I went through this exact same situation last year as a TN visa holder from Canada! The advice about filing Form 1040-NR as a nonresident is spot on. One thing I'd add is to be extra careful about the tax treaty elections - Form 8833 can save you money but you need to file it correctly. Also, don't forget about state tax implications even though you're in Washington (lucky you - no state income tax!). Some states have different residency rules than federal, but WA makes it simple. For the FBAR reporting, the threshold is $10,000 USD aggregate in all foreign accounts at any point during the year. So if your Canadian accounts totaled more than $10K at any time in 2022, you need to file FinCEN Form 114 by April 15th (no extensions allowed). One mistake I made was not keeping good records of my Canadian tax payments. If you have any investment income from Canada that was subject to withholding tax there, make sure to claim the Foreign Tax Credit on Form 1116 to avoid double taxation. The tax software mentioned above (taxr.ai) actually helped me catch this - saved me about $800! The deadline pressure is real, but you've got this! Consider getting help if your situation is complex, but for a straightforward W-2 situation, the nonresident-specific software should handle it well.

I was in the exact same situation last year - TN visa from Canada, started working mid-year, completely overwhelmed by the tax complexity! Here's what I learned that might help: **First, breathe!** You're likely a nonresident alien for 2022 since you were only here 4.5 months. This actually simplifies things - you only report US-source income on Form 1040-NR, not your Canadian income from before you moved. **Key deadlines to remember:** - Tax return (1040-NR): April 18th (you can get an extension) - FBAR: April 18th (NO extensions - this is critical!) - Form 8938 (if your Canadian accounts exceed $200K): April 18th **What saved me time and money:** I initially tried doing it myself with regular tax software but got stuck on the same questions you mentioned. I ended up using Sprintax (designed for nonresidents) which walked me through everything step by step. It automatically determined I needed Form 1040-NR, helped me report my Canadian accounts properly, and even caught that I could claim Foreign Tax Credits for withholding taxes Canada took from my investment income. **Don't forget:** If your Canadian bank/investment accounts totaled over $10K USD at any point in 2022, you MUST file the FBAR separately with Treasury. The penalties for missing this are severe. You've got this! The hardest part is the first year when everything is new. Once you understand the process, subsequent years are much easier.

Maya, what surprises me is that you HAVE lingering debt with an annual income of $215k and a bonus over $30k in the first place! Maybe start setting aside a little savings in a high yield savings acct and use that to pay them off during the year?

Maya, I've been in a similar situation and here's what worked for me: Focus on using Line 4(b) "Deductions" on your W-4 to temporarily reduce withholding rather than adjusting dependents. For your $36k bonus, you could claim additional annual deductions of around $20,000-25,000 on Line 4(b), which should reduce your federal withholding from the typical 22% down to around 10-12% for that pay period. This is more conservative than claiming exempt and less likely to raise flags with payroll. The math: If you normally have $8k withheld from a $36k bonus, claiming $22,000 in additional deductions could bring that down to about $3,500-4,000 withheld, giving you access to an extra $4,000+ upfront. Submit the adjusted W-4 at least 10-14 days before your bonus processes, then immediately submit a corrected W-4 afterward. I'd also recommend slightly increasing your regular paycheck withholding for the remainder of the year to ensure you still meet the 110% safe harbor rule (since your AGI is over $150k). This strategy helped me pay off high-interest debt faster rather than giving the government an interest-free loan until tax time. Just make sure you're disciplined about the increased withholding on regular paychecks afterward!

I went through almost the exact same situation in 2023! Got laid off, collected unemployment for 7 months, and completely forgot about the tax implications until it was time to file. Here's what helped me figure it out: Your state unemployment office should have sent you Form 1099-G by the end of January showing exactly how much you received in unemployment benefits. If you didn't get it or lost it, you can usually download it from your state's unemployment website. The key thing to remember is that unemployment benefits are treated as ordinary income, so they get added to your W2 wages and taxed at your regular tax rate. Since you made $29,800 from work plus $36,500 in unemployment, your total taxable income would be $66,300 (assuming you're filing single with standard deduction). I used the IRS withholding calculator on their website to get a rough estimate, but honestly ended up using TurboTax because it walked me through everything step by step. The good news is that if you owe more than $1,000, you can set up a payment plan with the IRS - they're actually pretty reasonable about it. One thing I wish I'd known earlier: you can request tax withholding from future unemployment benefits by filing Form W-4V with your state. Would have saved me this headache!

I feel for you - unemployment tax situations can be really stressful when you're already dealing with job loss! Here's a step-by-step approach that might help: 1. **Get your 1099-G form** - Your state should have sent this showing total unemployment benefits received. If you can't find it, most states let you download it from their unemployment portal. 2. **Calculate your total income** - Add your W2 income ($29,800) + unemployment benefits ($36,500) = $66,300 total income. 3. **Use the standard deduction** - For 2023, if filing single, subtract $13,850 from your total income, giving you $52,450 taxable income. 4. **Apply tax brackets** - Your tax would be roughly $5,975 based on single filing status tax brackets for 2023. 5. **Subtract withholdings** - Take off any federal taxes already withheld from your W2 job to see what you still owe. The IRS also has a pretty good tax withholding estimator on their website that can help you double-check your calculations. And don't panic if you owe a chunk - they offer payment plans that are actually quite reasonable. You might also want to consider having taxes withheld from any future unemployment benefits to avoid this situation again. Good luck with everything!

My accountant always puts shareholder contributions on line 7 of Schedule M-2 and then on lines 22-23 of Schedule L. BUT he also adds a detailed statement explaining the contribution that attaches to the return. He says this statement is super important and prevents questions from the IRS. Has anyone else been told this?

This is exactly the kind of question that trips up a lot of S-corp filers! From my experience helping small businesses with their returns, here's what you need to do for that $25,000 shareholder contribution: **Schedule L (Balance Sheet):** - Increase your cash (or other asset if it wasn't cash) on the asset side - Increase "Additional paid-in capital" (line 23) on the equity side by the same amount **Schedule M-2 (AAA Analysis):** - Report the contribution on line 7 "Other additions" **Don't forget the statement!** Attach a brief explanation like: "Shareholder [Name] contributed $25,000 cash on [date] for equipment purchases." This prevents IRS questions later. One important note: Make sure your shareholder updates their stock basis records to reflect this $25,000 increase. This affects their ability to take tax-free distributions and deduct any potential losses in the future. The key is consistency - the same dollar amount should flow through both schedules, just serving different reporting purposes. Schedule L shows the balance sheet impact, while Schedule M-2 tracks the accumulated adjustments account changes.

Has anyone tried H&R Block's free version? I thought they handled HSAs in their free tier but maybe that changed this year?

I went through this exact same frustration last year! TurboTax's HSA upsell is so misleading - they hook you with "free" filing then spring the upgrade requirement on you halfway through. For what it's worth, I ended up using FreeTaxUSA and was really happy with it. The HSA forms (Form 8889) were handled seamlessly in their free federal version, and I only paid the $15 for state filing. The interface isn't as polished as TurboTax but it gets the job done without any surprise fees. One tip: make sure you have your HSA year-end statement handy before you start. It shows your total contributions, employer contributions, and any distributions you made. That's really all you need for the HSA portion, and it should only add maybe 10 minutes to your filing time. Don't let these companies convince you that having an HSA makes your taxes "complex" - it's literally just one additional form!