How's ATX with bank products and refund transfers? I'm thinking about offering those services next year to compete with the big chains in my area.

ATX works fine with bank products through Refund Advantage and EPS Financial. Setup isn't the most intuitive thing in the world, but once you get it configured, it works reliably. They have decent training resources to get you started with those services. The refund transfer process is pretty smooth from the client perspective - the interfaces are clean and professional looking which helps when you're competing with bigger operations. Just make sure you factor in the per-return fees when pricing your services.

This is great advice. I started doing planning about 2 years ago and my average client value went up by almost 70%. Do you use Holistiplan standalone or integrated with your tax prep software?

That's a really important point I hadn't considered. So even though I'd be working for a US company, I could end up being a UK tax resident because of the 183+ days rule. Do you know if there's any way to maintain Irish tax residency instead, since that's where my permanent home would still be?

You could potentially maintain Irish tax residency by ensuring you spend enough time in Ireland and limiting your time in Scotland to under 183 days per UK tax year. Ireland has a similar 183-day rule, but also considers other factors like maintaining a permanent home there. One approach some people use is careful day counting across tax years - for example, spending just under 183 days in the UK in each UK tax year, but timing it so those days fall across two different Irish tax years. This requires very careful planning and documentation of your whereabouts. Keep in mind though that if you're physically performing the work in Scotland, the UK will have taxing rights on that income regardless of your residency status. The difference is that as a UK resident, they tax your worldwide income, while as a non-resident, they only tax UK-source income.

Really good point about social security! When I moved from Ireland to the UK for work, I was able to get a form from the Irish authorities confirming I was still covered under the Irish system, which meant I didn't have to pay UK National Insurance. I believe it was called Form E101 or something similar. Worth looking into!

7 I tried TurboTax last year with my Korean husband. It works but you have to know what you're doing. When it asks for your spouse's SSN, you can't just leave it blank - you have to type "NRA" and then it'll let you proceed. It also gets confused about the residency test questions so you might need to override some of their recommendations.

15 Thanks for the tip about typing "NRA" in the SSN field! I didn't know that was an option. Did you have any issues with state taxes as well, or just federal? I'm in California which seems to have its own complicated rules for everything. I'm a bit concerned because my wife might have some minimal US-source income from an investment account we opened together last year. Does that complicate things further?

18 Wait really? I didn't know about losing all those benefits! I've been filing separately from my Ukrainian husband for 3 years now and I claim both student loan interest AND education credits. Are you sure about this?

Would filing the SS-8 potentially cause problems for me though? I'm worried about triggering an audit or something if I start filing additional forms. Also, how long does that determination process usually take? I need to file my taxes pretty soon.

Filing SS-8 won't trigger an audit of you - if anything, it might lead to your former employer being examined. The determination process can take 6+ months, but you don't need to wait for the determination before filing your taxes. You can file Form 8919 "Uncollected Social Security and Medicare Tax on Wages" along with your return if you believe you were misclassified. This lets you pay only the employee portion of Social Security and Medicare taxes rather than the full self-employment tax amount. Just indicate on the form that you've filed SS-8 and are awaiting determination.

This is great advice but doesn't help OP now lol. I've started taking pictures of my paychecks too since my last employer "lost" my employment records when I needed proof of income for an apartment application.

Thank you for mentioning this! I've never had any tax issues before, always filed and paid on time. How exactly do you apply for this abatement? Is it something I would request after I file my late return?

Yes, you request it after you file your late return and receive a bill or notice from the IRS about penalties. You can call the IRS and specifically ask for "First Time Penalty Abatement" for your failure-to-file penalties. The requirements are that you had no penalties for the 3 tax years prior to the year you're requesting abatement for, you've filed all currently required returns (or filed extensions), and you've paid (or arranged to pay) any tax due. Based on what you've shared, you'd likely qualify since this is your first time missing a filing deadline.

Totally agree with this advice. I learned the hard way that "perfect is the enemy of done" when it comes to taxes. I waited 18 months to file because I was missing some documents and wanted everything perfect. Big mistake - penalties kept growing the whole time.