Yep! I used the Get Transcript tool on irs.gov last month. You need to request the "Tax Return Transcript" option, not the account transcript. It shows the filed 8606 information though sometimes it's just the line entries, not the actual form image. Was enough for me to see where I messed up my basis calculations.

Perfect, thanks! Just tried it and was able to get my transcripts. You're right - it shows the numbers but not the actual form. Still helpful though - I can see I definitely carried forward the wrong basis amount for my backdoor Roth in 2021. Ugh, time to fix it.

Do you need to make quarterly payments for side hustle income? I heard somewhere that you need to if you'll owe more than $1,000 at tax time, but not sure if that's true.

Yes, that $1,000 threshold is correct. If you expect to owe more than $1,000 in taxes when you file your return, you should make quarterly estimated tax payments to avoid an underpayment penalty. For side hustles, a good rule of thumb is to set aside about 30% of your profit for taxes (covers both income tax and self-employment tax for most people). You can use Form 1040-ES to calculate and pay your quarterly taxes. The due dates are April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15 of the following year. Better to start paying quarterly now than get hit with a big bill plus penalties!

Thanks for the tip about the separate account! That actually makes a lot of sense. Do you have a recommendation for a good expense tracking app that's simple to use? I'm not the most tech-savvy person tbh.

I use QuickBooks Self-Employed and it's pretty straightforward even for non-tech people. It links to your bank accounts and credit cards, then lets you swipe expenses left or right to categorize them as business or personal. The basic version is like $7/month which is totally worth it for the headache it saves. If you want something free, even the basic version of Mint can work if you create tags for your different side hustles. But honestly, whatever you choose, the most important thing is consistency - spend 5 minutes every few days categorizing transactions while they're fresh in your memory!

From what I understand, there's no statute of limitations on the 6% excess contribution penalty. It continues to apply each year until you either withdraw the excess contribution or use up unused contribution room in a later year (if you start having earned income again). The sooner you fix it, the fewer years you'll pay the penalty. For a 2020 excess contribution that's still in the account, they'd potentially owe the 6% penalty for 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 by now.

Thanks for the info. That's really helpful. So basically they're accumulating a 6% penalty every single year this isn't fixed? That definitely means we need to address this ASAP rather than ignore it. Would they need to file amended returns for all those previous years to pay the penalties, or is there some streamlined process for handling this?

Did you have to create a whole new tax return just to file the 5329? Or is there a way to file just that form by itself? I don't want to redo my entire 2022 return just to add this form.

I just tried this and it says I'm almost perfectly on track for my withholding! According to the estimator, I'll get a small refund of about $120 if nothing changes with my income for the rest of the year. That's honestly a relief. Thanks for the suggestion - this was super helpful and easy to use. I've bookmarked it to check again if my income changes!

That's actually a really bad financial strategy. You could be putting that extra money into a high-yield savings account or investing it throughout the year. Even a basic savings account is paying 3-4% interest right now. Why give up that free money?

So if I'm using Tax Act and it asks me about this Box 14 item, can I just skip it completely? Or do I need to tell the software to ignore it somehow?

You can generally skip the Box 14 items in Tax Act when prompted. If the software specifically asks if you want to include it, select "No" or "Skip" (whatever option it gives you to not include it). If Tax Act forces you to categorize it, you can usually select something like "Other" and then indicate it's informational only. The key is to avoid having it added as additional income or a deduction since it's almost certainly already accounted for in your wages in Box 1.

Your social security and medicare taxes are calculated based on your Box 3 and Box 5 wages, not Box 14 amounts. If RETR is retirement contributions, they might reduce your Box 1 wages (federal taxable income) but not necessarily your Social Security and Medicare wage bases. So check if your Box 3 and Box 5 amounts are higher than Box 1. If they are, it means your retirement contributions were excluded from income tax but still subject to FICA taxes, which is common for traditional 401k contributions.