dont forget to check if you got all your stimulus money from last year. if you missed any you can claim it on your taxes

With your income and 3 dependents, you're looking at a solid refund! The EITC alone could be around $7,430 as mentioned, plus you'll likely get $6,000 in Child Tax Credits ($2,000 per kid). So potentially $13k+ total refund depending on your withholdings. For tax prep, I've had good luck with Credit Karma Tax (now Cash App Taxes) - completely free for federal AND state. Just make sure you have all the documentation ready like SSNs, school records, etc. Good luck! 🍀

Has anyone else noticed that the FAFSA instructions seem deliberately confusing? Why can't they just say "enter your total tax from line X of your transcript" instead of referencing the 1040 form only? Not everyone has their original forms, especially if they file electronically!

I went through this exact same nightmare last year! What really helped me was understanding that tax transcripts use slightly different terminology than the actual 1040 form. Here's what I found on my transcript: - Line 22 (Total Tax) appears as "Tax Per Return" or sometimes "Total Tax" in the transcript - Schedule 2, Line 2 might show up as specific entries like "Self-Employment Tax" or "Additional Tax" One thing that saved me time: if you don't see any Schedule 2 entries on your transcript, that likely means you had $0 for that line, so you'd just use your "Tax Per Return" amount as-is for the FAFSA calculation. Also, double-check that you're looking at the right tax year transcript - I accidentally was staring at 2022 when I needed 2023 data! The financial aid office at my school was eventually helpful once they reopened after the weekend, so don't give up on reaching out to them either.

Don't forget that when you have two jobs, neither employer knows about the other one when calculating your withholding! That's usually why people with multiple jobs end up owing - the withholding tables assume each job is your only income.

Just to add to what others have said - yes, you absolutely need to report ALL income, including that $6.5k from your second job. The IRS gets copies of your W-2s/1099s so they'll know about it anyway. One thing I'd suggest is using the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator right now (it's free on their website) to see if you need to adjust your W-4s for the rest of the year. Since you owed last year at $78k and now you're making $88.5k total, you'll definitely want to increase your withholding to avoid a bigger surprise come tax time. For the dependent situation with your mom - make sure she meets all the requirements (income under $4,700 for 2024, you provide more than half her support, etc.). If she qualifies, that should help reduce your tax liability. As for tax prep, if TurboTax has worked well for you in the past and your situation isn't too complex, there's no shame in sticking with it. Your situation (two W-2s + dependent) is pretty straightforward for most tax software to handle correctly.

22 Adding to what others have said: I work with several professional golfers (not on Djokovic's level lol, but still international players), and we track their income and tax liability by tournament location. We actually use a specialized scheduling tool that helps optimize their tournament schedule partly based on tax implications. Players competing in 15+ countries per year can lose anywhere from 30-45% of their gross income to taxes if they don't plan carefully. But with proper structuring, we've been able to reduce that significantly for some clients.

This is such a complex area! As someone who's dealt with international tax issues myself, I can confirm that the US absolutely taxes income earned within its borders regardless of where you live. What's particularly interesting about Monaco residents like Djokovic is that they get the best of both worlds in some ways - they pay US taxes on US tournament winnings (unavoidable), but any income that can't be clearly sourced to a specific high-tax country often remains completely untaxed due to Monaco's zero income tax policy. The real strategy comes in structuring endorsement deals and appearance fees. Many top athletes work with tax advisors to ensure that only the minimum required portion of their global endorsement income is allocated to high-tax jurisdictions like the US. It's fascinating how much tax planning goes into their career decisions - sometimes tournament selection isn't just about ranking points or prize money, but also about the overall tax burden of competing in that location.

This situation totally sucks, but there's one workaround nobody's mentioned yet. If one spouse qualifies as a "real estate professional" (750+ hours working on real estate activities + more time than spent on any other job), then the rental properties aren't considered passive activities anymore. This means the $25,000 allowance and the MAGI limitations don't even apply - you could deduct ALL the losses against your regular income. But the catch is you need to materially participate in the rental activities and document everything meticulously. My accountant had me start keeping a detailed log of every hour I spend on property management, repairs, research, etc. It's not easy to qualify, but if one of you is already spending significant time managing your rentals, it might be worth exploring.

Has anyone successfully "grouped" their rental properties as a single activity under Reg. 1.469-4? I was reading that this might help with the material participation requirements if you're trying to qualify as a real estate professional.