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4 Hey, just wanted to share what I did in a similar situation. My husband and I got married mid-2023, and I was working while he was in med school. I actually filled out my W4 as "Married filing jointly" but then used the "Multiple Jobs Worksheet" that comes with the W4 form to calculate additional withholding. It worked perfectly - we ended up with a small refund instead of owing. The key is that Step 2 of the form lets you account for situations where one spouse works or when both work but earn different amounts.
11 Did you have to do the worksheet thing every time you got paid? Or is it just once when you fill out the W4?
4 You only need to do the worksheet once when you initially fill out the W4. The calculations help you determine an extra amount to have withheld from each paycheck, which you'll put on line 4(c) of the form. Your employer then automatically withholds that additional amount along with your regular withholding from each paycheck. When your situation changes (like when your wife starts working in April), you'll want to complete a new W4 with new calculations. But day-to-day or paycheck-to-paycheck, there's nothing additional you need to do once the form is submitted to your employer.
19 Is anyone else annoyed that the W4 became so complicated after they redesigned it? I miss the old simple withholding allowances. Now I feel like I need an accounting degree just to fill out a basic form...
I work at a tax prep office and see this EXACT issue with Webull forms all the time. It's a known glitch in their reporting system. Here's what we do: 1. Make Box 5 match Box 1a exactly 2. Document the original values somewhere in your records 3. File normally The discrepancy is due to how Webull handles fractional shares and dividend rounding. Since Section 199A dividends (Box 5) are supposed to be a subset of ordinary dividends (Box 1a), the numbers get slightly misaligned in their system. This is so common with Webull that we have a standard procedure for it. I've never seen a client get any follow-up questions from the IRS about this minor adjustment.
Thanks so much for this info! It's reassuring to hear this is a known issue. For the sake of my own records, should I keep a copy of the original 1099-DIV along with a note about the adjustment I made? Just trying to be thorough in case questions ever come up.
Yes, definitely keep a copy of your original 1099-DIV form. I always recommend that clients maintain a simple document noting any adjustments they made when filing, along with the reason for the change. Just a basic note like "Adjusted Webull 1099-DIV Box 5 from $X.XX to match Box 1a amount of $X.XX due to reporting inconsistency" is sufficient. This creates a clean audit trail if you ever need to explain the adjustment. Though as I mentioned, these tiny discrepancies are so common with certain brokers that they rarely raise any questions. The IRS systems understand that small rounding differences occur, especially with fractional share investments.
I discovered that you can actually override TurboTax's error check for this! When you get the error message, look for a small "continue anyway" or "override" option (it's easy to miss). I've been doing this for the past two years with my Webull forms since they always have this issue. For what it's worth, I've never had any problems filing this way - no audit, no questions, nothing. It's such a small amount that the IRS systems probably don't even flag it. Their automated systems are looking for much bigger discrepancies than a few pennies.
Remember that if this is a Final K-1, you need to check if the distribution exceeds your client's basis in the partnership interest. If it does, the excess is generally treated as capital gain. Section 731(a) covers this. The tricky part with partnership-to-partnership distributions is applying the tiered partnership rules correctly. Make sure you're accounting for any Section 751 "hot assets" in the distributing partnership as well.
Thanks for bringing up Section 731(a)! The distribution amount is actually less than their basis, so I think we're ok there. But can you explain more about these "hot assets" you mentioned? I'm not familiar with Section 751 in this context.
Section 751 "hot assets" refer to unrealized receivables and substantially appreciated inventory. When a partnership distributes cash or property, you need to determine if any portion is attributable to these hot assets. The significance is that distributions attributable to hot assets are treated as ordinary income rather than capital gain, even if the distribution exceeds basis. This prevents converting what would be ordinary income into capital gain. In a partnership-to-partnership scenario, this analysis needs to be done at both partnership levels, which gets complex quickly.
Has anyone mentioned carried interest yet? If this partnership investment involves any carried interest arrangements, that adds another layer to track correctly. The tax treatment can vary significantly.
Im in a similar situation but my numbers are different - my line 15 is -2,453 and line 16 is 3,102. I put the -2,453 on line 3 of the worksheet but then tax software is giving me an error saying I cant have a negative number there?? So confused.
Just a heads up - make sure you're using the correct worksheet version for your tax year. The Qualified Dividends and Capital Gain Tax Worksheet gets updated, and using last year's version could lead to errors. I learned this the hard way when I was using old instructions I printed out last year. Also double-check that you correctly calculated lines 15 and 16 on Schedule D in the first place. Line 15 should be your net long-term capital gain or loss, and line 16 is typically your net short-term and long-term combined. If those aren't calculated right, it cascades through the rest of your forms.
Fernanda Marquez
One important thing to note about the Lifetime Learning credit that nobody mentioned yet - it's non-refundable, unlike part of the American Opportunity Credit. This means if your tax liability is reduced to zero, you don't get any remaining credit amount refunded to you. Also, there are income limits! For 2024, the credit starts phasing out at modified AGI of $80,000 for single filers or $160,000 for joint filers. If you make more than $90,000 single/$180,000 joint, you can't claim it at all.
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Ana Rusula
ā¢Thanks for mentioning the non-refundable aspect - that's really important! My AGI is around $65k so sounds like I'm okay on the income limits. Do you happen to know if I can claim this credit if I already used some tuition reimbursement from my employer? My company covered about $500 of the $1,800 course.
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Fernanda Marquez
ā¢You're definitely under the income limits at $65k, so no problem there! For the employer reimbursement, you can only claim the Lifetime Learning credit on expenses you actually paid yourself, not expenses reimbursed by your employer. So in your case, you could only claim the credit on $1,300 of your tuition ($1,800 minus the $500 your employer paid). Make sure you reduce your qualified expenses by the amount of tax-free educational assistance you received.
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Norman Fraser
i had the exact same question last year! just want to add that you should check your state tax too - some states have their own education credits on top of the federal ones. i got an extra $150 credit on my state return that i almost missed.
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Kendrick Webb
ā¢Good point! Not all states offer education credits though. I'm in Florida and we don't have state income tax at all. Does anyone know which states specifically offer education credits similar to the Lifetime Learning credit?
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