Quick question - I have an SMLLC with no income but I did put about $5,000 into a business bank account. Does this count as "income" for tax purposes that I need to report somewhere? Really confused about what counts as activity.

For anyone still confused about SMLLC filing requirements, here's a quick summary that might help: Since your Single Member LLC is a "disregarded entity" for tax purposes, you don't file a separate business tax return. Instead, you report everything on your personal return using Schedule C - even if it's all zeros. The key thing to remember is that "zero income" doesn't mean "no filing" - you still need to show the IRS that your business exists but just didn't generate revenue that year. Also, make sure you're not mixing up federal and state requirements. While federal might be straightforward, your state could have completely different rules about annual reports, franchise taxes, or minimum fees regardless of income level. I learned this the hard way when I got hit with a $200 penalty for missing a state filing I didn't even know existed!

I got audited last year on this exact issue with a different commodity futures partnership! My advice: keep EXTREMELY detailed records of your basis adjustments. The IRS computer system often flags returns where the basis reported on Form 8949 differs significantly from what's on the 1099-B, even when you use the adjustment codes correctly. The auditor initially thought I was trying to avoid taxes until I showed my spreadsheet tracking each year's: - K-1 income by category (especially Section 1256 gains) - Distributions received - Basis adjustments calculated - Supporting documentation After reviewing everything, the auditor agreed my calculations were correct. But save yourself the headache and document EVERYTHING about your basis calculations!

Based on everyone's helpful responses, I want to add one more critical point that saved me significant time and potential errors: always request the "Partnership Basis Schedule" or "Outside Basis Statement" from the partnership if they provide one. Some partnerships like USO will provide a detailed basis tracking statement upon request that shows your cumulative basis adjustments from year to year. This can be incredibly helpful for complex situations involving multiple years of Section 1256 gains and distributions. If your partnership doesn't provide this, I highly recommend creating your own tracking spreadsheet starting from day one. Include columns for: - Beginning basis each year - K-1 income items (by line) - K-1 loss items (by line) - Distributions received - Ending basis This becomes invaluable when you sell, especially for partnerships with complex activities like commodity futures. It also provides clear documentation if you ever face an audit on the basis adjustments you report on Form 8949. The key is being proactive about tracking rather than trying to reconstruct everything when you sell years later!

did you by chance do a split refund where part went to a bank account and part to a prepaid card? that messed up my refund timing last year

I work in banking and see this all the time during tax season. The "pending" status often appears when the IRS has already sent the ACH file to your bank but their website hasn't updated yet. Banks typically process these overnight or in batches throughout the day. A few things to check: - Log into your online banking and look for any pending transactions (sometimes they show up there first) - Call your bank's customer service - they can often see incoming ACH transfers before they post - The IRS processes refunds in cycles, so yours might hit tonight or tomorrow morning I'd say there's about an 80% chance you'll still get it today or tomorrow despite the status change. The timing between IRS systems and actual bank deposits isn't always synchronized. Try not to stress too much - delays like this are super common and usually resolve within 24-48 hours.

called them yesterday and was on hold for 2 hrs just to be told to keep waiting 🤮

I'm going through the exact same thing! Filed my Michigan return on 1/28 and it's been radio silence ever since. At least you're not alone in this waiting game. I've heard that Michigan's system is particularly slow this year due to some backend updates they're doing. Might be worth checking if you have any unfiled prior year returns or if they need additional verification - sometimes those can cause silent delays without any notice.

One thing nobody mentioned yet - when you're liquidating an S-Corp, check if your state requires a tax clearance certificate before you can formally dissolve the business. I completely missed this step and had to reopen my case with the state after I thought everything was finished. The balance sheet issues in TurboTax might be frustrating, but don't forget about the state-level requirements too. In my state, I couldn't formally dissolve until I got clearance showing all state taxes were paid, and that process took almost 3 months!

Great point about state requirements! I'm actually going through S-Corp liquidation right now and almost made the same mistake. For the balance sheet issue in TurboTax, one thing that helped me was creating a simple spreadsheet to track all my liquidation transactions before entering them into the software. I listed: - Beginning balances for all accounts - Each distribution with the corresponding reduction in both cash and equity - Asset disposals with any gain/loss calculations - Final balances (should all be zero) This helped me see exactly where the imbalance was before fighting with TurboTax. In my case, I had forgotten to record the accumulated depreciation removal when I disposed of some equipment. Also, make sure you're using the correct tax year dates. Since you're liquidating, some transactions might span multiple tax years, and TurboTax needs to know which year each transaction belongs to for proper reporting. The taxr.ai tool mentioned above sounds interesting - might be worth trying if you're still stuck after manually checking your entries.