Thank you, I hadn't even thought about all those other tax benefits that would be affected. We do have some student loan interest and education credits that would be impacted. Looks like filing jointly and taking the premium tax credit hit is even more clearly the right move than I initially thought.

Happy to help! Yeah, the MFS status really limits a lot of tax benefits, which is why it's rarely the optimal choice unless there are very specific circumstances. The premium tax credit "marriage penalty" is frustrating, but thankfully it's just a one-time adjustment you're dealing with. Next year you'll be able to plan your insurance coverage for the full year as a married couple and avoid this issue completely.

This is really smart. I did this exact thing last year. Was going to owe $2,400 in premium tax credits after getting married, but maxed out my HSA ($3,850) and put another $2,000 in my traditional IRA. Dropped our MAGI just enough to reduce the repayment to only $800. Definitely worth looking into!

I hadn't thought about this angle! We do have some room to make additional retirement contributions. I'll need to check exactly how close we are to the next MAGI threshold for the premium tax credits. Even if it just reduces the amount a bit, that's still a win since we'd be putting money into our retirement rather than just paying it to the IRS. Thanks for the suggestion!

Do you think the H&R Block is better than TurboTax for someone with investment income? I've heard TurboTax handles stocks better.

In my experience, both handle basic investment income (dividends, capital gains, etc.) equally well. TurboTax might have a slight edge if you have very complex investments like partnership K-1 forms or foreign investments. H&R Block's interface for uploading 1099-B forms is cleaner and shows a better summary view of all your investment transactions. Their cost basis tracking between tax years is also more transparent. If you're dealing with normal stocks and basic investments, I prefer H&R Block, but for really complex situations, TurboTax might have more specialized features.

I used the TurboTax tax pro review last year. The "expert" literally just glanced over my return and said everything looked good. Took them maybe 15 minutes on a video call, and I didn't feel like they caught anything I wouldn't have. Complete waste of money imo.

That's a great idea! I hadn't even thought about retirement accounts. Would we need to wait until after we file taxes to open the Roth IRA, or can we do it now based on the 1099 amount?

You can open and fund the Roth IRA anytime between January 1, 2025 and the tax filing deadline (usually April 15, 2026) for the 2025 tax year. You don't need to wait until after filing taxes. Remember that the contribution limit is based on earned income after business expenses. So if your teen's net self-employment income ends up being $550 after deducting the computer and software expenses, their maximum Roth contribution would be $550 for the year, not the full $1,400 from the 1099-NEC.

I think there's a safe harbor exception for dependents with small amounts of income? My accountant told me my daughter didn't need to worry about quarterly payments for her babysitting income until it was more substantial.

That's a good point about the transaction history. Do you know if the CSV export includes cost basis information? And regarding crypto, have you found any good solutions for tracking those transactions from Robinhood?

The CSV export does include the purchase price for stocks and options, which gives you the cost basis information. However, it doesn't automatically calculate adjusted basis for wash sales - you'd need to do that yourself or use tax software. For crypto tracking from Robinhood, I've found CoinTracker works pretty well. You can't directly connect it to Robinhood automatically, but you can import the transaction CSV from Robinhood into CoinTracker. It takes a bit of manual work upfront, but then gives you much better crypto tax reporting than what Robinhood provides. Koinly is another option some friends have used successfully with Robinhood exports.

Not my experience at all. Last year, Robinhood sent corrected 1099s THREE TIMES, with the final one coming in early April. Totally messed up my filing timeline. Apparently it's pretty common with them if you have wash sales or more complex situations.

Is there any advantage to using Section 195 vs just regular business expenses on Schedule C? Seems like either way the result is the same - deducting expenses in 2024 even with no income.

For smaller amounts like we're discussing here, there's typically no significant difference in outcome between claiming them as regular business expenses or Section 195 startup costs. Both approaches would allow deducting the expenses on your 2024 return. The main difference becomes relevant if you have startup costs exceeding $5,000, in which case Section 195 has specific rules about amortizing the excess. Also, Section 195 specifically addresses expenses incurred before your business began operating, while regular business expenses are for ongoing operations.

This is a really good point! The concept is called "continuity and regularity" - the IRS wants to see that you're pursuing the activity with continuity and regularity for profit rather than as a one-off.