Would you recommend any specific free software for students? I tried TurboTax last year but ended up getting charged at the end when it turned out my "simple return" wasn't so simple because of my education credits.

I personally recommend FreeTaxUSA for students. Unlike TurboTax, they don't bait-and-switch you with unexpected charges for education credits or simple deductions. Federal filing is completely free, and state returns are only about $15 if you need them. The IRS Free File program is also good if your income is under $73,000. You can access various free options through the IRS website, and they're required to keep it truly free for qualifying taxpayers. Just be careful to access them through the official IRS.gov site rather than going directly to their websites, as that's how you ensure you get the truly free version.

But what about student loan interest? I have loans and heard that's deductible somewhere on the form.

Do you have a template for this spreadsheet you could share? I've been trying to figure out how to set one up but I'm not sure how to structure it with multiple income sources.

I don't have a shareable template, but here's how I structure mine: I create columns for each income source, then rows for each pay period. I sum these up to get my projected annual income. Then I calculate my taxable income (after standard deduction) and use the tax brackets to estimate my tax liability. I compare this to the total withholding from my pay stubs to see if I'm on track. The key is to update it after each paycheck so you can make adjustments to your withholding if needed. If you're not comfortable with tax brackets, there are IRS withholding calculators online that can help estimate your total tax more accurately.

But don't you need separate bank accounts for each type of business activity even with one LLC? I heard mixing business funds can create problems.

That's actually a really smart system! Do you use any specific app or method to keep track of all your expenses throughout the year? I've just been keeping random receipts in a shoebox which probably isn't ideal lol.

I use a basic spreadsheet for tracking expenses, but I also take pictures of all receipts with my phone and organize them by month in a cloud folder. Way better than the shoebox method (which is what I started with too)! For mileage specifically, I recommend a dedicated app like MileIQ or Everlance that tracks your trips automatically. They're worth every penny come tax time since mileage is usually the biggest deduction for delivery gigs.

This is super helpful! Is there any specific wording you'd recommend using when requesting the waiver for a first-timer with self-employment income?

I thought 83(b) elections were only for restricted stock, not stock options? Can you explain how that would work in my ISO situation?

You're absolutely right, and I should have been more precise. 83(b) elections apply to restricted stock awards (RSAs) or early exercises of unvested options, not standard ISO exercises as in your situation. For your situation with vested ISOs at a now-public company, you're dealing with the standard ISO tax rules that others have mentioned. Your main considerations are the timing of exercise relative to AMT implications and holding periods for qualifying dispositions. Apologies for the confusion.

Good catch! Calculation errors on tax forms are a major audit flag. I learned this the hard way with my own ISO exercise last year.

This sounds interesting but a bit complex. Do you need a specialized attorney to set this up? And does it actually reduce your current tax liability significantly or is it more of a long-term strategy?

You definitely need a team including a tax attorney who specializes in charitable planning and an accountant familiar with these structures. The tax benefits are both immediate and long-term. The immediate benefit is a current year tax deduction based on the present value of the future gift to charity, which can be substantial depending on how you structure it. For example, when I placed $500k of appreciated assets into my CRUT, I received a deduction of about $175k in the year I established it, which directly reduced my current tax liability.

I second the S-Corp recommendation! My accountant also had me set a reasonable salary at about 40% of my business income with the rest as distributions. Huge savings on SE tax. Talk to a good CPA about whether that might work for your specific business type.

I run a specialized software development firm focusing on financial services. Currently structured as an LLC taxed as a sole proprietorship. I've heard about the S-Corp strategy but wasn't sure if the administrative overhead was worth it. Sounds like the savings could be substantial though if you're saving $30k just on self-employment taxes. Do you find the added complexity with payroll and additional filings to be a major headache? And did you have to justify your salary-to-distribution ratio to the IRS at all?