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Mei Zhang
Don't forget to look into the Earned Income Tax Credit too! If your income is under certain limits and you qualify as Head of Household with dependents, the EITC can be substantial. The phase-out thresholds for 2025 are much higher than people realize. Also, if you're paying for any educational expenses for your brother, look into the American Opportunity Credit (if he's in college) or Lifetime Learning Credit. Education credits can be worth up to $2,500 in some cases.
Thank you! My income is around $48,000 - would I still qualify for EITC? And my brother is still in high school, but I am paying for some tutoring services. Would those count as educational expenses?
Mei Zhang
ā¢With $48,000 income and two dependents, you should still qualify for some EITC, though not the maximum amount. The phase-out for Head of Household with two qualifying dependents starts higher than your income, but you'll get a partial credit. Every bit helps! For educational expenses, unfortunately tutoring for high school generally doesn't qualify for the education credits. Those are primarily for post-secondary education (college, vocational schools, etc.). However, if the tutoring is related to a medical condition and prescribed by a doctor, you might be able to count it as a medical expense instead.
One thing I didn't see mentioned - if your mom gets approved for disability, be sure to check if she's eligible for Medicare. There's a specific timing when Medicare eligibility kicks in after SSDI approval (usually after 24 months of receiving benefits). This can affect your tax situation too since you might be paying for less medical expenses directly.
This is super important! And just adding on - there's sometimes a gap between disability approval and Medicare coverage starting. During that time, look into if your state has a Medicare Savings Program that could help with premiums.
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Sophia Russo
Another option nobody mentioned is FreeTaxUSA. I used it to e-file my 2019 amended return last year and it worked great. Their interface for the 1040-X is actually clearer than TurboTax in my opinion, and it's WAY cheaper. The one drawback is you need to have your original return info handy and enter it manually - they don't import from PDFs like some of the other options mentioned. But if you're looking to save money and still want to e-file your 2019 amendment, it's worth checking out.
Evelyn Xu
ā¢Do you remember approximately how long it took for the IRS to process your e-filed 1040-X through FreeTaxUSA? I've heard horror stories about paper amendments taking 6+ months, wondering if e-filing is significantly faster.
Sophia Russo
ā¢It took about 7 weeks from submission to getting my refund, which was significantly faster than paper filing. The IRS sent an acknowledgment of receipt within 2 days of e-filing, which gave me peace of mind that they actually had my amendment. From what I've heard, paper amendments are taking 6-12 months right now, so e-filing is definitely the way to go if you qualify. Just make sure your changes are for forms that support e-filing - not all schedules can be e-filed for amendments even now.
Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you're trying to amend a 2019 return NOW for additional refund, you're probably out of luck. The deadline for claiming refunds from 2019 was generally April 18, 2023 (3 years from the original due date). I learned this the hard way when I tried to claim some missed education credits from 2019 earlier this year. Unless you have a special situation (military deployment, natural disaster victim, etc.), the IRS won't issue refunds for amendments filed after the 3-year window closes.
Actually this isn't always true. If you've had tax payments applied to the year in question after filing (like estimated tax payments that were applied forward or carryforwards from other years), the deadline can be extended to 2 years from the date of the last payment rather than 3 years from filing. Worth checking if this applies to your situation OP.
Quick question - does filing an extension for your original return extend the amendment deadline too? Like if someone filed a 2019 extension until October 2020, would they have until October 2023 to amend?
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Javier Gomez
Make sure you also check if you received any forms related to HCTC eligibility that might have been automatically reported to the IRS! My husband got a similar notice because his former employer sent him a PBGC (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation) statement that triggered HCTC eligibility flags in the IRS system, even though we never claimed the credit.
Emma Wilson
ā¢Yes! This happened to me too with PBGC forms. The IRS computer systems automatically flag accounts when they receive certain forms, even if you don't claim the associated credits.
Malik Thomas
Always respond to IRS notices!! Even if you think it's a mistake or doesn't apply to you. I ignored a similar notice once thinking it would be cleared up automatically and ended up with penalties and interest before I finally resolved it.
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14 Going back to the original question about hobby vs self-employed income, one thing nobody's mentioned is the self-employment tax. If you file as self-employed, you'll pay an additional 15.3% tax on your net profit for Social Security and Medicare. For hobby income, you don't pay this tax. With your small amount of income, the self-employment tax might actually cost you more than what you save from deducting the developer fee. Run the numbers both ways before deciding.
1 I hadn't even considered the self-employment tax! That's a really good point. If I go the self-employed route, I'd be paying 15.3% on the profit after expenses. But if I go the hobby route, I'd pay regular income tax on the full $160 without being able to deduct the $125 developer fee. Let me see... If I file as self-employed, my profit would be $160 - $125 = $35, and I'd pay 15.3% on that plus my regular income tax rate. If I file as a hobby, I'd pay just my regular income tax on the full $160. Hmm, this actually makes the hobby route seem better financially in my case. I need to calculate this more precisely. Thanks for pointing this out!
14 You're welcome! That's exactly the kind of calculation you should be doing. Just to add one more thing: remember that with self-employment, you can deduct half of the self-employment tax from your income. That helps a little. Also, if you think your app income might grow in the future, establishing it as a business now could be beneficial long-term, especially for building retirement savings through a SEP IRA or solo 401(k) once the income justifies it. Just something to keep in mind if you see potential for this to grow beyond covering just the developer fee.
7 Has anyone used TurboTax for this kind of situation? I have a similar issue with small YouTube ad revenue, and I'm wondering if TurboTax handles this well or if I should use something else.
19 I used TurboTax for my Etsy shop income last year (about $500). It handled both options fine, but I found the questions for the Schedule C to be easier to follow than trying to figure out where to put hobby income. They walk you through the business vs. hobby test and help you choose which approach makes sense.
7 Thanks for sharing your experience! That's helpful to know. I'll probably stick with TurboTax then since I'm already familiar with it. Did you end up classifying your Etsy income as business or hobby?
Jeremiah Brown
For your specific situation with a husband/wife LLC, have you considered a Solo 401k with a separate SIMPLE IRA for your employee? Here's why: Solo 401k for owners: - Maximum contribution potential - Lower administrative costs - Simpler testing requirements SIMPLE IRA for employee: - Only requires 2-3% match - Almost no administration fees - No testing requirements This dual approach often works better cost-wise than a single 401k plan covering everyone when you have just 1-2 employees. The downside is you need to manage two different plans.
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Royal_GM_Mark
ā¢Is this approach actually legal? I thought if you offer a retirement plan it has to be available to all eligible employees. Wouldn't having separate plans violate some non-discrimination rules?
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Jeremiah Brown
ā¢This is a common misconception. The key is in how you structure the business entities. If the owners operate through a separate entity (like a partnership) from the employee-hiring entity, then you can legally establish different plans. You'd need to consult with a tax professional to ensure your specific business structure qualifies, but many small businesses with similar structures to yours successfully implement this dual approach. The critical factor is having proper documentation of the separate business entities and ensuring you follow all IRS guidelines for each plan type.
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Amelia Cartwright
Speaking from experience, we have a similar LLC (me and my wife plus 2 employees) and we went with Guideline for our 401k. Only $49/month plus $8 per participant, so WAY cheaper than what Paychex quoted you. Their platform integrates with most payroll systems too. For maximizing contributions, we did a Safe Harbor 401k with 4% match, then added a discretionary profit sharing component that allowed us to contribute more for ourselves while staying within IRS guidelines. We were able to get almost to the $61,000 annual limit for each of us.
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Daniel Washington
ā¢That sounds perfect! $49/month is much more reasonable. Does Guideline handle all the compliance testing and Form 5500 filing? Also, could you explain a bit more about how the discretionary profit sharing worked in your case?
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