My wife's name was misspelled on our joint return last year (Maria vs Mariah). We did nothing about it and still got our refund on time with no issues. I think people get way too stressed about minor stuff like this. The IRS has bigger problems than hunting people down over a typo lol.

I actually had the exact same issue with my name last year - Aleksandre vs Alexandre! What a coincidence. I ended up calling the IRS using that Claimyr service someone mentioned earlier (after wasting 2 hours on hold the traditional way first). The agent I spoke with said that as long as the first letter and general structure of the name are the same, and your SSN matches, it typically won't cause processing delays. She did recommend that I make sure my tax preparer uses the correct spelling next year though, because repeated discrepancies over multiple years could potentially flag your account for additional scrutiny. The agent was able to add a note to my file about the spelling variation, which gave me peace of mind. My refund came through right on schedule, so I think you should be fine. But definitely worth getting it on record with them if you can get through!

Does anyone know if the capital gains distributions from 1099-DIV are taxed at the special capital gains rates or as ordinary income? This seems relevant to the Schedule D question since that's where the preferential rates would apply.

Yes, you absolutely need Schedule D even with just capital gain distributions from your 1099-DIV! I was in the exact same boat last year - no actual trades, just distributions from my mutual funds. It felt silly filling out a whole schedule for one line item, but it's required. The capital gain distributions from your 1099-DIV (usually shown in box 2a) go on Line 13 of Schedule D. Even though you didn't personally buy or sell anything, the fund managers did trading within the fund and passed those gains through to you as a shareholder. The IRS treats these the same as if you had sold securities yourself. Don't worry about it seeming like overkill - Schedule D isn't that complicated when you're only dealing with distributions. Just enter the amount from your 1099-DIV on Line 13, and the total flows to your Form 1040. The good news is these distributions get the preferential capital gains tax rates instead of being taxed as ordinary income, so you're actually getting a tax benefit that makes the extra form worthwhile!

Has anyone used TurboTax for claiming education expenses that aren't on the 1098-T? Will it flag this as an issue or let me enter additional qualified expenses?

This is a really common situation that many graduate students face! You're absolutely right that computers can qualify as educational expenses when required for coursework, and the fact that your 1098-T shows $0 doesn't prevent you from claiming legitimate additional expenses. For your $850 laptop purchase, here's what I'd recommend for documentation: keep that bank withdrawal record, any text/email communications with the seller, and definitely get something from your school showing computer requirements for your online courses. A syllabus mentioning required software or a program tech requirements page would be perfect. The key is being able to demonstrate that the computer was necessary for your education. Since you were taking online courses requiring video conferencing and specialized software, that's a pretty clear educational need. The IRS understands that not all educational expenses flow through the school's billing system. One thing to keep in mind - make sure you're eligible for the Lifetime Learning Credit based on your income limits and other factors. And if you end up getting audited (unlikely but possible), having that documentation ready will make the process much smoother. You're being smart to do this correctly rather than just skipping a legitimate deduction!

Anyone using any specific workpapers to handle the disconnect between the GILTI inclusion and the Sec 250 deduction? I'm trying to create a reconciliation schedule for our audit team that clearly shows why the full GILTI amount flows to the 5471 without the corresponding Sec 250 deduction.

This is a great discussion that really clarifies the conceptual framework. I've been dealing with a similar situation and was getting confused by the mechanics, but reading through these responses really helps. One follow-up question: when the CFC eventually makes an actual distribution of these earnings that created PTEP through the GILTI inclusion, is that distribution tax-free to the extent of the full GILTI inclusion amount, or only to the extent of the net amount after the Section 250 deduction? I'm thinking it should be tax-free up to the full GILTI inclusion amount since that's what created the PTEP in the first place, but I want to make sure I'm not missing something about how the Section 250 deduction might affect future distributions.

3 As a referee myself, I'd recommend tracking your mileage to each game location separately from your realtor drives. The IRS wants specific records. I use a simple app to track my ref gigs mileage. Might be easier than calculating actual expenses with the lease.

Just want to add something important that might help with your decision between standard mileage vs actual expenses method for the lease. Since you have two different contractor jobs (referee and real estate photography), you'll want to track business miles for each separately anyway for your own records. This might actually make the standard mileage method easier to manage. The standard mileage rate for 2024 is 67 cents per mile for business use. If you're driving significant miles for both jobs, this could end up being more beneficial than deducting actual lease payments, especially since you won't have to worry about calculating business use percentages or dealing with the complexity of lease payment allocations. One more tip - make sure you establish the business use pattern from day one of your lease. The IRS pays attention to whether your claimed business percentage is consistent and reasonable based on your actual work requirements.