That's interesting - I've heard about opportunity zones but don't really understand how they work. Would this only help if he's selling property with capital gains, or can it help with his regular business income too? And are there any risks involved?

Opportunity zones primarily help with capital gains, not ordinary business income. If your brother-in-law sells property, equipment, or even business interests at a profit, he could defer those capital gains taxes by reinvesting in a qualified opportunity zone fund within 180 days of the sale. The main risks include market risks (as with any investment), liquidity constraints (funds typically have 10-year holding periods for maximum benefits), and potential regulatory changes since this is a relatively new program. There's also geographic limitation since investments must be in designated opportunity zones. I'd definitely suggest talking with both a financial advisor and tax professional before pursuing this strategy.

This is especially useful if your brother-in-law owns the buildings where his business operates. My construction company did a cost seg study on our headquarters building and main warehouse. We were able to reclassify about 35% of the assets from 39-year property to 5 or 7-year property. Massive tax deferral benefit.

5 Do you know if Texas and Oklahoma have any kind of reciprocity agreement? I'm about to start a job across the border but staying in TX.

22 Texas and Oklahoma do not have a reciprocity agreement. You'll need to file an Oklahoma non-resident tax return (Form 511NR) for the income you earn there. However, since Texas doesn't have income tax, you won't have to worry about filing anything in Texas or dealing with tax credits between states. Make sure your employer is withholding Oklahoma state taxes from your paycheck! Some employers aren't familiar with cross-border situations and might miss this, which could leave you with a surprise tax bill when you file.

2 This was super helpful! One question - does this apply to self-employed people too? I live in Washington but have clients in Oregon and Idaho.

What about leasing? I heard there's some loophole where if you lease an EV instead of buying, the MAGI limits don't apply to the customer because the credit goes to the leasing company? Is that true?

Yes, that's correct about leasing. When you lease an EV, the leasing company (usually the manufacturer's financing arm) is technically the owner of the vehicle, so they receive the tax credit directly. They often pass this benefit on to the customer in the form of reduced lease payments or a capital cost reduction. In these cases, the MAGI limits don't apply to you as the lessee because you're not claiming the credit directly. This has indeed become a popular workaround for higher-income customers who wouldn't qualify for the credit if they purchased. Just make sure the leasing company is actually passing along the credit value to you in the lease terms.

The MAGI (Modified Adjusted Gross Income) limit for single filers to get the full EV credit is $150,000. At $145k you should be eligible for the full credit IF your car meets all the other requirements (battery components, minerals, etc.). The "prior year" option means when you file your 2023 return in 2024, you can use either your 2023 MAGI or your 2022 MAGI, whichever is lower. So if your income was lower last year, you could use that instead.

Thanks for bringing this up! I just checked my 1099-G and see they only withheld about 10% for federal taxes. Is that going to be enough or should I be preparing to pay more when I file?

The 10% withholding might be enough, but it depends on your total income for the year and tax bracket. Unemployment benefits are taxed at your normal income tax rate, not a flat 10%. If unemployment was your only income for the year, 10% might cover it for federal taxes. But if you had other income sources or worked part of the year, you might owe additional taxes. A good tax program will calculate this for you when you enter all your information. Just be prepared for the possibility of owing some money, and don't be caught off guard. This is one advantage of filing sooner rather than later – if you do owe, you'll have more time to plan for payment before the filing deadline.

I used Credit Karma Tax last year with a 1099-G and claiming a missed stimulus. It was actually completely free, no hidden fees even with the Recovery Rebate Credit. The interface was pretty easy to use, though not as polished as TurboTax. Just make sure you have all your documents ready before you start!

That's concerning. What specific documentation did they request in the audit? Was it focused more on proving eligibility (the revenue decline) or on the wage calculations?

They wanted both types of documentation. For the eligibility part, they requested quarterly profit and loss statements for both 2019 and 2020 to verify our claimed revenue decline. They also asked for bank statements showing deposits that would substantiate our gross receipts. For the wage calculations, it was much more detailed. They requested payroll registers for all quarters claimed, documentation showing which employees' wages were claimed, evidence of how PPP funds were allocated to specific payroll periods, and health insurance allocation methodology. They even asked for copies of our PPP loan applications and forgiveness documentation to cross-reference. The most time-consuming part was providing a spreadsheet reconciling the qualified wages on our 941-X with our actual payroll records. I recommend creating and saving this type of reconciliation when you do your initial filing - recreating it a year later was a nightmare.

I submitted in January 2023 and just got my refund last month, so about 7 months. But I've heard some people waiting over a year now. The IRS is overwhelmed with these claims and there's been increased scrutiny because of all the fraudulent claims submitted by sketchy ERC mills.