Florida requires C corporations that are doing business in Florida to file Form F-1120 (Florida Corporate Income Tax Return) regardless of whether they have any tax liability. Even if your corporation falls below the income threshold where you'd owe tax, you typically still need to file the return. There is an exception for corporations not doing business in Florida and corporations that have no income reportable to Florida. So it depends on where your C corporation is operating and generating income. Florida does have filing exemptions for certain entities like S corporations and certain non-profits, but standard C corporations generally need to file.

Thank you! That's a really important detail I wouldn't have thought about. Do you remember what specific form or code they needed to use for correctly documenting the excess contribution removal? I want to make sure I have all the right terminology when I call Fidelity.

For the 1099-SA form, the distribution should be coded properly. There's a box on the form for "distribution code" - for excess contributions returned by the tax filing deadline, it should be coded as "2 - Excess contributions" rather than "1 - Normal distribution." Make sure you specifically tell them it's for "excess contributions that were made when you weren't eligible for an HSA" and give them the specific tax year. I'd also recommend following up with an email if possible so you have written documentation of your request. Fidelity is generally good about this, but having it in writing saved me when my provider initially processed it incorrectly.

Yes, this is handled through the "last-month rule" or prorating your contribution. If you were eligible on December 1st, you can potentially contribute the full annual amount, but you have to remain eligible through the end of the following year (called the testing period). Otherwise, you can only contribute 3/12 of the annual limit for those three eligible months.

I'm definitely going to contact the site coordinator. Should I specifically mention which volunteers made the mistakes, or just explain the situation generally? And is there any chance this could get me in trouble since I signed it even though the information was wrong?

It's helpful to mention specifically which volunteers made the mistakes so the coordinator can address the training issues, but don't worry about getting yourself in trouble. The IRS understands that taxpayers rely on preparers' expertise, especially in VITA programs. You're taking the proper steps to correct the return, which shows good faith on your part. Remember that VITA volunteers are trained specifically not to create forms or enter information they don't have documentation for. The site coordinator needs to know this happened so they can make sure those volunteers receive additional training or supervision. This protects future taxpayers from experiencing the same issues.

I've used both VITA and TurboTax Free. Honestly, for basic student returns, the free software is pretty foolproof. It asks straightforward questions about your education expenses and walks you through everything. Plus, you can save your work and think about it or do research before submitting.

Does anyone know which type of 1099 form exchanges typically send? Is it 1099-K, 1099-MISC, or the newer 1099-B? I got something from Coinbase but I'm not sure which one it is and if it matters.

Most cryptocurrency exchanges issue either a 1099-B or 1099-K. The 1099-B is more common now and includes details about your specific transactions. The 1099-K is generally issued if you had a large volume of transactions or if you conducted certain types of crypto activities. You can tell which form you received by looking at the top right corner of the document. The form type should be clearly marked. And yes, it does matter which form you received because they report different types of information and may need to be handled differently on your tax return.

FreeTaxUSA can handle crypto! I used it last year for my bitcoin and ethereum trades. You just manually enter your transactions on the capital gains section. It's not as automated as the paid services but it works fine if you don't have tons of transactions.

Thanks for this insight! Quick question - do student loans factor into this calculation at all? My daughter has both scholarships and loans.

Student loans don't impact the taxability of scholarships. Loans are simply money you have to pay back, so they're not considered income. The calculation only looks at: 1) How much in qualified education expenses did you have? and 2) How much in scholarships/grants (money you don't have to repay) did you receive? If #2 is larger than #1, the difference is taxable income. Loans are completely separate from this calculation. However, you may be eligible for the student loan interest deduction for interest paid on those loans, which is a different tax benefit entirely.

How did they even catch such a small amount? Was it just random bad luck that you got audited or do they actually check everyone's forms that carefully?