Def use taxr.ai before submitting! I almost missed out on some credits but it caught them. Best dollar I ever spent ngl

$20,677 is definitely on the higher end, but not impossible for 2021 COVID situations. A few things to consider: 1. **Verify your entries** - Since you mentioned being sick and having to close your business, make sure you correctly entered: - Sick leave credits for self-employed individuals - Business loss calculations - Any Employee Retention Credits if applicable 2. **Use TurboTax's built-in tools** - You mentioned having Priority Support right there on your dashboard. Their review service might be worth it for this amount. 3. **Document everything** - Keep records of your business closure dates, medical documentation for your illness, and any other supporting documents. 4. **Consider a second opinion** - For a refund this large, it might be worth having a tax professional review your return before submitting. The fact that TurboTax calculated this specific amount based on your inputs is a good sign, but double-checking never hurts when we're talking about $20K+. Better to be thorough now than deal with IRS questions later!

Just want to add something important: make sure your employer is withholding taxes correctly for both states if needed! My company messed this up last year and I ended up owing a huge amount to one state because they were only withholding for my "home" state. Talk to your payroll department and make sure they understand your situation. You might need to fill out multiple state withholding forms.

This is such a complex area and you're smart to get clarity upfront! One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is keeping detailed records of your activities and connections in each state. The IRS and state tax authorities look at what's called "domiciliary factors" - things like where you vote, where your bank accounts are, where you have professional licenses, where your family lives, etc. Since you mentioned State B is where your "roots" are and where you plan to return permanently, make sure all these connections stay tied to State B. Don't change your voter registration or driver's license to State A just for convenience. Also, if you end up needing to file in both states, most tax software can handle multi-state returns, but it gets complicated fast. The credit calculations between states can be tricky, especially if one state doesn't give full credit for taxes paid to the other. Document everything - where you sleep each night, work performed in each location, etc. It might seem excessive now, but if you ever get audited, having contemporaneous records is invaluable.

don't forget you might need to register for a sales tax permit in your state if youre selling things regularly! each state has different rules about who needs to collect sales tax. i learned this the hard way when my state sent me a nasty letter about back taxes they thought i owed lol

This is such a helpful thread! I'm just starting out with reselling and had no idea about the sales tax being part of cost of goods sold. I've been tracking everything wrong. One thing I'm curious about - do you need to keep physical receipts for everything or are digital photos/screenshots enough? I buy a lot of stuff from garage sales and thrift stores where they don't always give proper receipts. Sometimes it's just a handwritten note or I pay cash and get nothing. How do you document those purchases for tax purposes? Also, when you're calculating business use of your car (driving to garage sales, post office, etc.), do you track actual expenses or just use the standard mileage rate? I'm trying to figure out which method would be better for my situation.

Don't overlook "Deduct It! Lower Your Small Business Taxes" by Stephen Fishman. It's updated yearly and explains different business structures (sole prop vs LLC vs S-Corp) in terms of tax implications. The section on home office and vehicle deductions saved me thousands my first year. For community college courses, I'd recommend basic accounting before tax-specific classes. Understanding double-entry bookkeeping and financial statements made the tax concepts click much better for me.

For a straight-to-the-point resource, check out "475 Tax Deductions for Businesses and Self-Employed Individuals" by Bernard Kamoroff. It's organized by category and gives practical examples for each deduction.

Is anyone else having issues with the mileage tracker on the FreeTaxUSA self-employment section? It keeps resetting my numbers.

This is such a common issue that catches so many gig workers off guard! I went through the exact same thing last year with my Instacart deliveries. What helped me understand it was thinking about it this way: the tax system has different "buckets" - regular income tax and tax credits. Your mileage deduction reduces the income tax bucket, but it can also shrink the tax credits bucket (especially EITC) if it pushes your earned income too low. For me, the mileage deduction saved me about $800 in income taxes, but I lost $1,200 in earned income credit, so my overall refund went down by $400. It was still the right thing to do tax-wise, just not what I expected. One thing that helped: I kept detailed records of actual car expenses (gas, maintenance, repairs) throughout the year. Sometimes using actual expenses instead of the standard mileage rate can work out better, especially if you had a lot of car repairs or drove an older vehicle with high maintenance costs. You should definitely claim your legitimate business miles - just know that the refund impact might not be what you expect due to how credits work.