What about taxation issues related to cannabis businesses? Perfect research topic with tons of complexity. Since it's federally illegal but legal in many states, these businesses face unique tax challenges, especially with 280E limitations on business deductions. Multiple tax court cases address what expenses can be allocated to COGS vs disallowed under 280E. Also look at banking restrictions creating cash handling tax compliance issues, and state/federal taxation conflicts.

Have you considered looking at the taxation of social media influencer income? This is a rapidly evolving area with lots of research potential. Key issues include: 1. Classification of income (business vs. hobby) - there are recent cases where the IRS has challenged influencers who didn't report income or claimed hobby losses 2. Valuation of bartered goods and services (free products for reviews) - how do you value a "free" vacation or product when it's compensation? 3. International taxation when influencers have global audiences but receive payments from foreign platforms 4. Deductibility of content creation expenses (equipment, travel, wardrobe) vs. personal expenses 5. Self-employment tax obligations for various platform payment structures The IRS has been increasingly focused on this sector, and there are emerging court cases addressing these issues. Plus, the rise of platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube has created new fact patterns that traditional tax law struggles to address clearly. This would give you plenty of code sections, regulations, and case law to analyze while being highly current and relevant.

One thing nobody's mentioned - if you don't want to go through amending your 2023 return, there's another way to handle excess Roth contributions. You can actually just leave the excess amount in there and keep paying the 6% penalty each year, OR you can "absorb" the excess by reducing your contribution limit for 2024. For example, if you're eligible to contribute $7,000 in 2024, you could just contribute $500 ($7,000 - $6,500) and the previous year's excess would be absorbed. You'd still pay the 6% for 2023, but then you're back on track without the recharacterization hassle.

I'm dealing with a very similar situation and wanted to share what I learned from my tax attorney. The key thing to understand is that even though you missed the deadline, your recharacterization is still legally valid - it just doesn't eliminate the penalty for the original excess contribution. Here's what you'll need to do: 1. File Form 1040-X to amend your 2023 return, including Form 5329 to pay the 6% excess contribution penalty ($390 on your $6,500) 2. On your 2024 return, you'll report both the recharacterization and the backdoor conversion using Form 8606. The $580 in earnings will be taxable income in 2024. 3. Make sure your IRA custodian coded everything correctly on your 1099-R forms - you should have received separate forms for the recharacterization (code J) and the conversion (typically code 2). The good news is that once you pay the penalty for 2023, you won't owe it again since the excess was corrected through recharacterization. Just make sure to keep detailed records of your basis for future tax years since you'll now have non-deductible traditional IRA contributions on your books. Don't stress too much - this is fixable, just requires the right paperwork!

Just a word of caution - make sure to get the COMPLETE return for review, not just the summary pages. A friend of mine thought she reviewed her "full return" but her CPA only sent the first few pages. The error was buried in Schedule C that wasn't included in what she received.

This whole thread has been incredibly helpful! As someone who's been feeling uneasy about my tax preparer's practices, it's reassuring to know that my instincts were right. The information about Form 8879 needing to be signed each year is particularly eye-opening - I had no idea that was required. I'm definitely going to be more assertive about reviewing my returns going forward. It sounds like there are some good tools mentioned here (like taxr.ai) that could help verify what preparers are doing, and knowing that services like Claimyr exist for reaching the IRS gives me confidence that I can get official guidance if needed. The key takeaway for me is that this isn't just about being difficult or untrusting - it's about protecting myself from errors and ensuring my tax professional is following proper procedures. Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences and advice!

I messed up my taxes because of the exact same issue last year. TaxSlayer actually has a decent workflow for this, but it's super hidden. You need to: 1) Go to Federal > Deductions > Adjustments 2) Look for "Did you make excess contributions to your retirement account?" 3) Select Yes and follow their steps What's annoying is they don't explicitly mention Line 1H anywhere in their interface but when you complete it, it does properly show up there on the final Form 1040.

I've been dealing with excess 401k contributions for the past two years due to job changes, and I wanted to share what I've learned through trial and error. First, it's important to understand that Line 1H is specifically for reporting excess contributions that you've already had corrected (meaning you've received the excess back from your plan administrator). If you haven't corrected the excess yet, you'll need to contact your plan administrator first to request a return of the excess contributions plus any earnings. For software that properly handles this, I've had success with FreeTaxUSA and TaxAct. Both have dedicated sections for excess retirement contributions. In FreeTaxUSA, look under "Income" > "Less Common Income" > "Other Income" and there's a specific option for "Excess retirement plan contributions returned to you." One thing that caught me off guard was that you might also need to file Form 5329 if you had the excess contributions in your account at the end of the tax year, which triggers the 6% penalty. Most software will automatically generate this form when you report excess contributions. My advice is to call your 401k plan administrator first to understand exactly what they did with your excess contributions, then choose software based on your specific situation. Don't assume all "excess contribution" features are the same - some only handle IRA excess, not 401k excess.

Can you share what tax software you're using? Some are definitely better than others at catching these kinds of calculation errors or alerting you when something seems off.

This is definitely a red flag that screams data entry error! As others have mentioned, there's no way your federal tax liability should be $25,000 on $65,000 income with standard deduction. Here's a quick sanity check you can do: For 2025, a single filer with $65,000 income and standard deduction (~$14,000) has taxable income of about $51,000. The federal tax on that should be roughly $6,200-$6,500. With $7,500 already withheld, you should actually be getting a refund of around $1,000-$1,300. Most likely culprits: - Typo in income entry (maybe $650,000 instead of $65,000?) - Entered withholding as $750 instead of $7,500 - Mixed up state/federal withholding boxes - Accidentally double-entered income somewhere I'd suggest starting completely fresh with your tax software - re-enter everything from scratch while carefully cross-referencing your actual documents. Take your time with each number. If you're still getting the same result, there might be an issue with the software itself or you might have additional income sources you forgot about (like 1099s that haven't arrived yet).