11 I tried H&R Block last year for my W2G as a non-resident from Germany. Big mistake! The preparer had no idea about the proper treaty rates and almost filed my return incorrectly. I ended up going to a specialist and had to pay twice. Definitely find someone who specifically knows international tax!

3 Thanks for the warning! I'll definitely avoid them and look for someone with specific international experience. Maybe I should check with my university's international student office for recommendations since they probably deal with this regularly.

20 Professional gambler status is EXTREMELY difficult to qualify for as a non-resident and can actually create bigger problems! The IRS scrutinizes these claims heavily, and it can trigger effectively connected income treatment which means filing Schedule C and potentially being subject to self-employment tax. It can also affect visa status since technically you'd be "working" in the US. I'd be very careful about pursuing this route without expert guidance.

Does TaxHawk handle crypto transactions? I did some small gig work on platforms that paid in Bitcoin and I'm completely lost on how to report it.

Yes, TaxHawk does handle crypto transactions. They have a specific section for it where you can enter each transaction. If you only have a few, it's pretty straightforward to enter manually. If you have a lot of crypto transactions, you might want to use a service like CoinTracker or Koinly first to generate the necessary tax forms, then enter the summary into TaxHawk. For just a few transactions from gig work, the built-in tool should be fine.

The Income limits are so annoying. I was literally $83 over last year and got disqualified. Do you know if the Free File income limits look at gross income or after deductions? With all my business expenses my net income is way lower than my gross.

That's a really interesting angle! I did something similar when my father moved in with us. We were able to deduct a portion of our utilities and even some modifications to the house as medical expenses. But I think you need documentation from a doctor recommending the living arrangement for medical purposes.

This is really helpful information, thank you! If I understand correctly, I would calculate how long I used it as a primary residence within the 5 years before selling, divide that by 2 years, and multiply by $250,000? In my case, I hadn't lived there personally for about 6 years before selling, so would that mean I get zero exclusion under this calculation?

Since you hadn't lived in the home as your primary residence during the 5-year period before the sale, you're right that the first part of the calculation would be zero. However, there's still potentially the second part - the time between the qualifying event (your uncle's death) and the sale. If the sale was primarily due to your uncle's passing, and you sold within a reasonable time after that event (which sounds like you did since it took about a year to sell), you might still qualify for some level of partial exclusion based on that timing. I'd strongly recommend consulting with a tax professional who can review all the specific dates and circumstances, as the calculations can get quite complex and the IRS rules have some nuances that might work in your favor.

Thanks for mentioning this! I haven't received any W-2G forms yet, but I did have a couple of bigger wins that might have triggered reporting. Would the casino have given those to me right away when I won, or would they mail them later? Also, do you know what the income limits are for my parents to claim me as a dependent? I'm a full-time student.

Casinos typically mail W-2Gs by January 31st for the previous year's winnings, though for larger wins they often complete the paperwork at the time of payout. If you had wins over $1,200 on slots or $5,000 on poker/table games, you should expect to receive them. For your parents to claim you as a dependent while you're a full-time student under 24, there's no income limit, but you must not provide more than half of your own support. The support test looks at who pays for your housing, food, education, etc. - not just your income. So even with your gambling winnings, if your parents still provide more than half of your total support, they can claim you. But if those winnings meant you provided more than half of your own support this year, that could change your dependent status.

Is this really necessary for a college student with only $8,500 in winnings? Seems like overkill. The IRS isn't going after small fish like this when there are millionaires to audit.

What about if you switched employers mid-year? I had a job change in August and now I have two 1095-C forms with different codes on them. Do I need to report both or just indicate I had coverage the whole year?

You should report both 1095-C forms since they represent different periods of coverage from different employers. The tax software will ask about multiple forms. The important thing is to show continuous coverage throughout the year. Having two forms is perfectly fine as long as there's no gap between them. If there was a gap, you might need to provide additional information about your coverage during that period. Most tax software walks you through this exact scenario.

Does this also apply to the 1095-B form? My insurance company sent me that one instead of a 1095-C and I'm confused about the difference.