You HAVE to use your residential address on the BOI form. I tried using my business address and my application got rejected. Had to resubmit with my home address. The whole point of this law is transparency about who actually owns these companies, so they're strict about it.

Well that sucks but thanks for the info. I guess I'll have to use my home address then. Just feels like a privacy invasion when I've been so careful about keeping my home address separate from my business for so long.

For existing companies formed before January 1, 2024, you don't need to report company applicant information at all - just the beneficial owners. If your LLC was formed in 2020, you only need to report yourself as the beneficial owner, not your accountant who helped set it up. If your LLC had been formed after January 1, 2024, then yes, you would need to include your accountant as a company applicant since they filed the formation documents for you.

Thank you so much! That's a huge relief - my accountant retired and moved to Florida so I wasn't sure how I was going to get all his information for the filing.

How do the donor-advised funds work? I keep hearing about them but don't really understand the benefits.

Donor-advised funds are essentially charitable investment accounts. You contribute cash, securities, or other assets to the fund and take an immediate tax deduction in the year you contribute. The money can then be invested and grow tax-free, and you recommend grants to your favorite charities over time. The main benefit is timing - you can make a large contribution in a high-income year to get over the standard deduction threshold, take the full tax deduction immediately, but then distribute the actual donations to charities over multiple years. Many financial institutions offer them with relatively low minimums nowadays. They're especially powerful if you donate appreciated stock because you avoid capital gains tax on the appreciation.

There's an important distinction here. If your donation was made as a business expense for business purposes (like sponsoring a local event with your business name displayed), then yes, it might be deductible as a business advertising expense on Schedule C. However, this is different from a charitable contribution. True charitable donations - even those made from your business account - are still personal itemized deductions and not business expenses. If your accountant classified a true charitable donation as a business expense, that's potentially problematic from an IRS perspective.

Do any of these exceptions apply to purchasing rental property specifically? I thought these were mostly for primary residences, not investment properties.

Unfortunately, the first-time homebuyer exception only applies to a primary residence, not rental properties. None of the exceptions specifically cover investment property purchases. However, if you used the SEPP (Substantially Equal Periodic Payments) method to access your retirement funds, that could potentially avoid the 10% penalty regardless of how you used the money. But that's a very specific method that must be set up properly in advance and continued for at least 5 years or until age 59½, whichever is longer.

I switched from TurboTax to H&R Block Premium for my rental properties. It asks more detailed questions about property management, depreciation, and has better guidance for rental-specific deductions. Not perfect but definitely better for real estate.

I went through one last year. They wanted to see my mileage log with dates, starting/ending odometer readings, business purpose for each trip, and total miles. They also asked for proof of my personal vehicle (registration and insurance documents) to verify I had another car for personal use. They checked my gas receipts against my reported mileage to make sure it made sense. Be SUPER detailed in your records.

Thanks for pointing this out! I hadn't considered the depreciation recapture when I eventually sell the vehicle. Is there a specific way to calculate how much depreciation I've already "taken" through the standard mileage rate for the past two years?

Yes, there's a specific calculation for this. The IRS considers a portion of the standard mileage rate to be depreciation. For 2022, it was 26 cents per mile and for 2023, it's 27 cents per mile. You'd take the total business miles you drove in each year and multiply by the depreciation portion for that year. For example, if you drove 30,000 business miles in 2022, that's 30,000 × $0.26 = $7,800 in depreciation already "taken" through the standard mileage rate. When you switch to actual expenses, you'd use this figure to reduce your depreciable basis in the vehicle. This prevents you from double-dipping on depreciation that was effectively included in your standard mileage deductions from previous years.

Does that calculator thing work for people with multiple jobs or side gig income? I always struggle with getting my withholding right because I have my main job plus some freelance stuff.

Yes, it definitely works for multiple jobs and side gig income! The calculator has specific sections where you can enter income from different sources, including self-employment. The tool is actually really good at handling complex situations like yours. It will ask about all your income streams and help calculate the right withholding amount. For freelance income, it'll even help determine if you need to make estimated tax payments throughout the year to avoid penalties.

That's actually the opposite issue but still not ideal. Claiming 0 when you have 2 qualified dependents means you're having TOO MUCH withheld. It's legal but you're giving the government an interest-free loan of your money throughout the year. You'd be better off claiming your actual dependents and putting that extra money to work for you each month.