Thank you for bringing this up! They don't have long-term care insurance unfortunately. They looked into Medicaid but were told they have too many assets to qualify right now. They're spending down their retirement savings at an alarming rate with these nursing home bills. Do you know if the medical expense deduction applies to withdrawals from retirement accounts that are used to pay for the nursing home?

Yes, you can still claim the medical expense deduction even if the money comes from retirement account withdrawals. The source of the funds doesn't affect the deductibility of the medical expense. However, be aware that withdrawals from traditional retirement accounts (like a traditional IRA or 401k) are generally taxable income, which will increase your AGI. This could potentially reduce the benefit of the medical expense deduction since you can only deduct expenses that exceed 7.5% of your AGI. It creates a bit of a circular problem - you withdraw money to pay medical bills, which increases your income, which raises the threshold for deducting those same medical bills.

Is there a good way to track all this? I've been keeping receipts in a shoebox but it's getting overwhelming.

Do they let you pay the state filing fee out of your refund or do you need to pay upfront with a credit card?

You need to pay the state filing fee upfront with a credit card or PayPal. They don't offer the option to pay from your refund - that's actually one of the ways other tax services justify charging those extra "processing fees." The $15 state fee is straightforward with no hidden charges. And honestly, paying upfront rather than from your refund usually saves you money since many services charge $35-50 to use your refund for payment.

This is the real answer! The IRS Free File program requires participating companies to provide truly free filing if you meet the income requirements (usually under $73,000). Going directly to TaxSlayer's website means you get their commercial "free" version with all the upgrade traps.

Wow that's incredibly misleading of them! I had no idea there were two different versions. I'll definitely try the IRS Free File portal next time. Thanks for the tip!

12 Do you know if she needed to bring anything specific with her? ID or anything like that? I might try this approach instead of waiting.

9 She brought her photo ID (driver's license), Social Security card, and a piece of mail showing her current address just to be safe. The agent only ended up asking for the photo ID, but it's probably good to have all of it with you. I think they just need to verify your identity before printing out tax documents. She said the office was pretty busy with other people there for the same reason, so going early in the morning might help cut down on wait time.

1 That's somewhat reassuring to hear. Maybe I'll wait another week before trying any of the other solutions mentioned here. Did you receive any other tax forms on time (like W-2s or other 1099s), or were those delayed too?

5 My W-2s and 1099-INT from my bank came right on time in mid-January, so it seems to be specific to the SSA forms being delayed. I've heard from a couple of friends who also receive social security, and they were in the same boat - got their SSA-1099s much later than usual this year. My theory is that the Social Security Administration is just overwhelmed with all the new beneficiaries from the baby boomer generation retiring. Every year the system seems to get a little more strained.

This is helpful but I'm confused about the "qualified plan" part. Do I need to file something official with the IRS to set this up? And does it need to be available to all employees or can I choose who gets awards?

A qualified plan award means it's part of an established written plan that doesn't discriminate in favor of highly compensated employees. You don't need to file the plan with the IRS, but you should have it documented in your employee handbook or as a separate written policy. The plan needs to be available to all employees - you can't just create it for specific people. However, the criteria can be based on genuine achievements that not everyone will meet. The key is that everyone theoretically has the opportunity to earn the award if they meet the established criteria. Also, you can't give more than $1,600 per employee per year for qualified plan awards, and no more than $400 per employee for non-qualified awards.

I tried this approach and got burned during an audit. The IRS agent specifically told me that ALL gift cards, regardless of amount, are considered cash equivalents and are therefore always taxable. They only allowed actual tangible gifts of minimal value (like company t-shirts, coffee mugs, or occasional meal) to qualify as de minimis.

Slightly off topic but how do you stay updated on tax law changes? I tried subscribing to irs.gov updates but the emails are overwhelming and filled with jargon. Is there a more user-friendly resource that's still accurate?

I find that the IRS Tax Professional page has more targeted updates than the general subscription, so that might be worth checking out even if you're not a tax pro. For a more digestible format, I actually rely on a few trusted sources: the Journal of Accountancy has good summaries of major changes, and the Tax Foundation puts out clear analyses of both existing and proposed legislation. Just be careful with any source that has a strong political leaning, as they sometimes present analysis with a particular slant. I always try to verify anything important by checking the actual text of laws or IRS notices.

Absolutely! I've noticed this trend too. Some of these accounts have hundreds of thousands of followers and make these dramatic claims about tax changes to drive engagement. The worst part is when they're selling courses based on "strategies" for tax changes that haven't even happened yet!

Exactly! I'm glad I'm not the only one noticing this. The engagement-driven nature of social media rewards the most alarming or exciting claims, not the most accurate ones. I've started immediately checking any tax policy claim against the actual IRS website or Congressional Budget Office reports. The reality is usually much more nuanced than what these "experts" claim.