I just realized that my S-corp taxes are due in a few days and I'm starting to panic. What exactly do I need to file? The company only got income from a single client plus some travel reimbursements since we started in the middle of last year. One thing confusing me is that I didn't receive a 1099 from this client - so how does the IRS actually confirm I received what I'm reporting? Do they just take my word for it? I'm also completely lost on what deductions I can take. Can I deduct my home office? What about meals during business travel? I joined this business club that I sometimes use for networking - can that be deducted too? And the biggest question: how do I calculate what I actually owe? Is there anything specific I should avoid to prevent getting audited? My friend started telling me about some red flags but then got distracted and never finished explaining. Any guidelines I should follow?

I've been pulling my hair out trying to find the correct formula for calculating reduced traditional IRA deduction amounts for tax years 2023 and 2024. I can only find formulas for 2022, and I'm confused about how the calculations should work with the increased contribution limits. For 2022, the max contribution was $6,000 (under age 50), the MAGI phase-out range for married filing jointly was $109,000-$129,000, and the calculation made sense - it was a linear phase-out over the $20,000 range. But for 2023, the max contribution increased to $6,500 with phase-out range of $116,000-$136,000, and for 2024 it's now $7,000 with phase-out range of $123,000-$143,000. Yet the calculation formula from 2022 doesn't seem to scale properly. The IRS states on their website for 2023: "more than $116,000 but less than $136,000 ----- a partial deduction" but doesn't provide the actual formula for the partial deduction. The only instructions I can find are in Publication 590-A which works for 2022's $6,000 limit. Here's my issue: If you're exactly at the lower threshold, you can deduct the full amount. If you're just $0.01 over the threshold and use the 2022 formula (multiply difference between upper limit and your MAGI by 0.3), you get: - For 2022: $5,999.997 deduction (almost the full $6,000) - For 2023: $5,999.997 deduction (meaning you lose $500 for just $0.01 of income!) - For 2024: $5,999.997 deduction (meaning you lose $1,000+ for just $0.01 of income!) This seems wrong - the penalty for being just over the threshold is way too harsh for 2023/2024 compared to 2022. I found a TIAA calculator online that gives more reasonable results, but they don't cite their formula. This matters for my tax planning since I need to decide how to split contributions between traditional and Roth IRAs. Has the IRS updated the formula for 2023/2024? Am I missing something? I'm assuming my spouse and I file jointly and I'm covered by a 401k at work.

I'm in a total mess right now with my taxes and need some serious advice. Here's what happened - I purchased a house with my now ex-husband back in 2021 for about $350,000 in Texas. Then in 2022, after only owning it for 10 months, we ended up going through a divorce and had to sell the place because neither of us could afford to keep it on our own after trying to refinance. The house sold for around $385,000, but after all the seller fees (about $31,000), we basically just broke even. I didn't think much about it until now doing my taxes. I tried using TurboTax to file myself, and it's saying I owe nearly $54,000 in taxes! I'm completely shocked and honestly don't know how I'm supposed to come up with that kind of money. During those 10 months, I had a newborn baby, went through a divorce, and had to sell my first home - all within like a 3-month period. I'm desperate for help understanding this. How can I possibly owe taxes when we barely broke even on the house? Is this because we didn't live there for 2 years? Is there anything I can do?

I have this side hustle/hobby selling gold coins. My profit strategy is pretty specific - I use a credit card with 4% cash back to purchase gold coins, then I resell them locally for around the same price I paid (sometimes slightly more, sometimes slightly less). The cash back is where I'm actually making my profit, usually about 3-6% on each transaction. Here's what I'm confused about tax-wise: If most of my actual profit is coming from the credit card rewards, do I need to report that as taxable income? For example, I might buy 3 gold coins at $3300 each on my credit card, then sell them for $3250 each. On paper, it looks like I lost $150 total, but with my 4% cash back ($396), I actually made about $246 profit on the deal. How do I report this on my taxes? As income? As a loss? Some combination? I live in California, and I'm specifically dealing with a type of gold coin that costs over $2000 per coin, which I believe means I don't have to collect sales tax. Any advice would be appreciated since I'm prepping for next year's filing!

I'm really stressed about my taxes this year and could use some advice. I worked for this small business for about 3 months last year, but they never paid me for my final month of work (about $4,200). When I tried to get my money, they kept giving me the runaround until I finally had to quit. Now they're claiming what they owe me is "bad debt" whatever that means. The bigger issue for filing is they haven't sent me my W-2 form, and I need to file jointly with my husband soon. I've prepared Form 4852 (the substitute W-2), but I honestly have no idea how much they withheld from my paychecks for taxes. I've already filed a claim with the department of industrial relations about the unpaid wages, but who knows when that will be resolved. Will not having the exact withholding amounts delay our refund? I'm worried since we're counting on that money. And I seriously doubt my ex-employer is planning to suddenly become responsible about tax documents when they wouldn't even pay me what I earned. Any advice would be super appreciated!