We used several methods together: relief from royalty (what would you charge to license this know-how?), comparable transactions (what have others paid for similar knowledge?), and cost approach (what did it cost to develop?). Our external valuation firm preferred the relief from royalty method as most defensible for our technical process know-how.

No letter from them, just my pay stubs. I'll try calling their finance dept though - that's a good idea. Did your letter specifically state that you were an employee rather than a contractor?

My letter simply stated the total earnings and noted I was an "election worker" with a statement that the amount was below the W-2 threshold. It didn't specifically classify me as an employee vs contractor, but the election commission HR person told me I was definitely considered an employee for tax purposes. It's worth calling - most counties have dealt with this question before since they hire thousands of election workers.

This is the right answer. I've been an election judge for years. Election workers are employees, not independent contractors. I'm surprised your town committee gives W-2s for $170 but your county doesn't for $350. Different payroll systems I guess.

In your example, if I only can use $6,000 of the credit, do I lose the other $1,500 forever or can I carry it to next year?

Unfortunately, you lose the remaining $1,500 forever. The EV tax credit cannot be carried forward to future tax years. If you don't have enough tax liability to use the full credit in the year you purchase the vehicle, the unused portion is simply lost. This is why it's so important to understand your tax situation before making a purchase decision based on the credit.

Income itself doesn't directly determine your EV credit, but it does affect your tax liability, which determines how much credit you can use. If you make $40k, your federal tax liability might only be around $3-4k (depending on deductions, filing status, etc.), so you could only use that much of the $7,500 credit. At $100k income, your tax liability would likely exceed $7,500, meaning you could use the full credit.

That's really interesting about the accountable plan! I've never heard of this before. Do you know if there's a specific way I should approach HR about it? Is there any official documentation I can refer to when explaining this?

The best approach is to frame it as a win-win for both you and the company. When you talk to HR, mention that accountable plans are recognized by the IRS and allow the company to deduct these business expenses while providing tax-free reimbursements to employees. For documentation, refer them to IRS Publication 463, which covers accountable plans. You could also point out that many companies are implementing these plans specifically for remote workers since the pandemic. I created a simple one-page proposal explaining the basic requirements: proper business connection, timely substantiation of expenses, and returning excess amounts. My HR was actually grateful since other employees had been asking about similar arrangements!

That's actually a really smart approach. What kind of documentation did you need to provide for the Lifetime Learning Credit when using your home office equipment for courses? Did you have to get anything from the course providers?

Thanks for your input, but I'm actually dealing with a larger amount - the refund was around 3,800 CAD, and the exchange rate has changed enough that the loss is more than $300. I'd prefer to do things by the book, especially since I'm planning to apply for citizenship in a couple years and don't want any tax issues to complicate that.

Fair enough. For amounts over $200, it's probably worth reporting correctly. Just wanted to point out that sometimes the tax benefit isn't worth the extra paperwork, but in your case it makes sense to get it right.

That's actually a good point. I use the XE Currency app to track exchange rates and set alerts when they hit certain thresholds. CAD has been trending up a bit lately against USD compared to last year.