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2 Has anyone used Koinly for this purpose? I'm looking at options for sorting out my crypto taxes and that's one I've heard mentioned.
One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is checking if you have any old email confirmations from your 2021 purchases. Coinbase used to send detailed transaction confirmations that included the exact amount, price, and fees for each purchase. I was in a similar situation last year and found these emails buried in my Gmail - they were a lifesaver for reconstructing my cost basis. Even if you can't find the emails in your inbox, try searching for "Coinbase" or "You bought" in your email from 2021. Also, if you linked a bank account for your purchases, your bank statements from 2021 will show the exact dollar amounts you transferred to Coinbase on specific dates. You can then cross-reference those dates with historical crypto prices to get a pretty accurate cost basis estimate. The IRS accepts reasonable reconstruction methods when original records are unavailable, so don't stress too much about getting it perfect down to the penny. Just document your methodology clearly.
This is really helpful advice! I never thought to check my old emails. I just searched and found a bunch of Coinbase confirmation emails from 2021 that I had completely forgotten about. They have all the details - purchase amounts, prices, even the fees. The bank statement cross-referencing idea is brilliant too. For anyone else reading this, I also found that some of my purchases were done with a credit card, so checking those statements from 2021 gave me additional transaction data that I was missing. Thanks for mentioning that the IRS accepts reasonable reconstruction methods - that takes some of the pressure off trying to track down every single penny.
PSA: if you filed with TurboTax double check that your routing number is correct. They had a glitch this year that was causing issues with OR returns
anyone else notice oregon is way slower this year than last? 2023 i got mine in like 10 days
Yeah definitely noticed the same thing. I think they mentioned budget cuts affecting their processing capacity. Plus with all the new tax law changes they're probably being extra careful with reviews.
Question for those who've dealt with this before - does the 1098-T Box 6 issue affect how you should input this in TurboTax? I'm trying to file and it keeps asking me to enter Box 5 and Box 6 separately but doesn't seem to be calculating it correctly.
I had the same issue with TurboTax! What worked for me was entering the full amounts in both Box 5 and Box 6 as requested, but then going to the "Other Income" section and making a negative adjustment labeled as "1098-T Box 6 adjustment for internal fund transfer" to offset the double counting. This way the correct net amount gets reported. If you use another tax software, the process might be different, but the principle is the same - you need to make a manual adjustment somewhere to ensure you're only taxed on the net scholarship amount.
I'm dealing with this exact same situation right now! My 1098-T suddenly has $8,200 in Box 6 this year when it's always been zero before, and my university gave me almost the identical explanation about "internal account changes." Reading through all these responses has been incredibly helpful - I had no idea that I should be calculating the net amount (Box 5 minus Box 6) rather than treating them as separate income items. I was panicking thinking I owed taxes on an extra $8,200 that I never actually received. I'm definitely going to follow the advice about getting written documentation from my university confirming this was just an internal transfer. Has anyone had success getting this documentation from specific departments, or is it better to go straight to the bursar's office? My advisor mentioned they might have changed my funding classification last semester, which would explain the timing. Also, for those who used TurboTax - did you run into any issues during e-filing with the manual adjustment, or did it go through smoothly?
This is such helpful information for anyone navigating early Social Security benefits! I'm 64 and went through this same confusion last year. One thing I'd add is to keep really good records of all your income sources. When I had my annual review with SSA, they wanted documentation showing the difference between my earned income (from a small consulting gig) versus my unearned income (dividends, capital gains, etc.). Also, if you're planning to do any freelance or consulting work, make sure you understand the self-employment rules. Even small amounts of self-employment income count toward that earnings limit, and you might owe self-employment taxes on top of regular income taxes. @1acc35497938 For your specific situation with stock dividends and capital gains - you're in the clear! Those won't affect your SSA payments at all. Just watch out if you decide to do any paid work or consulting on the side.
This is really good advice about keeping records! I'm new to this whole Social Security thing and hadn't thought about needing documentation to prove the difference between earned and unearned income. Do you know what specific documents they typically want to see? I have my brokerage statements for dividends and capital gains, but I'm wondering if there's anything else I should be preparing in case they ask for it during a review. Also, when you mention "annual review" - is that something that happens automatically, or do they only review your case if something seems off with your reported income?
Great question @065c29ed9248! For documentation, I had my brokerage statements (1099-DIV, 1099-INT forms), tax returns from the previous year, and for my consulting work, I kept invoices and a simple spreadsheet tracking payments received. The SSA was mainly interested in seeing clear separation between W-2/1099-NEC income (earned) versus investment income (unearned). The "annual review" isn't automatic for everyone - they typically only do it if you're under full retirement age and have reported earned income, or if there's a discrepancy in what they have on file versus what gets reported to the IRS. Since I had that small consulting income that put me over the earnings limit, they wanted to verify the amounts. If you're only getting investment income like dividends and capital gains, you probably won't need a formal review unless something unusual shows up. But definitely keep those 1099 forms organized just in case!
This thread has been incredibly helpful! I'm 63 and in a similar situation with dividend income and was worried I'd have to sell fewer stocks to avoid reducing my benefits. It's such a relief to know that investment income doesn't count toward the earnings limit. One thing I want to emphasize for anyone reading this - make sure you understand your full retirement age (FRA). For most of us born in the late 1950s and early 1960s, it's somewhere between 66 and 67. The earnings limits and penalties only apply BEFORE you reach your FRA. Once you hit that magic birthday, you can earn unlimited amounts without any reduction to your Social Security benefits. I'd also recommend checking your Social Security statement annually at ssa.gov to make sure they're calculating your benefits correctly and have accurate records of your earnings history. Catching errors early can save a lot of headaches later. Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences - it's made this whole process much less stressful!
@3242c6255131 Thanks for mentioning the importance of checking your Social Security statement! I'm new to all this and just created my account at ssa.gov last week. It's amazing how much information is available there. I have a follow-up question for the group - does anyone know if there are any special considerations for inherited assets? I recently inherited some stocks from my grandmother, and I'm planning to sell some of them for living expenses. I assume the capital gains from inherited stocks would still be considered unearned income and wouldn't count toward the earnings limit, but I want to make sure I'm not missing anything. Also, has anyone dealt with how Social Security benefits interact with Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) from retirement accounts? I won't hit that for several years, but I'm trying to plan ahead.
Lucas Kowalski
This is really encouraging to hear! I'm in a very similar situation - filed 2/5/24 with a straightforward joint return and just saw the status change to "still processing" yesterday. Based on everyone's experiences here, it sounds like this is actually a positive development rather than something to worry about. I've been checking WMR obsessively (probably like most of us here), but it sounds like I should focus more on monitoring my bank account for the next week or so. Thanks for sharing your experience - it's posts like this that make navigating tax season so much less stressful when you realize others are going through the exact same thing!
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Sean Doyle
ā¢I'm so glad I found this thread! I filed on 2/6/24 and just saw my status change to "still processing" this morning too. Reading everyone's experiences here has been incredibly helpful - it's amazing how much anxiety the IRS system can cause when you don't know what to expect. I love that this community exists to help each other through these situations. I'm definitely going to follow the advice about checking my bank account more frequently than WMR. Here's hoping we all see our refunds soon!
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NeonNova
This is really helpful to see everyone's experiences! I filed on 2/7/24 with a simple return (married filing jointly, standard deduction) and my status just changed to "still processing" today. Reading through all these responses has been so reassuring - especially hearing from people who had the exact same timeline and got their refunds within days of seeing this status change. I've been that person obsessively checking WMR multiple times a day, but it sounds like I should shift my focus to monitoring my bank account instead. The part about transcripts staying blank while refunds still arrive is particularly interesting since I've been worried about that too. Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences - this community is such a lifesaver during tax season stress!
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