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Jay Lincoln
One tip nobody's mentioned - if you expect to make more than $400 in profit from your side business, you need to pay self-employment tax. Make sure you're setting aside roughly 30% of your profits for taxes (15.3% for self-employment tax plus your regular income tax rate). Also - keep ALL your receipts and track everything meticulously. I'd recommend a separate business bank account and credit card just for your side business expenses to make things super clear at tax time.
Ryan Vasquez
ā¢The 30% rule of thumb is helpful! Do you think it's worth using accounting software like QuickBooks Self-Employed at my income level, or is that overkill?
Jay Lincoln
ā¢For your income level ($10-15K), I think a simple spreadsheet might be sufficient if you're organized, but QuickBooks Self-Employed is actually pretty reasonably priced and automates a lot. The time you save categorizing expenses and calculating quarterly taxes might be worth the subscription cost. What I like about dedicated accounting software is that it lets you snap photos of receipts on the go and automatically categorizes transactions. It also helps track mileage if you're driving for business purposes. Plus, when your business grows, you'll already have a system in place rather than trying to transition later.
Can someone explain how business mileage deductions work for a side business? I drive to clients sometimes but don't know if I can deduct that.
For 2025, you can deduct 67 cents per mile for business travel (the rate is adjusted annually). So if you drive 100 miles for business, that's a $67 deduction. You need to track your starting mileage, ending mileage, date, and business purpose for each trip. There are apps that can help track this automatically.
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NightOwl42
One thing nobody mentioned that REALLY helped my OIC get accepted - I included a detailed "special circumstances" letter explaining exactly why I couldn't pay and how my situation wouldn't improve in the foreseeable future. In my case, I had medical issues that limited my earning potential going forward, and I made sure to document this thoroughly. The IRS actually does consider effective tax administration and hardship cases if you provide compelling documentation. My OIC was accepted for about 15% of what I owed originally. Don't just fill out the forms - tell your story with documentation to back it up. It makes a huge difference.
Did you write this letter yourself or have a professional help you? I'm wondering if I should add something similar but I'm not sure how to structure it without sounding like I'm making excuses.
NightOwl42
ā¢I wrote it myself, but I followed a clear structure. First paragraph explained the events that led to my tax debt (medical crisis + job loss). Second section outlined my current financial situation with specific numbers referenced from my 433-A form. Third part detailed why my situation was unlikely to improve (permanent disability affecting earning capacity). Last section expressed my good faith desire to resolve the debt while acknowledging my limitations. Keep it factual rather than emotional. Reference specific supporting documents you've included (medical records, disability determination, etc). I also had my accountant review it to make sure I wasn't saying anything that contradicted my financial statements. About 2 pages total - not too long, but enough to tell the complete story.
Watch out for timing issues with your OIC! If you're still in the 90-day review period, make sure you don't miss the deadline to appeal if they reject your offer. You only get 30 days to request an appeal, and if you miss that window, you have to start the whole process over again. Also, while your OIC is pending, the collection statute of limitations (usually 10 years) is paused. Just something to be aware of if your debt is already several years old.
This is such good advice. I missed my appeal window by 2 days and had to restart the entire process. Added 6 months to the whole ordeal. Make sure your contact info is current with the IRS too! My rejection letter went to an old address even though I'd updated everything on my forms.
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4 Regarding your wholesale business question - make sure you're tracking inventory properly. Cost of goods sold is definitely deductible, but the IRS has specific rules about inventory accounting for wholesale businesses. You need to be consistent in how you value inventory from year to year. I learned this the hard way when I got audited for my small retail business.
1 Thanks for this info. I'm actually not sure I'm doing this correctly. Do you use specific inventory tracking software or do you have another system? My business is fairly small but growing, and I've mostly been tracking things in spreadsheets so far.
4 I started with spreadsheets too, but as my business grew, I invested in QuickBooks Online with their inventory add-on. It was a game-changer for tracking cost of goods sold properly. The key thing the IRS looks for is consistency in your inventory methods - whether you're using FIFO (first in, first out) or another approved method. For a smaller business, good spreadsheets can work fine as long as you're methodical. Just make sure you're tracking: 1) Beginning inventory value 2) Purchases made throughout the year 3) Ending inventory value. The formula is: Beginning inventory + Purchases - Ending inventory = Cost of Goods Sold for the year.
11 One thing nobody mentioned - if you're giving money to help your friend with specific expenses like medical bills or tuition, you could potentially pay those directly instead of giving cash. Direct payments to educational institutions or medical providers on someone's behalf aren't subject to gift tax limits at all! Might be worth considering if your friend has those specific needs.
19 Is this really true? So I could pay someone's entire college tuition directly to the school and it wouldn't count against the gift tax limit at all?
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5 Everyone saying this is normal is right, but make sure you read what you're signing! The POA form has different checkboxes for different levels of authorization. Some accountants will check ALL the boxes by default, but you might not want them to have authority to, for example, sign tax returns on your behalf or receive refund checks. Ask them to explain exactly what they're requesting access to do. A good accountant will walk you through the form and only ask for what they truly need to help you.
16 This is such important advice! When I signed my 2848, I didn't read it carefully and gave my accountant permission to receive refund checks. Guess what happened? My $3,800 refund went to them, and while they did forward it to me, it was delayed by almost 3 weeks. Now I'm much more careful about which boxes get checked.
5 Exactly. You want boxes 5a and 5c checked at minimum (that lets them get your tax info and talk to the IRS), but be careful with 5b (receiving refund checks) and 5d (signing returns) unless you specifically want that. And definitely put specific tax years on line 3 - don't leave it open-ended!
2 I sign this form with my accountant every year, totally standard. But your old accountant asking for bank passwords?!? That's absolutely NOT normal and a huge red flag! No legitimate tax professional should ever need your actual login credentials. They might need statements or transaction histories, but those can be downloaded and provided without giving access to your accounts.
11 Agreed about the bank passwords! The most my accountant has ever asked for is read-only access to certain accounts through a secure portal like Plaid, or just PDF statements. Anyone asking for actual passwords is either incompetent or trying to scam you.
Lilah Brooks
One thing nobody's mentioned yet - check if you qualify for any deductions or credits you might have missed! At your income levels, you probably can't take full advantage of many credits, but you might still qualify for: - Mortgage interest deduction if you own a home - State and local tax deductions (capped at $10k) - HSA contributions if you have eligible health insurance - Student loan interest deduction (though this phases out at higher incomes) - Charitable contributions Even if it doesn't eliminate the whole bill, finding an extra thousand in deductions could help take the edge off! Just make sure whatever software you're using is checking for all possible deductions.
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Ian Armstrong
ā¢We do own a home, so I'll make sure the mortgage interest is included. I think we've got about $8k in state taxes too. Do you know if student loan interest is still deductible if we file MFS for the IDR benefits?
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Lilah Brooks
ā¢Unfortunately, one of the major downsides of filing MFS is that you cannot deduct student loan interest. This is one of several tax benefits you lose when filing separately. The student loan interest deduction starts phasing out at $75,000 for single filers and $155,000 for joint filers, and is eliminated completely at $90,000 and $185,000 respectively. You should definitely make sure you're capturing the mortgage interest and state/local taxes (SALT). Keep in mind that the standard deduction for MFJ is $27,700 for 2023, so your itemized deductions would need to exceed that amount to be worthwhile. For MFS, each of you would have a $13,850 standard deduction.
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Jackson Carter
Don't forget to check your actual W-2s to make sure the withholding amounts look right! I had a situation where my employer messed up my withholding for half the year and that's why I ended up with a huge tax bill. Box 2 on both your W-2s should show federal income tax withheld. Add those numbers up and compare to what you're supposed to owe. If your total combined withholding is way less than $10k, that's definitely the problem. At your income levels (about $300k combined), your effective tax rate should be around 15-20% depending on deductions, so you should have had roughly $45-60k withheld throughout the year.
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Kolton Murphy
ā¢Good point about checking the W-2s. Another thing to check is if either of your employers did any special bonus payouts. Those are often withheld at a flat 22% rate, which can be too low if you're in a higher tax bracket. This happens to me every year with my annual bonus.
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