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Not sure if this applies, but look into the "member of household" test for qualifying relatives. If your girlfriend and her daughter live with you the entire following tax year, they might qualify as dependents under that test even if they don't meet the qualifying child test. Also, sometimes it makes more sense tax-wise to get married if you're already living together and financially intertwined. Run the numbers both ways - sometimes marriage penalty hits hard but with income disparity like yours it often benefits.
Thank you for bringing up the "member of household" test. Would this still apply even with her daughter's 50/50 custody situation? My girlfriend will definitely be living with me the entire next tax year, but her daughter will still split time with her dad. As for getting married, we've discussed it but aren't quite ready for that step yet. Is there a good calculator you'd recommend for figuring out the tax implications?
For the daughter with 50/50 custody, she wouldn't meet the member of household test because she doesn't live with you year-round. However, your girlfriend could potentially qualify as a dependent if she lives with you the entire year and her gross income is below the threshold (around $4,500). For marriage tax calculations, I recommend the Tax Policy Center's marriage calculator or TurboTax's free tax calculator - both let you run scenarios as married vs. single/HOH. With your income disparity and supporting multiple people, you'd likely benefit from marriage tax-wise, but it's worth running the actual numbers. Married filing jointly often benefits couples where one person earns significantly more than the other.
Don't forget about the Other Dependent Credit (ODC) which is $500 per qualifying dependent who isn't eligible for the Child Tax Credit. Your daughter might qualify for this even if she's working full time, as long as you provide more than half her support and her income is below the threshold. Also, if you're paying any education expenses for your daughter, look into the Lifetime Learning Credit which doesn't require the student to be your dependent!
The Other Dependent Credit phaseout starts at pretty low income levels though. If OP is supporting three additional people, I'm guessing their income is high enough that they might phase out of this benefit. Worth checking the income limits before counting on it.
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Something nobody's mentioned yet - if you're a small business with a 401k plan, you might qualify for tax credits to help offset the cost of setting up and maintaining the plan. The SECURE Act 2.0 expanded these credits significantly, especially for businesses with under 50 employees. Might be worth looking into if you haven't already!
Whoa really? I had no idea there were tax credits available! Is that something I claim on my business tax return? And do you know roughly how much the credit might be? We definitely have under 50 employees (just 3 actually).
Yes, you claim it on your business tax return using Form 8881 (Credit for Small Employer Pension Plan Startup Costs). The credit was expanded to cover 100% of qualified startup costs up to $5,000 for the first three years of the plan. Even better, there's a new additional credit specifically for employer contributions for your employees. It can be up to $1,000 per employee depending on how much you contribute to their accounts. This phases down over 5 years. Since you mention having 3 employees, this could be quite valuable for your business if you're making employer contributions to their 401k accounts.
Make sure you're keeping good records even if you don't need to file form 5500 yet!! my buddy got audited for his small biz 401k and they wanted to see literally EVERYTHING from day one. keep all ur enrollment forms, investment selections, contribution records, fee disclosures, etc. trust me you do NOT want to be scrambling to find this stuff later!!!
This is solid advice. I'd add that you should also keep copies of all the notices and disclosures you provide to employees, with dates of when they were distributed. The DOL can audit for compliance with those requirements separately from the IRS tax compliance stuff.
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Just wanted to add - my accountant told me there's another option you might consider. If you're helping with qualified education expenses, you could potentially claim the Lifetime Learning Credit on your taxes if you can claim your fiancé as a dependent. The rules for claiming an adult who isn't your child are pretty strict though. You'd need to provide more than half their support for the year, they'd need to live with you, and their income would need to be under the threshold amount. It's probably a long shot in your case since he likely doesn't qualify as your dependent, but worth mentioning as an alternative to consider.
Thanks for suggesting this! I hadn't even thought about tax credits. Unfortunately, I don't think I can claim him as a dependent since he made about $55,000 before starting school this year. But I'll definitely look into all the education-related tax benefits once we're married next year. It sounds like from everyone's advice, the best approach is to pay the school directly for the remaining payments. For the money I've already given him directly, I'll just need to file the gift tax form but won't actually owe any taxes.
Just throwing this out there - have you checked whether his program qualifies for loan forgiveness after graduation? My cousin is a PA and is getting public service loan forgiveness by working at a qualifying non-profit hospital. Might be worth factoring into your financial plan if he's going to work in a setting that qualifies!
PA here - PSLF is definitely worth looking into, but keep in mind it requires 10 years of payments while working at qualifying employers. The employer has to be a government org or certain non-profits. Also, with the high salaries many PAs command (even at non-profits), sometimes it's financially better to just pay off the loans aggressively.
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What nobody's mentioned yet is that the box classification can affect your self-employment tax situation too. Box 3 "Other Income" is generally not subject to self-employment tax, while royalties can be depending on your specific situation and whether this is part of your regular business. If this is ongoing software licensing that's part of your normal business activities, you may need to consider whether self-employment taxes apply. Make sure you're thinking about that angle too when you get this resolved!
Wait, so are you saying that by asking them to correct it to Box 2 royalties, I might actually end up paying MORE in taxes? I hadn't even considered the self-employment tax angle.
That's possible, yes. Royalty income that's part of your regular business activity would typically be subject to self-employment tax, while Box 3 "Other Income" generally isn't. However, you should still report it correctly regardless of tax implications - misclassifying income to pay less tax could cause problems later. Even if it means paying more now, correctly classifying the income as royalties establishes the nature of your business, which can be beneficial for other business deductions and for consistent treatment in future years. If you're concerned about the tax difference, you might want to consult with a tax professional who can look at your complete situation.
Just want to add from personal experience that the IRS matching program will absolutely flag your return if the boxes don't match what they have on file. My husband had a similar issue in 2023, and even though we reported the full income amount, we still got a CP2000 notice because we put it on a different line of our return than where the incorrect 1099 indicated. We had to respond with a detailed explanation of why we reported it differently. It got resolved but was a huge headache that lasted months. Definitely push for that corrected 1099!
What happened in the end? Did you have to pay the amount they said or did they accept your explanation?
They eventually accepted our explanation without us owing anything additional. We sent a copy of our contract showing the nature of the income and referenced the relevant IRS publications for how that type of income should be reported. The most annoying part was that it took about 3 months to get resolved, and we received automated follow-up notices during that time that made it seem like we hadn't responded at all. I had to call multiple times to confirm they had our response and it was still being processed. Definitely document everything and follow up persistently!
Christian Bierman
14 One important thing nobody has mentioned yet is that your mother should consider whether she qualifies for the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (Form 2555) if she continues living abroad. Since she's retired, this probably won't apply to her pension, but it's important to know about if she ends up doing any work overseas. Also, make sure she's aware that some countries have social security totalization agreements with the US even if they don't have full tax treaties. This can sometimes affect how retirement benefits are taxed.
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Christian Bierman
•3 Would the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion even apply to someone who has a green card? I thought you had to be physically present in the foreign country to claim that, but don't green card holders need to maintain their primary residence in the US?
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Christian Bierman
•14 Yes, green card holders can claim the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion if they meet either the physical presence test (physically present in a foreign country for at least 330 days in a 12-month period) or the bona fide residence test (foreign resident for an uninterrupted period that includes an entire tax year). Green card holders do need to maintain their intent to live permanently in the US, but they are allowed to work and live abroad temporarily. However, staying outside the US for too long (typically more than a year) without a reentry permit can potentially lead to abandonment of permanent resident status. So it's a balance - they can work abroad and potentially claim the exclusion while maintaining their green card, but they need to be careful about how long they stay away from the US.
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Christian Bierman
11 Just a heads-up that as a new green card holder, your mother should be aware of potential "exit tax" implications if she decides to surrender her green card in the future. If she holds the green card for 8+ years and then gives it up, she could be subject to the expatriation tax rules as a "long-term resident." This is especially relevant if she's not planning to move to the US permanently and might surrender her green card later. Worth keeping in mind when making long-term plans!
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Christian Bierman
•18 Would this apply even if someone's net worth is relatively low? I thought the exit tax was only for really wealthy people giving up citizenship. Are the rules different for green card holders?
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