Did you use a professional tax service to fix your amendment? I'm from India and particularly concerned about treaty benefits that might apply to me as a teaching assistant.

I actually used a university-provided tax service called GTP (Glacier Tax Prep) which specializes in international student taxes. Many universities offer free access to this for their international students. For your situation as a teaching assistant from India, you should definitely look into Article 21 of the US-India tax treaty, which may allow you to exclude a portion of your income from US taxation. This is exactly the kind of thing that general tax software misses. Check if your university's international student office offers free or discounted tax preparation services - many do, especially for common situations like yours.

I went through this in New York. You need to wait until the IRS acknowledges receipt of your amended federal return before filing the state amendment. I used the confirmation number from the federal amendment submission on my state forms. Some states have specific forms for non-resident alien amendments, so check California's franchise tax board website for the correct form.

Thanks for the info! Do you know roughly how long it took for the IRS to acknowledge your amended return? I'm getting worried about missing state deadlines.

So when they say "voluntary tax system" that's basically BS right? Like they WILL come after you eventually? I always thought it was more like "we hope you'll pay but if you don't we might not notice" lol.

Voluntary tax" system means'you re expected to calculate and report your own taxes correctly without the government doing it for you first. It'doesn t mean taxes are optional! The IRS receives information from banks, employers, payment processors, etc., and their systems automatically match that information against filed returns. If you'haven t filed but they have records of your (income like 1099s from clients or bank)deposits , their automated systems will eventually flag your account for non-filing. Sometimes it takes years if'you re not on their radar, but digital records have made it much easier for them to catch non-filers. And once they do notice, they can go back indefinitely for unfiledyears.

I used FreeTaxUSA for 3 years of back taxes last year. Way cheaper than TurboTax and they keep prior year versions available. You just have to print and mail them in since you can't e-file prior years. Make sure you send them certified mail so you have proof of when you filed. Took about 9 weeks to process each return.

Wait seriously? I had no idea about the Roth IRA limitation! I thought the income limits were just reduced, not basically eliminated. That's a huge factor to consider...

Yes, it's one of the most restrictive aspects of filing separately that catches people by surprise. The income limit for Roth IRA contributions when filing separately is just $10,000 - after that, you can't contribute at all. It's not a gradual phase-out like with other filing statuses. For comparison, with married filing jointly in 2024, the Roth contribution starts phasing out at $230,000 and completely phases out at $240,000 of modified AGI.

This is the approach we took. My wife is a public school teacher going for PSLF, so we file separately to keep her payments low. Yes, we pay more in taxes each year, but after running the numbers, we'll come out ahead by about $42,000 over the 10-year forgiveness period.

That's interesting. So it sounds like timing matters a lot here. Since my property was no longer a rental when I did the improvements (tenants had moved out and I was prepping it for sale), would that change how I should handle the capital improvements? Would they still go on the depreciation schedule or directly to Form 8824?

Yes, timing definitely matters here. Since your property was no longer being used as a rental when you made the improvements, the treatment is a bit different. In your case, the capital improvements ($26,000 for roof and HVAC) would not go on the depreciation schedule for the rental period. Instead, those capital improvements would directly increase your adjusted basis of the property being exchanged and would be reported on Form 8824, line O "adjusted basis of like-kind property given up." You wouldn't depreciate these new improvements at all since they were made after the property stopped being used for business purposes.

Actually, the 95-day rule isn't correct. For 1031 exchange replacement properties, improvements must be identified within the 45-day identification period and completed within the 180-day exchange period to be considered part of the exchange. There's no specific 95-day rule in 1031 exchanges.

I was able to get documentation! But I had to be persistent and specific in my request. I emailed the bursar's office, financial aid, AND my department chair, explaining that I needed written confirmation that the Box 6 amount represented an internal transfer of funds and not additional scholarship money provided to me. After about 3 follow-ups, the university financial services director finally sent me a letter stating that the Box 6 amount was "an administrative adjustment representing internal fund transfers between university accounts that does not constitute additional funds disbursed to the student." I attached this to my tax return along with a brief statement explaining why I was only reporting the net scholarship amount.

Thank you! This is exactly what I needed to know. I'll draft a similar email today and start pressuring all three departments. I already tried just asking the bursar's office but they gave me a generic response that wasn't helpful at all. I'll be persistent and make sure to specifically request confirmation that it's an internal transfer, not additional scholarship money. Hopefully having something in writing will protect me if there are any questions about my return.

I had the same issue with TurboTax! What worked for me was entering the full amounts in both Box 5 and Box 6 as requested, but then going to the "Other Income" section and making a negative adjustment labeled as "1098-T Box 6 adjustment for internal fund transfer" to offset the double counting. This way the correct net amount gets reported. If you use another tax software, the process might be different, but the principle is the same - you need to make a manual adjustment somewhere to ensure you're only taxed on the net scholarship amount.