What's the time limit for amending previous returns to claim those foreign tax credits? I haven't been claiming mine for years but pay a lot of tax in my country of residence.

You generally have 3 years from the original filing deadline to amend a return and claim a refund. So for 2022 taxes (which were due April 2023), you have until April 2026 to amend and claim those foreign tax credits. If you've been missing out on foreign tax credits for multiple years, you could potentially amend returns going back three years. This can be especially valuable if you're paying higher tax rates in your country of residence than you would in the US. Many expats don't realize they're leaving money on the table by not claiming these credits!

You're totally fine! Using the standard deduction has no impact on your ability to use Form 2555 in future years. They're completely separate parts of your tax return. I've switched back and forth between years with and without Form 2555 while taking the standard deduction each time.

Would the district attorney even care about something like this? Seems like they're busy with violent crimes and would see this as a civil matter between family members.

DAs absolutely pursue financial crimes, especially when there's clear documentation of fraud. While violent crimes get more media attention, financial crime units exist specifically for cases like this. The key is having documentation showing intent to defraud. Many DAs have special white-collar crime divisions, and tax fraud cases that are already documented by the IRS are actually easier for them to prosecute. The fact that you've already been assessed by the IRS means half the investigative work is done.

Thanks for mentioning the Taxpayer Advocate Service. I've heard of them but didn't think of contacting them. Would they be able to help even though I did technically agree to have the business in my name? I just didn't understand what I was agreeing to regarding the tax implications. As for innocent spouse relief, we got married after the tax years in question, but I'm worried about our current joint assets. Will look into this immediately.

Is there a specific threshold for when card selling becomes a business vs hobby? Like a certain number of sales or dollar amount? I'm trying to figure out which category I fall into.

There's no specific dollar threshold that automatically makes it a business versus a hobby. The IRS looks at several factors including whether you depend on the income, how much time you spend on it, if you maintain proper records, and if you operate in a businesslike manner. Generally, if you're consistently profitable for 3 out of 5 years and treat the activity seriously (keeping records, having a separate bank account, etc.), the IRS is more likely to consider it a business. If you're just occasionally selling cards from your personal collection without much organization, it's more likely to be a hobby.

I strongly advise against this interpretation. "Gross payouts" in the platform's language likely refers to the total value of your sales, not specifically withdrawals. Most platforms report the total sales value whether you withdraw or not. Even if you did find a platform that only reports when you withdraw, you're still legally obligated to report all income on your tax return. The 1099 is just an information form - not receiving one doesn't mean you don't owe tax on the income.

Would this be complicated for companies to implement in their payroll systems? Seems like it would require significant software updates to track regular hours vs overtime hours differently for income tax purposes but the same for FICA.

It would definitely require payroll software updates, but it's not insurmountably difficult. Most payroll systems already track regular hours vs. overtime hours separately (for wage calculation purposes), so the capability to distinguish between them already exists. The tricky part would be updating the tax calculation logic to apply income tax to only regular hours while still applying FICA to all hours. Most major payroll providers would issue software updates to handle this, but there would certainly be an adjustment period. Smaller companies using more basic payroll systems might face bigger challenges implementing the change correctly.

Great question! Based on current tax law structure, even if overtime became exempt from income tax, it would still count toward the earnings threshold for the Additional Medicare Tax. This is because the Additional Medicare Tax is part of the FICA tax structure, not the income tax system. Since we've established that overtime would still be subject to FICA taxes even if exempt from income tax, the overtime earnings would still count toward that $200k threshold (or $250k for married filing jointly).

This is super helpful! Question though - my daughter's 1098-T has an amount in Box 5 for scholarships. Do I literally just subtract Box 5 from Box 1 to figure out what expenses I can claim for the education credit?

Yes, that's exactly right. Take the amount in Box 1 (payments received by the school) and subtract the amount in Box 5 (scholarships/grants). The result is your eligible qualified education expenses that you can use for calculating education credits. Just be aware that if Box 5 is larger than Box 1, it means the scholarships/grants exceeded the tuition/fees, and you generally can't claim education credits in that case. Also, don't forget that expenses for books, supplies, and equipment required for courses can be qualified education expenses even if they weren't paid directly to the school (so they wouldn't be included in Box 1).

I used TurboTax last year for this. When it asks who paid, you can select "you" as long as you're claiming the student as a dependent. They don't need the breakdown of where each dollar came from - they just need to know if you (as the taxpayer claiming the dependent) are the one claiming the expenses.