Have you considered doing it yourself with tax software? I have 3 rental properties and 2 K1s and I use TurboTax Premier. It's like $100 and walks you through everything. Unless your situation is super unusual, it's pretty straightforward.

I'm dealing with a similar situation right now! Just got quoted $950 for my return which includes one rental property and a K1 from a partnership investment. What really helped me was asking the accountant to break down exactly what they'd be doing - turns out they include a consultation about tax planning for next year and will handle any IRS correspondence if issues come up. When I compared that to cheaper options, some were just basic preparation with no ongoing support. I ended up negotiating down to $800 by agreeing to have all my documents organized digitally beforehand. Maybe try asking your accountant what's included in that $1200 and see if there's any flexibility based on how prepared your paperwork is?

Just to add a practical tip - make sure your client gets a statement from the Belize corporate registry confirming the company's formation date and dissolution date. The IRS might want documentation proving that the company was both formed and dissolved in the same tax year, especially since there were no financials generated.

I'm confused why everyone's saying to file. If the company never conducted business and had zero income, isn't this just creating paperwork for no reason? Seems like massive overkill to file international business forms for something that functionally didn't exist.

Don't forget to consider how this impacts your Qualified Business Income (QBI) deduction if you take that. The recaptured depreciation counts as business income for QBI purposes, so it could actually help increase your deduction.

One more thing to keep in mind - make sure you have good documentation for the sale. The IRS will want to see proof of the original purchase price, the depreciation you claimed, and the sale price. Keep your receipts, the depreciation schedule from your 2023 return, and any documentation from the sale (like a receipt or online marketplace transaction record). I learned this the hard way when I got a letter from the IRS asking for documentation on a similar equipment sale. Having everything organized upfront makes it much easier if they have questions later. Also consider keeping records of the laptop's condition and why you needed to upgrade - it helps justify the business purpose of both the original purchase and the eventual sale.

Here's a simple way to think about it: Only report as income the part of your state refund that actually saved you federal taxes last year. If you were limited by the SALT cap ($10k), then you probably only need to report a portion of your refund. There's a worksheet in the 1040 instructions that helps calculate this. Don't just assume your full state refund is taxable!

Had the exact same issue. The worksheet you need is called the "State and Local Income Tax Refund Worksheet" in the 1040 instructions. BUT if you used tax software last year, you could just look at Schedule A, line 5e from your 2024 return to see exactly how much state tax was actually deducted. The rule is pretty simple: only pay tax on refund $ for which you actually received a federal tax benefit.

Anyone know how long employers typically take to issue a corrected W2? My company found an error similar to this a few weeks ago and said they'd send corrected forms, but I'm still waiting and getting anxious with the filing deadline coming up.

This is a tricky situation, but you're doing the right thing by catching this error early! I went through something similar two years ago where my employer had a system glitch that duplicated certain tax withholdings on W2s for about 30 employees. Here's what I'd recommend: Don't file until you get the corrected W2-c. Even though it might delay your refund, filing with incorrect information will create bigger headaches later. The IRS computer systems will flag the mismatch between what your employer reports and what you file. While you're waiting for the correction, gather all your paystubs from the year and add up the actual local tax withholdings. This will tell you if they actually overwitheld money from your paychecks (in which case you'd be due a refund) or if it was just a W2 reporting error. If they did overwithhold, that money should come back to you when you file with the corrected form. Also, if your employer is slow to respond, document everything - your emails, their responses, dates, etc. Sometimes you need that paper trail if the correction takes too long and you need to involve the IRS directly.