Just want to add something important about dual-status aliens and Form 5471 that hasn't been mentioned yet. Even though you don't need to file Form 5471 for shares sold before becoming a US resident, you might still need to report the sale on your dual-status return. If the sale of those foreign shares resulted in a capital gain, you'll need to report it on Schedule D and Form 8949, but only if it was US-source income or effectively connected with a US trade or business. Foreign-source capital gains realized during your non-resident period are generally not taxable in the US. Double check if you have any dividend income from those shares before selling them too. Depending on the source, those might need reporting.

Has anyone used TurboTax for a dual-status return with foreign income issues? I'm trying to figure out if it can handle Form 5471 correctly for part-year residents.

Has anyone in this thread used TurboTax for multiple LLC situations? Their interface seems to struggle with two separate Schedule Cs with different QBI calculations. I'm wondering if the OP's spreadsheet might actually be better than commercial software for this specific case.

This is really impressive work! As someone who's been through the frustration of CPAs missing obvious deductions, I totally get why you went the DIY route. Your spreadsheet approach sounds comprehensive. One area I'd suggest double-checking is the interaction between your home office deduction and the QBI calculation. The home office deduction reduces your Schedule C profit, which then reduces your QBI base. But if you're also claiming the home office deduction on Schedule A (for the non-business portion), make sure you're not double-dipping anywhere. Also, have you considered how state tax implications might affect your federal deduction strategy? Some states don't follow federal bonus depreciation rules, so maximizing federal deductions could actually increase your state tax burden. The fact that you're covering 13 different forms shows you're really thinking holistically about this. That's exactly what most tax preparers miss - they focus on individual forms instead of optimizing across the entire return.

Can someone tell me if the gift tax applies to non-family members too? I'm planning to give my close friend about $30k to help with medical bills and I'm confused if I need to do anything about taxes.

Just wanted to add another important point that might help with your house down payment situation - if your parents are married and you're also married, they can actually give up to $68,000 per year without any gift tax forms! Here's how it works: Each of your parents can give $17,000 to you AND $17,000 to your spouse (that's $34,000 per parent, or $68,000 total). This is completely separate from the medical/tuition exemptions others mentioned. So for your $120,000 down payment, your parents could give you $68,000 this year with no paperwork, then give you another $52,000 next year (again, no forms needed if it's $68,000 or less). This way they could avoid filing any gift tax returns entirely while still helping you with the full amount over two years. Even if you're not married yet, this might be worth considering if you're planning to get married before buying the house - the timing could save your parents some paperwork hassle!

Has anyone used TurboTax to file Form 709? I'm trying to figure out if their Premier version actually handles gift tax returns properly or if I should just do the paper form. The software costs so much and I don't want to pay if it can't handle this form correctly.

Just wanted to share my experience since I was in a very similar situation last year. I gave my sister $65,000 for her business startup and was completely lost on Form 709. The key thing that helped me was understanding that Part 2, Line 4 is where you enter your AVAILABLE unified credit, not the total lifetime exemption amount. Since this was my first gift over the annual exclusion, I entered the full unified credit amount of $5,113,800 (which corresponds to the $12.92 million exemption). The taxable gift amount ($60,000 - $17,000 annual exclusion = $43,000) gets calculated in Part 1, and then Part 2 figures out how much of your credit you're using. One mistake I almost made was forgetting to attach Schedule A with all the gift details. Make sure you complete that first before moving to the main form. The IRS needs to see exactly what you gave, to whom, and when. Good luck with your filing!

Has anyone managed to reach PriorTax customer service directly? What's the best contact method? Their website just sends me to FAQs that don't address my problem.

I had almost the exact same issue with PriorTax two weeks ago! The infinite loading on "save & go" is definitely a known bug they're dealing with. Here's what finally worked for me: 1. Try using an incognito/private browsing window - this bypasses any cached data that might be corrupted 2. If you're using Chrome, go to Settings > Advanced > Reset and clean up > Clean up computer and run that tool 3. Most importantly - try accessing your return through their mobile app instead of the website. For some reason the mobile version doesn't have the same JavaScript conflicts I was stuck for 4 days before discovering the mobile app workaround. All my data was still there and I could edit/save everything normally through the app. Once I completed everything on mobile, I was able to access it normally on desktop again. Don't give up on PriorTax yet - you're so close to finishing! The mobile app trick saved me from having to start over with different software.