Do they handle complex returns though? I have rental properties, investments, and self-employment income. TurboTax handles all that pretty well even though it's expensive.

Yes, they handle all those tax situations! I have a rental property and some side gig income, and it worked great for me. The interface isn't quite as polished as TurboTax, but all the same forms and schedules are available. The big difference is they charge one flat fee for the Deluxe version instead of making you pay more for each "type" of income like TurboTax does. So whether you have investments, rental income, or self-employment, it's all included in that same ~$25 price.

Really? I've been using them since 2007 and this is the first time I've ever not been able to access an older return. Maybe they just started enforcing it more strictly? Either way, definitely downloading everything from now on.

I had the exact same experience with eBay! Got a 1099-K for 2021 with around $7k in sales but nothing for 2022 with about $8k. I asked their support chat and they just sent me a link to a help article that didn't actually answer the question. Did you figure out what to do? I'm just reporting all income anyway but worried about inconsistencies triggering an audit.

I never got a satisfactory answer from Etsy, but I did some research and found that some states like Massachusetts, Vermont, and a few others had already implemented lower thresholds ($600) before the federal change was proposed. My guess is that either you or I moved states between 2021 and 2022, or the platforms changed how they determine which state's rules apply. I'm doing the same thing - reporting all income regardless of whether I got a form. My accountant confirmed that's the right approach and said inconsistencies in receiving forms shouldn't trigger an audit as long as you're properly reporting all your income.

That's correct. For 2022 tax filing (what you're filing now in 2023), the threshold remained at $20k AND 200 transactions for federal purposes. Some states have lower thresholds, which is why some people might receive a 1099-K even if they don't meet the federal threshold. For 2023 tax year (what you'll file in 2024), the threshold was originally supposed to drop to $600 with no transaction minimum. However, the IRS has actually announced ANOTHER delay for this implementation. So for 2023, the threshold will remain at $20k AND 200 transactions at the federal level. The $600 threshold is now scheduled to take effect for tax year 2024 (filing in 2025), but there's always the possibility of additional delays. Some tax software may not have been updated with the most recent delay announcement.

Thank you for this suggestion! Does the international student office usually help with determining which tax forms to use? I'm really confused about which specific forms I need beyond the 1040NR.

Yes, most international student offices help identify which forms you need. For F-1 students, that typically includes Form 1040NR, Form 8843, and potentially others depending on your specific situation. Many offices also provide workshops during tax season specifically addressing common concerns like how to handle your 1098-T and scholarship reporting. Some even offer one-on-one sessions with trained volunteers through programs like VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance).

India does have a tax treaty with the US, but it doesn't provide the same education benefits that some other countries get. I learned this the hard way last year.

What exactly counts as "significant revenue drops"? Our ERC provider said we qualified because we had a 17% drop in one quarter of 2020 compared to 2019. Is that enough or did we get bad advice?

For 2020, businesses needed to show at least a 50% reduction in quarterly gross receipts compared to the same quarter in 2019 to qualify under the revenue decline test. For 2021, that threshold was lowered to a 20% reduction. If you were told you qualified with only a 17% reduction in 2020, that's definitely incorrect for the revenue decline test. You may still have qualified under the suspension of operations test if government orders significantly limited your business, but the revenue test would not apply at 17% for 2020. This is exactly the kind of misrepresentation the IRS is currently targeting.

Unfortunately this is becoming common. Several of these ERC mills have vanished overnight as scrutiny increases. You might want to file a complaint with the FTC and your state attorney general's office. If they've truly disappeared, you could be dealing with a complete scam rather than just aggressive tax advice.

I exercised the options about 45 days ago but haven't sold the resulting shares yet. I'm trying to figure out if I should hold them long-term for QSBS treatment or if that ship has already sailed because of the acquisitions. The original company definitely qualified as a small business when I joined (under $5M in assets), but it's gone through two acquisitions since then.

Great news that you haven't sold yet! The QSBS clock starts ticking from when you exercise the options (not when you received them), so you're still at the beginning of your potential 5-year holding period. The acquisitions complicate things but don't necessarily disqualify you. If the acquisitions were structured as tax-free reorganizations (most are), and you received the new company's stock in exchange for your old company stock, you may be able to maintain QSBS status under the "substantially all assets" rules of Section 1202. What's critical is what percentage of QSBS-qualifying assets were maintained after each acquisition. If the original business operations continued as a substantially similar business after the acquisitions, you might still qualify. I'd suggest getting professional advice on this specific aspect since it's very fact-dependent and could potentially save you a lot in taxes if you qualify for the QSBS exclusion after your 5-year holding period.

AMT typically applies to Incentive Stock Options (ISOs), not to Non-qualified Stock Options (NSOs). Based on the original post mentioning a 1099-NEC, it sounds like these were NSOs. With NSOs, you pay ordinary income tax on the spread at exercise (reported on the 1099-NEC), but there's no AMT impact. If they were ISOs, you'd typically get a Form 3921 instead, and the spread would be an AMT adjustment item rather than ordinary income.