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Have you considered a 1031 exchange? If you're interested in owning other investment property, you could defer ALL the capital gains taxes by purchasing another investment property of equal or greater value. There are strict timelines though - you need to identify potential replacement properties within 45 days and complete the purchase within 180 days of selling your lake house.
Would the 1031 exchange work even though this was inherited property that I've been using personally as a vacation home? I was under the impression those were only for investment properties.
You're right to question this - a 1031 exchange would not work in your situation. For a property to qualify for a 1031 exchange, it needs to have been held for productive use in a trade or business or for investment purposes. A personal vacation home that's not rented out wouldn't qualify. If you had been renting it out consistently when not using it personally, there might be a partial argument, but from your description, this sounds like a purely personal-use vacation property which wouldn't be eligible for 1031 treatment.
Don't forget about state capital gains taxes too! The federal long-term rate might be 15% for you, but depending on your state, you could owe additional state taxes on the gain. Some states tax capital gains as regular income.
This is so important! I sold property in California last year and was shocked at the additional 9.3% state tax on my capital gains. Nearly doubled my tax bill from what I was expecting.
Make sure you check if any of your transactions qualify for special tax treatment before you report them all as non-ECI on your attachment. Some foreign income might qualify for treaty benefits or exclusions depending on the country. I made that mistake and ended up overpaying my taxes significantly last year.
Can you give an example of the special treatment you're talking about? I have income from Canada and want to make sure I'm not missing anything.
For Canadian income specifically, you should check the US-Canada tax treaty to see if your type of income qualifies for reduced withholding or special classification. For example, certain royalties from Canada are subject to a maximum 10% withholding rate rather than standard rates. Also important for Canadian transactions - if you have income from Canadian retirement accounts, there are specific reporting requirements and potential treaty benefits. Some Canadian investment income might not need to be on Schedule NEC at all if it meets certain treaty qualifications. Review Article XI and XII of the treaty for investment income and royalties.
Has anyone tried using TurboTax for handling excess Schedule NEC transactions? Does it have a way to add the extra transactions or do I need to create a separate statement no matter what software I use?
TurboTax Premium with the foreign tax package can handle additional non-ECI transactions. It automatically creates the attachment when you exceed the limit. I've used it for the past two years with no issues.
One important thing nobody's mentioned yet - check if your mom had already satisfied her RMD for the current year before she passed away. If she had already taken her full required distribution for the year, then any additional distributions would have been optional withdrawals. The rules are different for RMDs that were actually required vs. any extra withdrawals she might have scheduled. Required ones that weren't taken before death generally should be paid to the beneficiaries (you and your brother). But optional withdrawals that happened to process after death typically go to the estate. Also, as IRA beneficiaries, you and your brother will need to figure out your own RMD schedule going forward, which follows different rules than when your mom was alive. The SECURE Act changed a lot of these rules in 2019.
Thank you, that's a really good point I hadn't thought about. She was taking monthly RMDs, so I'll have to check if she'd already met the annual requirement for this year before she died. How would I find out exactly how much her required minimum was for the full year?
You can find out her annual RMD amount by looking at her most recent IRA statement. It often shows the calculated RMD for the year. If not, you can calculate it by taking the December 31st balance from last year and dividing it by the distribution period from the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table based on her age. The IRA custodian (the bank or financial institution holding the IRA) should also have records of her RMD amount and how much she had already taken this year. They can tell you if she had already satisfied the requirement. Just call them and explain the situation - they handle these questions regularly.
Don't forget about the tax implications! If that final RMD went into her account after death, someone still has to pay taxes on it. If it goes to the estate, the estate will pay the taxes. If it goes back to the IRA and then to you as beneficiaries, you would report that distribution on your tax returns. Either way, the custodian will issue a 1099-R for that distribution. Make sure it's issued correctly depending on how you resolve this - to either the estate's tax ID or to you and your brother's SSNs if you're able to have the distribution redirected.
This! My mom passed 2 years ago and we had a similar situation with her final RMD. We didn't handle the 1099-R correctly and ended up with a huge headache at tax time. The IRA custodian issued it to her SSN but since she was deceased it should have gone to the estate's EIN.
Another approach is to make sure you satisfy one of the safe harbor provisions. If you pay 100% of last year's tax liability (or 110% if your AGI was over $150k), you won't face underpayment penalties regardless of how much you actually end up owing for 2025. If your 2024 total tax was relatively low, this might be an easier target than trying to estimate your 2025 liability perfectly.
How would I calculate that 100% of last year's tax liability? Is that just the total amount on my 2024 return, or some specific line number?
Look at your 2024 Form 1040, line 24. That's your "total tax" - the number you need to meet or exceed through withholding and/or estimated payments to satisfy the safe harbor provision. If that amount was $10,000, for example, then as long as you have at least $10,000 withheld or paid via estimated payments for 2025, you won't face any underpayment penalties - even if your actual 2025 tax liability ends up being much higher due to your combined income sources.
Don't forget about state taxes too! Everyone's talking about federal, but depending on your state, you might need to make separate estimated state tax payments. Some states have different rules than the IRS about withholding coverage.
Good point! In California they're super strict about quarterly payments for self-employment income. I got hit with a penalty even though I paid everything by tax day.
Zoe Walker
Most companies these days structure these as taxable cash payments because the formal HRAs require a lot more administration and paperwork. You can easily check by looking at your first paystub after the reimbursement kicks in - if they're withholding taxes from it, there's your answer! Also worth asking if they offer a Section 125 Cafeteria Plan instead, which can make these benefits pre-tax. But honestly, even with taxes taken out, $375/month is still free money if you're already covered elsewhere.
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Elijah Brown
ā¢Can you explain what a Section 125 Cafeteria Plan is? Never heard of this before. Is this something I should specifically ask my HR about?
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Zoe Walker
ā¢A Section 125 Cafeteria Plan (named after the section of the tax code) allows employees to pay for certain benefits with pre-tax dollars. It's essentially a menu of benefit options where you can choose between taxable benefits (like cash) and non-taxable benefits (like health insurance, FSAs, etc.). Yes, definitely ask your HR if they have this plan option. If they do, and you opt for the cash option within this plan, it might be structured in a way that reduces your tax burden. But be aware that most small to medium companies don't have this set up because it's administratively complex. Still worth asking though!
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Maria Gonzalez
My company does this too! They call it a "health stipend" and deposit $400/month into my checking account for waiving coverage, but they absolutely do withhold taxes on it. It shows up on my paystub as "Benefit Waiver Pay" and gets taxed just like regular income. I did the math and even after taxes, I still come out ahead by about $3200/year by staying on my wife's insurance and taking the taxable payment. Just be prepared that $375/month will probably be more like $250-275 after taxes depending on your tax bracket.
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Natalie Chen
ā¢This matches my experience too. My employer gives $320/month for declining their insurance, and it's definitely taxed. Shows up as "Benefit Opt-Out Pay" on my paystub.
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