


Ask the community...
I created a custom Excel spreadsheet that helps with ERTC/PPP optimization that I'm happy to share. It's not as fancy as dedicated software, but it has formulas that calculate different scenarios based on which wages you allocate where. Key features: 1. Separates employees by quarter/PPP period 2. Calculates ERTC for different qualified wage caps 3. Optimizes PPP forgiveness with non-payroll expenses 4. Shows total benefit comparison between different allocation methods Message me your email if you want a copy. It comes with no guarantees but has worked well for my 30-employee manufacturing business.
This sounds great! Would your spreadsheet work for a restaurant business with about 45 employees? And does it account for the different ERTC rates between 2020 (50% of qualified wages) and 2021 (70% of qualified wages)?
It should definitely work for a restaurant with 45 employees. You'll just need to add more rows for the additional staff, but all the formulas will adjust automatically. And yes, it has separate sections for 2020 and 2021 with the different credit percentages (50% vs 70%) and different qualified wage caps ($10,000 per year in 2020 vs $10,000 per quarter in 2021). I actually designed it when helping a friend with his restaurant, so it already has some restaurant-specific features like allocating tipped employees appropriately. Just make sure you customize the state unemployment rate section since that impacts some calculations.
Has anyone actually had their ERTC claim accepted and received a check yet? We submitted amended 941s for Q2-Q4 2020 and Q1-Q3 2021 almost a year ago and haven't heard anything. Our CPA says the IRS is backlogged by 18-24 months on these claims. Just wondering if there's any light at the end of this tunnel...
We just got our ERTC refund last month after waiting 14 months. Filed in March 2022 and check arrived April 2023. About $168k total. No explanation for the delay and no interest payment included even though they're supposed to pay interest after 45 days. Just be patient, it'll come eventually.
I had a similar experience but the opposite way - TurboTax showed $280 more than TaxSlayer. Turns out TurboTax was correctly applying a savers credit that TaxSlayer missed. One trick I learned: you can view the actual forms before filing with either service. If you look at the completed 1040 forms from both and compare them line by line, you'll usually spot where the difference is coming from. It's usually on one specific line or schedule, and once you find it, you can research whether that specific calculation is correct.
This is great advice! Finding the specific line where the difference occurs is key. Then you can google that specific tax form line to check which calculation is correct.
Just to add another perspective - sometimes the difference isn't because one software is "right" and the other is "wrong." Tax law has gray areas where reasonable people can interpret things differently. If you're self-employed or have investment income, check how each platform is handling your qualified business income deduction or investment expense allocations. These areas have some subjective elements where different software might make different but equally legitimate calculations. I personally would go through the comparison process others have suggested, but if both approaches seem reasonable, I'd probably go with the higher refund. Just make sure you can justify the positions taken on your return if asked!
Just to simplify AGI calculation: 1. Start with ALL income (wages, 1099, interest, dividends, capital gains, etc) 2. Subtract ONLY "above-the-line" deductions: - Traditional IRA contributions - Student loan interest - HSA contributions - Self-employed health insurance - SEP/SIMPLE/401k contributions for self-employed - Alimony paid (for pre-2019 divorces) - Educator expenses - Some business expenses Taxes withheld throughout the year have NOTHING to do with AGI. And standard/itemized deductions come AFTER AGI calculation.
What about 401k contributions through my employer? And health insurance premiums? I'm confused if those count as "above-the-line" deductions or not.
Employer 401k contributions and pre-tax health insurance premiums are already excluded from your W-2 Box 1 wages. They've already reduced your reported income before you even start calculating AGI. That's why they don't appear as separate "above-the-line" deductions on your tax return - they've already been accounted for. This is different from things like traditional IRA contributions which you make separately from your paycheck, so those need to be deducted as a specific adjustment to income.
One thing that helped me understand AGI is looking at the 1040 form itself. If you look at the first page of your 1040, everything above the "adjusted gross income" line (line 11 on recent forms) is part of the AGI calculation. This includes all your income sources at the top, then all those adjustments/deductions in the "Income" section. Anything listed in the "Adjusted Gross Income" section gets subtracted to arrive at your final AGI. Standard/itemized deductions and qualified business income deductions all come AFTER the AGI line, so they don't affect AGI calculation at all.
Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who responded. This makes so much more sense now. So in my original example with $230k gross income and $9,800 in deductions, my AGI would depend on WHICH deductions those are. If those $9,800 were all "above-the-line" deductions like traditional IRA, HSA, etc., then my AGI would be $220,200. But if some of those deductions were itemized deductions like mortgage interest or charitable donations, those wouldn't affect my AGI at all. And the $78k in taxes I paid throughout the year is completely irrelevant to AGI calculation. This clears up my confusion completely!
Something else to consider: check if you were actually due a refund for 2018 before assuming you owe money. Even if your employer didn't withhold, you might have qualified for credits like the Earned Income Credit depending on your situation. If you were owed a refund, there's no penalty for filing late (though you only have 3 years to claim a refund, which has passed for 2018 now). But definitely file regardless. Not filing when required is a much bigger problem than owing and not paying. The IRS is generally willing to work with people who file but can't pay right away.
Wait, are you saying if I was actually due a refund for 2018, I've completely lost it now? That would be awful! Though honestly with no withholding and my income level that year, I'm pretty sure I would have owed. But thank you for that explanation about the difference between not filing vs. owing but not paying. That helps clarify the priorities.
Unfortunately, yes. The IRS gives you 3 years from the original due date to file and claim a refund. For 2018 taxes (due April 2019), that deadline passed in April 2022. After that, any unclaimed refunds become government property. You're right to focus on just getting the return filed now regardless. The IRS views non-filers much more seriously than people who file but can't pay. Once you file, you'll have options for payment plans or even settlement offers if you genuinely can't afford what you owe.
I had almost the exact same thing happen (didn't file 2016 taxes, state came after me first). The IRS eventually found me about 2 years after the state did. They sent a bunch of scary letters and the penalties were pretty rough. Something nobody mentioned yet - if you owe a lot and don't pay, they can eventually place a lien on your property, garnish wages, or seize tax refunds from future years. They can also report to credit bureaus which tanked my credit score for a while. Just file the return and get on a payment plan if needed. The mental relief is worth it. Living with tax anxiety hanging over you is miserable.
Dylan Cooper
I'm in a similar unmarried situation and just had a consultation with a CPA about this. Here's what might help: 1) Have you calculated the difference between what you'd gain by filing HOH vs what your boyfriend might lose in healthcare subsidies? Sometimes the higher-earning parent filing HOH and claiming the kids provides more overall family benefit even if there's a small premium increase. 2) Make sure you're considering the Child Tax Credit which is up to $2,000 per qualifying child for 2024 tax year. This could be significant with two kids. 3) Look at childcare expenses if applicable - the Child and Dependent Care Credit might be more valuable to you as the higher earner. The best solution is usually to run the numbers both ways (you claim kids vs. he claims kids) and see which produces the best overall result for your household.
0 coins
Sofia Perez
Did either of you use those Premium Tax Credits for the Obamacare plan? If so, be super careful about changing who claims the kids because it can cause major headaches with the Form 8962 reconciliation. My partner and I did this wrong one year and ended up owing $3200 back to the IRS because the subsidy was calculated based on different info than what we filed.
0 coins
Andre Dubois
ā¢OMG I didn't even think about that. Yes, he definitely gets a subsidy that makes the insurance affordable. How do we avoid a big surprise bill? Did you find a way to fix this issue going forward?
0 coins
Sofia Perez
ā¢To avoid the surprise bill, you need to update your Marketplace application ASAP to reflect your actual tax filing intentions. Log into healthcare.gov (or your state marketplace) and report a "life change" to update who will be claiming the kids as tax dependents. For fixing it going forward, we set a calendar reminder for every December to review our tax and insurance situation before the new year. We also printed out IRS Publication 974 which explains the Premium Tax Credit rules and read through the sections on shared policies. It's complicated but worth understanding! The good news is that if you're proactive about informing the Marketplace, you can usually avoid any negative impact on either the tax or insurance side.
0 coins