That's an interesting idea! I'm not sure if I had any return of capital distributions. Is there a way to check that on the Webull platform? I'm still pretty new to investing and all these tax forms are confusing.

You can check by logging into your Webull account and going to the "Account" tab, then selecting "History" and filtering for "Dividends." Look for any entries labeled as "Return of Capital" or "ROC." If you see any of these, that's likely your culprit. Return of capital distributions are not technically dividends, but sometimes brokers report them incorrectly. If you find this is the case, you could try explaining this to TurboTax support as the reason for the discrepancy. Alternatively, you might need to manually override TurboTax's error check, though some tax software doesn't allow this without a paid upgrade to a premium version that allows manual entries.

Did Webull send the corrected form to the IRS too? I'm worried about making changes on my end but then having the IRS records show something different.

Can you explain more about these imputed interest rules? Our loan is at 3.5% - is that considered reasonable? I don't want to get caught in some complicated tax situation.

Sure thing! The IRS has what's called the Applicable Federal Rate (AFR), which is the minimum interest rate they consider legitimate for loans. If your rate is below the AFR, the IRS might "impute" interest, meaning they treat the loan as if it charged the minimum rate, even if it didn't. A 3.5% rate is likely fine for 2024-2025. The AFR changes monthly, but has generally been in the 2-4% range for mid-term loans recently. As long as your rate is at or above the AFR that was in effect when your loan was made, you should be safe from imputed interest complications.

TurboTax isn't great for generating 1099-INTs. For issuing forms, I've found it easier to just order the official forms from the IRS website or use their online system. Much simpler than trying to make TurboTax do something it wasn't really designed for.

Thanks for these specific suggestions. How did you find your new CPA? Did you get referrals or just search online? I'm worried about ending up with someone with similar problems.

I got referrals from others in my industry - specifically asked business owners with similar revenue and complexity to mine. Industry-specific Facebook groups and Slack communities were goldmines for recommendations. Avoid general business networking groups for this - you want targeted recommendations from people facing your exact tax situation. When interviewing potential CPAs, I asked how many clients they have with my specific business structure and revenue model. The ones who could immediately discuss the particular tax nuances of my situation rose to the top of my list.

This is actually solid advice. I was ready to dump my CPA after some mistakes but we had a direct conversation about expectations. She implemented a much better system and things improved dramatically. Been smooth for 3 years now.

That's a fair point about communication. I've been pretty consistent with emails and using the systems he set up, but maybe I need to be even more structured. I'll definitely have a direct conversation before making any decisions.

That's a really good point! I just double-checked and I definitely selected that I took the standard deduction last year. When I look deeper into the calculation details in TurboTax, it does show the state refund on line 1 of the income section, but then somewhere in the calculations, it's showing $0 as the taxable amount. I think the confusion came from seeing it listed in the income section at all. I'm going to stick with FreeTaxUSA this year since the interface seems clearer for my situation. Thanks everyone for helping me understand what's happening!

This is super helpful! It would be nice if tax software made this clearer. So basically it has to be reported but then gets calculated to $0 if you took standard deduction? That explains why it shows up in income initially.

Does this apply to other tax forms too? We're about to submit for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund and I'm worried about similar delays.

Absolutely! This consistency rule applies to pretty much all tax forms and federal relief programs. For the Restaurant Revitalization Fund specifically, make sure your business name matches exactly what's on your business license, EIN documentation, and tax returns. I've seen applications get stuck in processing because the business applied as "Joe's Pizza" but their tax returns show "Joseph's Pizza LLC." The systems are often matching these entries automatically, and even minor differences can kick it out for manual review, which means significant delays.

You don't need to have fully shut down to qualify. There are two main ways to be eligible: 1) Your business operations were fully/partially suspended due to government orders limiting commerce, travel, or group meetings due to COVID-19, OR 2) You experienced a significant decline in gross receipts during a calendar quarter compared to 2019 (specific percentage requirements depend on which quarter you're claiming). Reduced hours can definitely qualify under the first test if they were the result of government restrictions. Document everything showing how the restrictions affected your operations!

Thank you for explaining! We definitely had reduced capacity requirements from our county health department that forced us to operate at 50% for several months. I'll gather all the official orders and our schedule changes to document this properly. I appreciate the clear explanation - our accountant was being super cautious about this claim since the IRS has been scrutinizing them closely.