This is a really good point. I once made a single extra principal payment of $10k and was shocked at how much it reduced my yearly interest. Also, if your mortgage has an escrow account for taxes and insurance, changes to those amounts wouldn't affect the interest portion but could make your total payment seem consistent even while the interest/principal ratio was changing.

We actually did make a couple of extra payments last year - put our tax refund toward the mortgage and then got a small bonus in October that we threw at it too. Never connected that this would significantly change the interest calculation. Between the loan sales and the extra payments, I'm starting to think this drop might be legitimate after all. Going to double-check all our statements though just to be safe.

This happened to me too! The new servicer somehow "lost" my payment allocation instructions and reverted to their default distribution. I only caught it because I was tracking everything in a spreadsheet. Definitely go through each statement carefully.

Is there an easy way to verify this? I have all my statements but honestly have no idea what I'm looking for in terms of payment allocation. What specific numbers should I be comparing month to month?

Does this apply to social media influencers? My cat has an Instagram with 10k followers and I occasionally get free products to post about. Could the vet bills be a business expense if he's technically generating income?

That's actually a great question about social media pets. It could potentially qualify if you've properly set up a business entity and your pet's social media presence generates regular income that you report on your taxes. You'd need to treat it like a legitimate business with proper bookkeeping showing the connection between the pet's health and your business income. If you're only occasionally receiving free products but not actually reporting income from this activity, it would be much harder to justify as a business expense. The IRS looks for regular, ongoing business activity with the intent to make a profit, not just hobby activities.

Your accountant gave you incorrect information. FSAs and HSAs are specifically for qualified human medical expenses only. Using these accounts for pet expenses would violate IRS rules and could result in penalties. You might want to double-check this with another tax professional.

We don't have any student loans yet - been trying to pay as we go, which is why losing that education credit hit so hard. But that's good to know about the deduction having higher income limits if we do need loans next year. I didn't realize required course materials could count! So like textbooks and stuff? My school gives itemized receipts for everything, so I should be able to count those too?

Yes, required textbooks and course materials can count as qualified education expenses! The key word is "required" - they need to be necessary for enrollment or attendance at your educational institution. Your school's itemized receipts will be perfect for documenting these expenses. Just make sure you only include materials that were genuinely required for your courses. Optional study guides or supplemental materials typically don't qualify.

DON'T do MFS! You completely lose eligibility for education credits when filing separately. Plus you lose a bunch of other benefits too (student loan interest deduction, higher standard deduction rates, etc). Usually MFS ends up costing more in lost credits than you'd save.

That's a really good point about local taxes - I hadn't even considered that yet. Do you know if Florida has any significant local taxes I should be watching for? Also, what exactly is an "annual report requirement"? Is that different from the tax filing itself?

Florida doesn't have many problematic local taxes that apply to out-of-state businesses, so you're fairly lucky there. Some counties have their own small business taxes, but they typically only apply if you have physical presence in that county. Annual reports are separate from tax filings. Once you register to do business in a state (called "foreign qualification"), most states require you to file an annual report and pay a fee to maintain your good standing. It's basically just confirming your business information is current and paying to maintain your authorization to do business there. In Florida, it's due by May 1st each year, and the fee varies based on your entity type. If you forget to file these reports, some states can administratively dissolve your registration, which can affect your ability to sue in that state or access their court system.

Which states did this happen in? I'm in a similar situation and trying to avoid surprises!

Do you know if you can claim this refund if you're not required to file a US tax return otherwise? I'm in a similar situation (small dividend after moving) but don't have any other US income to report.

Yes, you can still claim a refund even if you're not otherwise required to file a US return. You would file Form 1040-NR specifically to claim the refund of overwithholding. For small amounts, you'll need to decide if it's worth the effort. The form isn't particularly complicated, but you'll need to include a copy of your 1042-S showing the withholding and explain that you're eligible for the lower treaty rate. Some people find it's not worth the hassle if the refund amount is very small.

This is a good point. Would the broker still provide an accurate cost basis on the 1099-B for those reinvested shares even if the account holder is now a non-resident alien?