One thing nobody mentioned yet - you need to track your inventory carefully even with dropshipping. Even though Printful handles fulfillment, the IRS considers you the seller. I use a simple spreadsheet with: - Date of sale - Product cost (what Printful charges you) - Sale price (what the customer pays) - Platform fees (Amazon's cut) - Shipping costs - Net profit This makes filing Schedule C WAY easier and helps you calculate your true profit for self-employment tax purposes. You don't want to overpay by calculating tax on your gross sales!

One thing to consider is setting up as an LLC and electing S-Corp taxation once you're consistently profitable. I did this with my dropshipping business last year. The main benefit is that you can pay yourself a reasonable salary and take the rest as distributions, which aren't subject to self-employment tax. Saved me about 15% tax on a significant portion of my income. Obviously you'll want to wait until your business is consistently making at least $30-40k profit before this makes sense due to the additional costs of payroll services and state LLC fees.

Don't forget you can also make a QCD (Qualified Charitable Distribution) directly from an IRA to your church if you're over 70.5 years old. This counts toward your RMD and you don't have to itemize to get the tax benefit since the money never hits your taxable income. My wife and I donate about $15k/year this way to our church and it works great!

Has anyone tried using the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search tool to verify their church is eligible before donating? I'm wondering if I need to check this for our church or if all churches automatically qualify.

During my experience as a former tax preparer, I ALWAYS recommended the foreign tax credit over the deduction for investment accounts. The only time I ever saw the deduction work better was for a client with unusual circumstances involving foreign real estate. One thing to watch for in TurboTax: make sure you're selecting the correct category on Form 1116. Investment dividends typically go under "Passive Category Income" and TurboTax should select this by default, but sometimes it doesn't if you have other foreign income.

I was struggling with the exact same issue last month! My foreign tax was around $720 across multiple brokerages. I ended up taking the credit and using Form 1116. It was definitely more work but saved me about $180 compared to taking the deduction. One thing to note - you can carryover unused foreign tax credits to future years (up to 10 years), but you can't do that with deductions. So even if the credit calculation is a little more complex, it usually pays off in the long run.

Y'all are missing the most PUNK ROCK way to legally protest taxes - OVERPAY all year then file for a huge refund! The gov doesn't pay you interest on money they've held all year. I set my W-4 to withhold the max, then get back like $7000 each April. They had an interest-free loan from me all year, but the psychological victory of getting that fat check feels goooood.

Listen, I used to work for a tax firm, and the real "punk rock" move is becoming tax literate. The system WANTS you to be confused and intimidated. Every year, learn ONE new tax concept deeply. Start with understanding the difference between tax credits vs deductions. Then maybe learning about how different types of income are taxed differently. Once you truly understand how the system works, you can make informed choices year-round that legally minimize your liability. That's true financial rebellion - weaponizing knowledge instead of remaining ignorant of a system designed to keep you confused.

One thing to keep in mind about FICA - it's different from income tax in that you don't file a return for it or get a refund at the end of the year like you might with income tax (unless you overpaid due to multiple jobs exceeding the wage base). The Social Security part (OASDI) is basically funding your future retirement benefits. The more you pay in over your lifetime, the higher your eventual Social Security payments will be when you retire (up to a certain limit). Medicare is funding your future health insurance when you're older. So while it feels like just another tax, you're actually funding programs you'll likely benefit from later.

Remember that while FICA seems annoying now, think of it as forced retirement and health insurance savings. My parents are living on Social Security now and thank goodness they paid into it their whole lives!