Does anyone know if coffee meetings count as "business meals" too? I meet a lot of clients for coffee rather than full meals.

Great question! As someone who's been self-employed for 5 years, I learned this the hard way after my first audit. The IRS uses a "primary purpose" test - the main reason for the meal must be business-related. Here's my simple system that's worked through two audits: 1. **Immediate documentation** - I use my phone to create a quick note right after the meal with: attendee names, their business relationship to me, and 1-2 sentences about what we discussed 2. **Receipt management** - Take a photo of the itemized receipt and store it in a dedicated folder (I use Google Photos with a "Business Meals" album) 3. **Calendar entries** - I add the business purpose to my calendar appointment for that meeting The key is being consistent and documenting everything at the time it happens, not months later. During my audits, the IRS agents specifically looked for contemporaneous records - meaning documented close to when the expense occurred. And no, you definitely can't just invite friends and briefly mention business. The IRS will look at patterns - if you're claiming every social meal as business, that's a red flag. The business discussion needs to be substantial and the primary purpose of getting together.

Something important nobody mentioned yet - if you're getting a tax refund for this year and file for bankruptcy, the trustee can take that refund and distribute it to creditors! I lost a $3,200 refund I was counting on when I filed Chapter 7 last year. Talk to your lawyer about timing if you're expecting a refund.

Don't forget that filing bankruptcy triggers a tax audit almost automatically. The IRS gets notified of all bankruptcy filings and often reviews unfiled returns or suspicious items. Make SURE you've filed all required tax returns before starting bankruptcy!

3 Has anyone used TurboTax's W2 import feature? I'm wondering if I should just wait for my official W2 to use that or if I should manually enter everything from my paystub.

Great question! I've been through this exact situation multiple times. Your last pay stub can give you a pretty good estimate, but there are definitely some key differences to watch out for. The main numbers like gross wages, federal/state taxes withheld, Social Security, and Medicare should be very close between your final paystub and W2. However, your W2 will likely include additional reporting that doesn't show up on regular paystubs: - Box 12 codes for things like 401k contributions, health insurance premiums, dependent care assistance - Taxable fringe benefits that get added at year-end - Any stock compensation or bonuses that were processed after your last paycheck - Corrections to previously reported amounts One thing I always tell people - if you're just trying to get a rough idea of whether you'll owe or get a refund, your paystub numbers are usually close enough for planning purposes. But definitely wait for the actual W2 before filing, since the IRS will have the official numbers and any discrepancies could cause processing delays. Your employer should have W2s to you by January 31st, so hopefully not much longer to wait!

I ran into this same issue and my accountant explained it this way: think of them as completely different transactions that just happen to involve the same account type. A Roth CONVERSION is taking money that was already in a tax-advantaged retirement account (Traditional IRA) and moving it to a different type of tax-advantaged account (Roth IRA). You already got the tax deduction when the money went into the Traditional IRA, so now you pay tax when converting to Roth. A Roth CONTRIBUTION is taking money from your regular bank account (money you've already paid income tax on) and putting it into a Roth IRA. There are strict annual limits on contributions ($7k-$8k depending on age).

Just want to add one more important point that helped me when I was in a similar situation - make sure you keep really good records of your Roth conversion for future reference. The $250K you converted will now grow tax-free in the Roth IRA, and when you eventually take distributions in retirement, you won't owe any tax on the growth. But you need to track the "basis" (the amount you already paid tax on through the conversion) versus any future growth. Also, remember the 5-year rule - even though your wife is 59, the converted amount has its own 5-year waiting period before it can be withdrawn penalty-free if needed. Each conversion has its own 5-year clock. This is different from regular contributions which have more flexible withdrawal rules. TurboTax should generate the proper forms (like Form 8606 if applicable) to track all this, but definitely save copies of everything including the 1099-R and your completed return for your records.

Dont forget about the kiddie tax if your children have substantial unearned income (like interest or dividends over $2,300). This can get complicated since it might get taxed at the parents' rate. My daughter had some investments from her grandparents that triggered this and it was a nightmare to figure out!

Just to add another perspective - don't forget that even though your kids need to file their own returns, you can still help them through the process since they're minors. I'd recommend using this as a teaching opportunity to show them how taxes work. For your daughter's W-2 income, it's pretty straightforward - she'll likely get a refund if any taxes were withheld. For your son's cash income, make sure he starts keeping better records going forward (dates, amounts, who paid him) since he'll need to report this as self-employment income on Schedule C. One tip: if your son's self-employment income puts him over $400, he'll owe self-employment tax (Social Security and Medicare taxes) even if he doesn't owe income tax. This is often surprising to parents! The good news is at his income level, it won't be much, but it's something to budget for. Also consider having them set aside a small percentage of future earnings for taxes so they're not caught off guard next year.