I had almost the exact same situation at a pet salon in Texas. Make sure your contract specifically states you're renting SPACE, not working for a percentage. Also, double check your state's regulations too - some states have additional rules beyond the IRS requirements. In my case, we all had to get our own business licenses, display our own price lists, and maintain separate appointment books to clearly show we were independent. Our shop owner actually got sued by someone who claimed they were misclassified, but the case was dismissed because we had all the proper documentation.

This is such a helpful thread! I'm a new groomer considering a similar arrangement and was worried about the legality. It sounds like the key is having proper documentation and true independence in your operations. One thing I'm curious about - for those of you who have been through audits or dealt with the IRS directly, do they actually ask to see your rental agreements and business records? I want to make sure I'm keeping the right paperwork from day one. Also, has anyone dealt with workers' comp issues? I assume since we're independent contractors we need our own coverage, but I want to make sure I'm not missing anything that could come back to bite me later.

TurboTax and their fees are such a scam tbh

Same situation here! Filed 2 weeks ago with TurboTax and chose refund payment option. Got the "payment complete" status yesterday and was hoping it meant good news. Sounds like from what everyone's saying I shouldn't get my hopes up too much yet 😅 Going to check my transcript like Amara suggested

I see so many people having problems with backdoor Roths. Is it even worth it anymore? I've been thinking about doing one but these issues make me nervous.

Just went through this exact same nightmare with my 2022-2023 backdoor Roth situation. The cascade effect is real and super frustrating! What helped me was creating a timeline of exactly what happened each year: - 2022: What contributions were made, what conversions happened, what forms were filed - 2023: What excess showed up, what penalties were assessed - Current year: What's carrying forward Once I mapped it out, I could see that I had properly made the non-deductible contribution in 2022 but my tax software didn't generate the Form 8606 correctly. The IRS saw the Roth conversion but not the underlying traditional IRA contribution basis, so they treated the whole conversion as taxable income PLUS flagged it as an excess contribution. The good news is that once you fix the original year (sounds like 2022 for you), the excess contribution issue should resolve. You'll need to amend both 2022 and 2023, but after that you should be clear. Don't let this scare you away from backdoor Roths - they're still worth it, just need to be extra careful with the paperwork!

Am I the only one who thinks it's weird that we penalize people who donate to charity by only giving tax benefits to those who donate a lot or have expensive homes? Like, someone who donates $500 while earning $40k a year is probably making a bigger sacrifice than someone donating $14k while making $500k, but only the rich person gets a tax break. The system is messed up.

I completely agree with your sentiment about the fairness issue. The current system does seem to favor those who can afford larger donations or have mortgages. However, there's actually some logic behind it - the standard deduction is meant to be a simplified benefit that everyone gets without having to track receipts or meet thresholds. It's like the government saying "here's a guaranteed $13,850 deduction, no questions asked." The itemized deduction system is more of an "opt-in" for people who have higher expenses. But you're right that it creates an odd situation where modest charitable giving gets no recognition while large donations do. One thing to remember is that there are other tax benefits that phase out at higher incomes (like the Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, education credits, etc.) that help balance things out somewhat. But I get your point - it would be nice if there was some recognition for charitable giving regardless of how much you donate.

Just to add another perspective - I've been using TurboTax for 7 years now. The regular version (not Live) is usually enough if your tax situation is straightforward. But last year I had some questions about deducting my home office since I started freelancing, so I upgraded to Live. The upgrade cost me about $70 extra at the time, but having an expert review my return and confirm I was doing the home office deduction correctly gave me peace of mind. They even found a deduction I missed related to my business expenses. So while it does cost more, sometimes it's worth it if you're uncertain about parts of your return.

Am I the only one who thinks all these tax preparation services are a racket? The government already has all our W-2 and 1099 information. In other countries, they just send you a completed form and you verify it. Here we have to pay companies like TurboTax to "help" us do something that should be simple and free. And then they nickel and dime you for every little "premium" feature. Sorry for the rant, but it's frustrating.