Thanks for this! Quick question - what about things bought while on vacation in another state and brought back? Like if I buy clothes in Oregon (no sales tax) and bring them home to California?

That's exactly what use tax is designed for! If you buy clothes in Oregon (no sales tax) and bring them back to California, technically you owe California use tax on those items. This is one of the most common situations where use tax applies, but also one of the hardest for states to enforce. Generally speaking, if you bought something significant (like expensive electronics, jewelry, furniture, etc.) while out of state and didn't pay sales tax, you should report it on your state return and pay the use tax.

That's what I do! I just use the lookup table amount on my state return. Not worth the headache of tracking every little purchase. Though I did separately report a laptop I bought online tax-free since it was over $1000.

Thanks for this explanation. I didn't realize that capital losses don't offset self-employment tax. That might explain a lot. I definitely worked from home for all my 1099 income - would that qualify for home office deduction? I used my living room as my workspace since I didn't have a separate office.

For the home office deduction, you need a space used "regularly and exclusively" for business. If your living room was also used for personal activities, it typically wouldn't qualify. However, if you had a specific section of the living room that was used only for work (like a desk area never used for anything else), that portion might qualify. Other deductions you should check for include any supplies, software, internet costs (partial), phone expenses, and any industry-specific materials you purchased. Also, if you drove anywhere for your 1099 work, those miles are deductible. Even small deductions add up and reduce both your income tax and self-employment tax burden.

Not OP but I didn't know about the carryover thing! So if I had $7k in capital losses this year, I can use $3k now and then $3k next year and $1k the year after? Does it just automatically carry over or do I need to do something special to claim it in future years?

The gift was definitely under $5k, so nowhere near that threshold! I hadn't even thought about tax treaties between countries. Is there an easy way to check that?

You can find tax treaties on the IRS website under "Tax Treaties" - they have a page listing all countries with tax treaties with the US. For Ecuador specifically, there are some provisions but they mostly relate to income earned from working, not scholarships or grants. Given the small gift amount and the fact that all scholarship money went to qualified expenses, your cousin is almost certainly in the clear with no filing requirements.

This is correct! Form 8843 isn't technically a tax return but a statement that nonresident aliens (including students) should file to document their presence in the US. It's pretty simple to fill out and doesn't require any calculations.

Oh crap, that's exactly what I'm afraid of. Did they charge her a lot of interest? And did she try to contact them first or did she just wait until they noticed?

They charged her about 4% interest which added up to around $37 on a $900 refund over 8 months. Not terrible but still annoying since it wasn't her mistake. She didn't contact them because she genuinely thought it was a legit second refund from some credit or adjustment. When she got the notice she called and explained this, but they still required repayment with interest. They were nice about setting up a payment plan with no additional penalties though. Definitely worth being proactive to avoid even this situation.

This is really good advice. My state (MN) does this with property tax rebates and also had some special energy credits last year that came as separate payments even though they were part of the tax processing.

Does Cash App Taxes handle 1099-K forms? I started doing some gig work through platforms that give those and heard some tax software struggles with them.

Yes, Cash App Taxes handles 1099-K forms with no problem. I had a 1099-K last year from selling stuff online, and it walked me through the whole process step by step, including helping separate my actual income from the total transactions. The only limitations I've found are for really complex situations like foreign income reporting or multiple state filing (more than 2 states). But for most people including gig workers, it works great and remains completely free.

Be super careful with random codes! A lot of those "discount codes" are actually affiliate links where someone else gets credit (and potentially access to your info). Some are legit retailer promos, but it's hard to tell the difference. I'd stick with official discount channels like Costco, student discounts, or the official IRS Free File program. The risk isn't worth saving a few bucks if it means compromising your financial data.

I used one of those Slickdeals codes last year and it worked fine - saved about $30. But you should definitely only use codes posted by established members with good reputation scores. And NEVER use a code that requires you to give someone else access to your account or use their email.