Just wanted to share my experience with this exact situation! I had multiple Roth IRA contributions throughout 2023 and then got hit with a surprise year-end bonus that pushed me over the income limit. The key thing I learned is that you absolutely need to act quickly - the deadline is firm. My broker (Schwab) was actually really helpful once I got to the right department. They have a specialized team that handles excess contribution returns and they did all the earnings calculations for me using the method described above. One thing that wasn't immediately clear to me: when you withdraw the excess contribution plus earnings, the contribution amount comes back to you tax-free (since it was post-tax money), but the earnings portion gets added to your taxable income for the year you receive the distribution. So make sure you're prepared for that tax hit! Also, if you're close to income limits in the future, definitely consider the backdoor Roth strategy mentioned by others. It's a bit more paperwork but saves you from this whole headache.

I went through this same situation last year with Fidelity! You're absolutely right that the calculation can be confusing, especially with multiple contributions. Here's what I learned from my experience: Fidelity does have a specific form called "Return of Excess Contribution" that you can find in their forms library online. When you call, ask specifically for the "retirement account excess contribution department" - they'll transfer you to specialists who handle this all the time and actually know the calculation methods. Regarding your question about tracking each contribution separately - you don't need to! The IRS allows you to use the account value immediately before your first contribution for the tax year as your starting point, then your current balance as the ending point. The formula you mentioned is correct. One important thing I discovered: if you're doing this for 2024 contributions, you have until your 2024 tax filing deadline (including extensions) to fix it without penalty. But don't wait - the earnings calculation keeps changing as your account value fluctuates. Also, just to echo what others said about the tax implications - the contribution itself comes back tax-free, but any earnings on the excess contribution will be taxable income in the year you receive the distribution. Fidelity will send you a 1099-R showing the earnings portion.

Thanks everyone for all the great suggestions! I'm definitely going to try a few of these options. The automatic document scanning feature that @Ethan Clark mentioned with taxr.ai sounds really appealing since I hate manually entering all those 1099 boxes - I always worry I'm going to mess something up. I'm also intrigued by the VITA program @Emma Johnson suggested. I didn't know that was a thing! Having someone walk through everything with me in person might be worth it for peace of mind, especially since this is my first year dealing with multiple 1099s. Quick question for anyone who's used these services - do any of them handle estimated tax payments for next year? Since I'll probably have similar 1099 income next year, I want to make sure I don't get hit with underpayment penalties.

I've been in a similar situation and ended up using a combination approach that worked really well. For the actual filing, I went with FreeTaxUSA since it truly handles all 1099 forms for free (federal), but I also used one of those document scanning services mentioned here to extract all the data first, then manually entered it into FreeTaxUSA. This gave me the best of both worlds - the accuracy of automated data extraction without worrying about hidden fees. The scanning caught details I probably would have missed, and FreeTaxUSA's interface made it easy to double-check everything was entered correctly. One tip: if you do go the manual entry route with any software, take photos of all your forms with your phone first. That way if you get interrupted or the software times out, you don't have to dig through all your paperwork again. Also, most of these services will save your progress, so you can take breaks if it gets overwhelming. For estimated taxes next year, definitely set those up - the IRS has an online payment system (EFTPS) that makes quarterly payments pretty painless once you're registered.

I actually went through this last year with my S-Corp. Something important I learned - if your new owner is a non-US citizen or certain types of entities, you could accidentally terminate your S election! Make sure your new member is a qualified S-Corp shareholder. Also, depending on your state, you might need to file amended articles of organization with the state. In California, for example, we had to file a Statement of Information update when our ownership changed.

One thing to keep in mind that I haven't seen mentioned yet - when you take distributions as an S-Corp, they need to be proportional to ownership percentages. You can't just decide to give one owner more distributions than another based on their contribution or work in the business. Also, make sure you're both taking reasonable salaries as W-2 employees if you're both actively working in the business. The IRS scrutinizes S-Corps that try to avoid payroll taxes by taking everything as distributions instead of salary. The salary requirement applies to all owner-employees, not just the original owner. For your specific situation with the mid-year ownership change, document everything thoroughly - the date of the change, the reason for it, how you determined the new ownership percentages, and keep copies of all amended corporate documents. This documentation will be crucial if you ever face an audit.

Has anyone tried both FreeTaxUSA and Cash App Taxes (formerly Credit Karma Tax)? I'm also leaving TurboTax but trying to decide between these two free options.

I made the exact same switch last year and totally understand the frustration! While there's no direct PDF import in FreeTaxUSA, I found a workaround that made the process much smoother. What I did was open my TurboTax PDF in one browser tab and FreeTaxUSA in another. Then I systematically went through each section - personal info, income sources, deductions, etc. - copying the information over. It took about 45 minutes total, which honestly wasn't too bad considering I only have to do it once. Pro tip: Start with the "Import Prior Year" section in FreeTaxUSA even though you can't actually import - it shows you exactly what information they need, which helps you know what to look for in your old return. The interface is definitely different from TurboTax but in a good way - less cluttered and more straightforward. And once you're set up this year, FreeTaxUSA will automatically carry forward your info for next year, so this manual entry is truly a one-time thing. The savings compared to TurboTax make it totally worth the initial setup time!

I work with tax processing systems and can confirm this is normal behavior for Michigan's eServices portal. The "You do not have access to view 2024 Tax Year information" message is their standard response during the processing window, regardless of what you select for filing status. Since you e-filed through TurboTax last Thursday, you're right in that 5-7 business day processing window where Michigan validates and integrates your return into their system. The estimated payments section will automatically become accessible once your return clears their processing queue - usually by end of this week for e-filed returns. If you're still blocked by Friday, then I'd recommend calling their support line at that point.

I ran into this exact same issue with Michigan Treasury's eServices portal a few months ago! The frustrating part is that their system doesn't clearly communicate what's happening during the processing period. From my experience, even though you answered "Yes" to filing your 2024 return, their backend system hasn't fully synchronized your filing status yet. Since you e-filed through TurboTax last Thursday, you're probably looking at another 1-2 business days before the portal grants you full access. The estimated tax payments section is particularly sensitive to this processing delay because it requires complete validation of your return before showing payment history. I'd suggest checking again Wednesday morning - that's typically when I've seen Michigan's system refresh with newly processed returns. If you're still locked out by then, their customer service line (517-636-4486) is usually pretty helpful with account access issues.