Has anyone here used QuickBooks Self-Employed instead of TurboTax Business for handling a partner buyout? I'm in a similar situation but use QuickBooks for my tax prep.

I went through a similar LLC partnership buyout situation about 18 months ago and can share some practical insights from my experience. The key thing I learned is that timing matters a lot for the tax implications. One issue that caught me off guard was the allocation of partnership income for the partial year before the buyout. Make sure you're clear on how to prorate the departing partner's share of income/losses up to their exit date. This affects their final K-1 and can get complicated if you have varying income throughout the year. Also, don't forget about the potential for "hot assets" (unrealized receivables, inventory, depreciation recapture) that could trigger ordinary income treatment rather than capital gains for the departing partner. This is especially important if your LLC has been claiming depreciation on equipment or other assets. For the mechanics, I found that creating a clear timeline of events helped enormously when filling out the forms. Document the exact date of the buyout, the valuation method used, and how the payment was structured. The IRS wants to see that everything was done at arm's length with proper documentation. TurboTax Business can definitely handle this, but make sure you have all your partnership records organized before you start. The software will walk you through most of it, but having a clear understanding of what happened and when will save you hours of confusion.

Don't forget about the "ordinary and necessary" test for business deductions! I tried to deduct a bunch of home exercise equipment for my accounting business because I claimed I needed to stay fit to handle client meetings, and got DESTROYED in an audit. The IRS agent literally laughed at me. Unless fitness content is your ACTUAL business (which sounds like it will be for you), they'll likely see it as primarily personal. The fact that you're establishing a track record of fitness content BEFORE claiming the deductions will help tremendously. Maybe start with cheaper equipment and build up as your fitness channel grows?

From my experience working with content creators, the fact that you have an established YouTube business with $67,000 in annual revenue puts you in a strong position to justify these deductions. Since you're pivoting your existing business rather than starting from scratch, the home gym equipment would fall under ordinary and necessary business expenses for your trade. Here's what I'd recommend: First, clearly separate the gym setup into business-specific components (lighting rigs, camera mounts, backdrop systems) versus standard gym equipment. The production equipment can likely be 100% business deductible since it has no personal benefit. For the actual workout equipment, document your intended business use percentage before you start filming. Keep detailed records from day one - log every filming session, content planning workout, and personal use. I've seen creators successfully justify 70-80% business use when they can show the equipment is primarily configured and used for content creation rather than personal fitness. Consider setting up the space with clear visual indicators of its business purpose (permanent camera positions, business signage, etc.) and take photos for your records. This helps establish that it's genuinely a production facility that happens to involve fitness equipment rather than a personal gym you sometimes film in.

Another thing to consider is that there's an annual gift tax exclusion ($17,000 for 2024). Since your I-Bond is only $3,000, it's well under that limit anyway, so you wouldn't have to file a gift tax return even if you had completed the gift. But the other commenters are right that it's not even considered a completed gift yet while it sits in the gift box.

I think everyone is overlooking that I-Bond interest is exempt from state income tax! That's a huge benefit in California with our high state tax rates. Make sure you're accounting for that when deciding if/when to transfer the bond to your child.

Quick question - I'm dealing with similar issue but my employer is claiming I'm "partially an employee and partially a contractor" for different duties. Is that even legal?

I went through almost the exact same situation two years ago! My employer had me as 1099 for 8 months then switched to W-2. I was also worried about creating workplace drama since I liked my job. Here's what I learned: approach it as helping them fix an administrative error rather than accusing them of wrongdoing. I scheduled a meeting with HR and said something like "I noticed I received both a 1099 and W-2 for 2024, and I want to make sure we handle this correctly for both the company and my tax filing." Most employers actually appreciate when you bring this to their attention because misclassification can create bigger problems for them down the road with the Department of Labor or state agencies. My HR department was grateful I flagged it and immediately worked with payroll to issue a corrected W-2 covering my full year's income and voided the 1099. The key is framing it as "let's fix this together" rather than "you messed up." In my experience, reasonable employers want to do the right thing - they just need to understand what that is.

One thing nobody's mentioned yet - make sure both you and your wife update your W-4 forms with your employers. After I got married, we both kept our "Single" withholding status and got hit with a $3200 tax bill at filing time! The withholding tables are different for married people, and if you're both working, you might need to withhold at the "Married but withhold at higher Single rate" or add additional withholding.

Hey don't forget about potentially adjusting your retirement contributions too. My husband and I discovered that when we got married and started filing jointly, we could leverage our income difference to max out his 401k and IRAs differently than before. Ended up saving us about $4,200 in taxes while building retirement faster.