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Quick tip: If the 1099-C is for a non-business debt and your wife was insolvent at the time of cancellation, make sure to file Form 982 with your amended return. That's the form to exclude cancelled debt from income due to insolvency. You'll need to calculate her total assets vs total liabilities immediately before the cancellation. You might be able to exclude all or part of the amount from your taxable income!
Thanks for this! How exactly would I be able to prove she was insolvent from 12 years ago? Would we need bank statements from that time? I'm not sure we'd even have access to those anymore.
You'd need to make your best good-faith effort to document her financial situation at that time. Old bank statements, credit reports, loan documents, property records, etc. would be helpful. If you don't have everything, create a reasonable estimate based on what you do know, and document your methodology. The IRS understands that records from many years ago may not be complete. Just be prepared to explain and defend your calculations if questioned. The key is showing that her debts exceeded her assets at the time the debt was cancelled.
Omar Hassan
Did your bank even send you a notice that they were cancelling the debt? Seems shady that they write it off after 12 years with no warning and then you get hit with the tax bill.
This happened to me too. No notice whatsoever until the 1099-C showed up. Apparently they're only required to send the 1099-C, not a separate cancellation notice. Super annoying.
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Another thing to consider is whether anything else changed in your tax situation between last year and this year. Did you: - Lose any tax credits you had before? - Have any changes in deductions? - Have any changes in your filing status? - Start receiving any new types of income? - Change your retirement contributions? Sometimes it's not just the withholding at your job that affects your refund, but other factors in your overall tax picture.
Thanks for bringing this up! I double-checked everything and my overall tax situation is pretty much identical to last year. Same filing status (single), same standard deduction, no dependents, no additional income sources, and my 401k contribution percentage is the same. The only significant change was switching employers, which is why the withholding issue makes the most sense. After reading everyone's comments, I'm going to submit a new W-4 with additional withholding in line 4c. Hopefully that'll fix things for next year's return!
Good thinking to check all those factors! Since everything else remained consistent, it definitely sounds like the withholding change from your new employer is the culprit. Using line 4c for additional withholding is exactly the right approach. Just be careful not to overwithhold too much - remember that a smaller refund means you had more money in your paychecks throughout the year. Some financial advisors actually recommend aiming for a small refund since it means you're not giving the government an interest-free loan. But I understand many people prefer the forced savings of a larger refund!
Yara Haddad
Does anyone know if its better to use the "two jobs" checkbox in Step 2 of the W-4 or just put an extra amount in Step 4c? My spouse and I both work and I'm trying to avoid owing at tax time.
If both you and your spouse work, the Step 2 checkbox is actually designed specifically for your situation. It adjusts your withholding to account for the higher tax bracket you might be in when combining both incomes. The downside is that it might overwithhold a bit. If you want more precise control, you could use the IRS withholding calculator online to get an exact dollar amount for Step 4c instead. That's what I did, and it worked out perfectly - we got a small refund instead of owing like we did the previous year.
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Hannah White
Just adding my experience dealing with this exact situation two years ago. Make sure you get a proper valuation of the Roth IRA as of the date of death. This becomes critical for determining the taxable portion of any distributions. Also, don't forget that estates have a very compressed tax bracket schedule - they hit the highest tax rates much faster than individual returns. When I handled my mom's estate, I had to withhold about 37% on the earnings portion of her Roth IRA that went through probate because the estate had other income that pushed it into the highest bracket.
Thanks for mentioning this. How did you determine what portion was earnings versus contributions? Did the financial institution provide that breakdown or did you have to calculate it somehow?
Hannah White
ā¢The financial institution should provide statements showing the breakdown between contributions and earnings. Ask specifically for a "basis and earnings statement" as of the date of death. Most major brokerages and banks can generate this report. If they can't provide it for some reason, you'll need to track down old contribution records. The original Roth contributions are your basis, and everything above that amount is considered earnings. The 1099-R you receive when the distribution happens should also code whether it's a qualified or non-qualified distribution, which helps determine taxability.
One important thing nobody's mentioned yet: the tax rules differ depending on when the Roth IRA was established relative to your father's passing. If he established it less than 5 years before his death, different rules apply even if the contributions were made longer ago. Also, as executor, you might want to look into doing a "Roth IRA rescue" if possible. Sometimes you can distribute directly to the heirs instead of the estate, which could preserve the tax-free nature. Might be too late if probate is already underway, but worth asking your estate attorney about.
Mateo Silva
ā¢I tried the "Roth IRA rescue" approach last year and it worked! Had to file some additional paperwork with the financial institution showing I was the sole heir, but saved about $8,200 in taxes that would have been paid by the estate if it had gone through probate normally.
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Jacob Lewis
Have you tried the IRS2Go app? It's actually way easier to use than the website. You can make payments directly from your bank account or by debit/credit card. I used it to pay my tax bill last month and it took less than 5 minutes.
Liam Brown
ā¢I didn't even think about using the app! Is it available for both iPhone and Android? And do I need to create an account first or can I just download it and pay?
Jacob Lewis
ā¢Yes, it's available for both iPhone and Android. You download it from your app store for free. You don't need to create an account beforehand. You just download the app, go to the "Payments" section, and it will give you options to pay. You'll need basic info like your SSN/ITIN, date of birth, and filing status to verify your identity. For payment you can choose Direct Pay (bank account) or pay by card through a payment processor (which charges a fee).
Tip for anyone paying their tax bill online: SAVE THE CONFIRMATION NUMBER! I paid through the website last year and thought everything was fine, but 3 months later I got a notice saying I hadn't paid. Thankfully I had the confirmation number and was able to prove I'd paid on time. The IRS eventually found the payment but it was stressful.
Ethan Clark
ā¢Good advice! I also take screenshots of the payment confirmation page. Learned that lesson the hard way after a payment "disappeared" from their system a few years ago.
Screenshots are definitely smart too. I've started saving everything as PDFs now - confirmation pages, notices, everything. The IRS lost my payment and then tried to charge me interest and penalties before they fixed it. Never again!
Yara Nassar
9 Have you tried looking at your previous year's state tax return to compare? Sometimes seeing what was different between last year and this year can help identify the issue. Also, different tax software can give different results based on how questions are asked and how information is entered. It might be worth trying a second software just to compare results.
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Yara Nassar
ā¢16 That's a good point about different software. I've actually gotten different results between TurboTax and H&R Block before. Which tax software do you think is most accurate for state returns specifically?
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Yara Nassar
ā¢9 I've found that TaxAct and H&R Block are both pretty good for state returns. Each software has its strengths, but the questions they ask can sometimes lead to different deductions being found. As for accuracy, they all use the same tax laws and formulas, so technically they should all give the same result if you enter identical information. The differences usually come from how they guide you through the process and what deductions they help you discover.
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Yara Nassar
21 Make sure you're filing as a resident for the right state! I accidentally filed as a full-year resident for a state I had moved from halfway through the year, and it made my state taxes MUCH higher than they should have been. If you moved during the tax year, you might need to file part-year returns in multiple states.
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Yara Nassar
ā¢11 This happened to me too! I moved from California to Arizona and filed full-year for both states accidentally. Ended up paying double taxes until I figured it out and filed amended returns.
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