first like Brady mentioned, then the Account Transcript follows a day or two later. Since you filed Sunday, you're probably looking at Wednesday/Thursday for it to appear. The IRS systems definitely don't process over weekends so that adds to the delay.