17 This is really good advice! My sister got a huge refund from EIC and it messed up her Medicaid for two months because it counted as income. She had to pay out of pocket for her prescriptions until it got sorted out. Definitely worth looking into how it affects other benefits.

3 Absolutely right about the potential Medicaid issue. The good news is that tax refunds only count as a resource for 12 months after receiving them for Medicaid purposes, so it's temporary. For SNAP benefits (food stamps), federal tax refunds don't count as income at all. For education grants, the FAFSA doesn't count tax refunds as income either, which is why it can be such a good opportunity for low-income parents. I was able to use my refund to cover childcare while I took classes, and the Pell Grant covered everything else. Changed my whole career trajectory!

9 Did you have to mail in your return or could you still e-file? I heard the IRS makes you paper file if you're claiming kids with really low income since it triggers some kind of review.

I never thought about the fees for the money orders! That would be wild to pay double just to make a point. Do tax attorneys actually have any success fighting the IRS? Everyone I've talked to makes them sound like an unstoppable force.

Tax attorneys absolutely can be successful against the IRS. The key is finding one who specializes specifically in tax controversy or tax resolution, not just a general tax preparer. The IRS makes mistakes all the time, and they have various programs like Offers in Compromise that can reduce legitimate tax debts. I've seen clients get tax bills reduced by 50-70% with the right representation. The IRS is powerful but not infallible, and they have internal procedures for resolving disputes. The biggest mistake people make is trying to handle complex tax issues themselves without understanding the technical aspects of tax law.

This is the real answer! Audit reconsideration saved me when I had a similar issue. The key is having all your documentation extremely organized and being very specific about what errors were made in the original assessment.

The AOC was specifically designed to encourage and support undergraduate education. The government allocated funds differently for different education levels. It's not about logic so much as different policy priorities. Graduate education is subsidized through other mechanisms like the Lifetime Learning Credit.

It was an employment lawsuit - wrongful termination and some back wages. Does that change things? I'm still confused about whether I need to itemize to deduct the attorney fees or if I can take the standard deduction AND still deduct the attorney portion somehow.

That's actually good news! For employment-related lawsuits including wrongful termination, you can deduct your attorney fees as an "above-the-line" deduction. This means you can still take the standard deduction AND deduct your attorney fees. You'll want to look at Schedule 1, Line 24 "Other adjustments" and write "ATTORNEY FEES" next to it with the amount. This way you're not taxed on money that went straight to your attorney. Employment cases specifically have this special treatment thanks to a tax law change that was made specifically to address this unfair situation.

While I agree the tax code is complex, this isn't quite accurate. For employment-related cases (which OP mentioned in comments), the attorney fees can be deducted as an above-the-line deduction. Congress actually fixed this problem for certain types of cases, including employment claims, civil rights cases, and whistleblower claims specifically to prevent double taxation.

Thanks for sharing this structure! I'm curious - how do you typically handle the ongoing relationship between the for-profit entity that holds the land and the non-profit doing the regenerative work? Is there a lease arrangement, or do you set up some kind of management agreement?

We typically use a long-term management agreement that gives the non-profit the right to implement their regenerative programs while the for-profit entity maintains ownership. This agreement needs to be established before the easement is placed, as it becomes part of the baseline documentation. For funding, we usually structure it so a portion of the tax benefit received by investors flows to the non-profit through a contractual arrangement. This provides ongoing operational funding beyond just the initial land access. Be careful though - the management fees must be reasonable and market-based, or the IRS might view the entire arrangement as a disguised donation scheme rather than a legitimate business structure.

That's actually really smart. We did something similar but with sustainable timber harvesting. The key was having a qualified appraiser who understood both the development value being restricted and the remaining economic use. Made the valuation much more defensible.