Has anyone considered that there might be another option? If your son doesn't have enough income to benefit from taking the deduction (meaning his taxable income would be reduced to zero without using all the mileage deduction), then you might explore whether you qualify for the deduction as part of a "parental employment contract" where you're essentially working for your minor child's business. This gets complex but might be worth exploring with a professional.

I'm dealing with almost the exact same situation! My 16-year-old just started umpiring baseball games and I'm driving him all over the place. After reading through all these responses, it sounds like the consensus is that the minor should claim the mileage deduction on their Schedule C since they're the independent contractor, even though we parents are doing the actual driving. I really appreciate everyone sharing their experiences - especially the suggestion about keeping detailed mileage logs with dates, destinations, and business purpose. That seems to be the key regardless of which approach you take. One question for those who've been through this: do you track mileage from home to the game location, or do you need to establish a separate "business location" for your kid's contractor work? I'm wondering if driving from our house counts as commuting (which isn't deductible) or if it's considered business travel since the games are at various locations.

Last year I had a similar situation with Navy Federal. I set up text alerts for any deposits over $100 and that helped me know the moment it hit. I also found that logging into the mobile app was more reliable than the website for seeing pending deposits. In my experience, they don't usually do the early deposit thing for tax refunds like they do for paychecks, at least not for me over the past three years.

I'm also waiting on a Navy Federal deposit with a 2/24 DDD! Filed jointly for the first time this year too. Haven't received mine yet, but based on what others are saying, I'm planning to check my account first thing tomorrow morning. The text alert suggestion from Edward is really smart - I just set that up now so I don't have to keep obsessively checking my account. It's reassuring to hear that Navy Federal is generally reliable with posting on the actual DDD date. Fingers crossed we both see our deposits hit tomorrow!

Has anyone used SprintTax or OLT for reporting foreign income like this? TurboTax is completely confusing me with how to enter the T4A-NR information.

I'm dealing with a very similar situation - my husband worked in Canada for about 3 weeks and we received a T4A-NR form. What really helped me was understanding that the T4A-NR withholding rate depends on whether you're covered by the US-Canada tax treaty. If your spouse is a US resident, the treaty rate should be 15% for employment income rather than the standard 25% non-resident rate. You might want to check if the correct rate was applied to your withholding. If they withheld at 25% when the treaty rate should have been 15%, you can file for a refund of the excess. Also, make sure to convert the Canadian dollar amounts to US dollars using the average exchange rate for the year (the IRS publishes these rates). This is important for both reporting the income correctly on your US return and calculating the proper Foreign Tax Credit amount. The good news is that even though this seems complicated, it's actually a pretty straightforward situation once you know the steps. The key is just making sure you report it correctly on both sides to avoid double taxation.

I just want to point out that intentionally breaking up deposits to avoid reporting requirements (called "structuring") is actually illegal, even if the money is 100% legitimate. I've seen people mention this but want to emphasize it - depositing the full $4k at once is actually LESS suspicious than doing 4 separate $1k deposits.

I'm sorry for your loss. As others have mentioned, $4,000 is well below the $10,000 threshold for mandatory bank reporting to the IRS, so you should be fine depositing it all at once. One thing I'd add that might help ease your mind - keep a simple written record of what this money was for. Something like "Cash inheritance from Uncle [Name] - designated for funeral expenses, deposited [date] to pay credit card used for funeral costs." This isn't required for the bank, but it's good practice for your own records in case you ever need to reference it later. Also, while this cash won't trigger any IRS reporting, remember that inheritance itself generally isn't taxable income to you as the recipient - it's the estate that would handle any tax obligations. So even from a tax perspective, you're in the clear. Take care of yourself during this difficult time.

One thing no one has mentioned yet about Section 179 - it's not just about vehicles! I own a small manufacturing business and used it to write off $150k in equipment purchases last year. For equipment, there aren't the same strict limits as vehicles. The real power comes when you combine it with financing. I put 20% down on new CNC machinery, took the full Section 179 deduction (which was actually larger than my down payment!), and now the loan payments are less than the tax savings. Obviously this only works if you actually need the equipment and will be profitable.

Just a heads up for anyone considering a vehicle purchase with Section 179 - you need to be EXTREMELY careful about business use percentages! My buddy got audited last year over his "business" Range Rover. His tax preparer told him he could write off 75% business use, but he couldn't substantiate it with mileage logs. The IRS completely disallowed the Section 179 and hit him with penalties and interest. Now he's paying off a luxury SUV AND a massive tax bill!