Does the Vanguard calculator work if you have income from both self-employment and a W-2 job? I work part-time for a company and also do freelance work on the side.

The Vanguard calculator works best for purely self-employed individuals. For mixed income situations where you have both W-2 and self-employment income, it gets more complicated. For someone with both types of income, you'll need to calculate your SEP contribution based only on your self-employment income, and keep in mind any employer retirement contributions from your W-2 job count toward your total annual limit. The calculator won't automatically factor in those employer contributions, so you'd need to do some additional calculations manually. In your specific situation, I'd recommend using a more comprehensive calculator or consulting with a tax professional just to be safe.

Thank you all so much for the helpful responses! This was way more complicated than I thought, but now I understand why the 25% is actually 20% in practice. I'll definitely use the formula that Profile 22 shared, and might check out that taxr.ai tool to double-check my calculation since I don't want to mess this up. For my $95k in net profit, looks like I can contribute around $17,550 which is way more than I've been putting away. Time to boost those retirement savings!

Thanks for bringing up bonus depreciation! I hadn't even heard of that option. Is there an income limit on bonus depreciation like there is with Section 179? And does the business use still need to be over 50% to qualify?

Bonus depreciation doesn't have the same business income limitation as Section 179, which is why it can be better for freelancers with low income but expensive equipment purchases. You can actually create a loss with bonus depreciation, unlike Section 179. For the business use requirement, you still need more than 50% business use to claim bonus depreciation on listed property (which includes computers and cell phones). If your business use drops below 50% in future years, you may have to recapture some of the depreciation as income, so keep good records of your business vs personal use.

I used TurboSelf-Employed last year for my equipment deductions. It handled basic Section 179 questions okay but didn't really explain the business income limitation clearly. I ended up taking a bigger deduction than I should have and had to file an amended return later. If your situation is complex, it might not be the best option.

That makes so much sense! I just checked and you're right - my cycle code ends in 05. So that means my transcript updates Thursday nights? Does that mean if nothing changes this week, I should check again next Thursday?

Yes, exactly! If your cycle code ends in 05, your account typically updates overnight between Thursday and Friday. So check first thing Friday morning for any changes. If nothing changes this week, definitely check again next Friday morning. Many people don't realize the IRS works in these weekly batches for most processing. So your return might be completely processed already, but the transcript won't show the updates until your designated cycle date.

This is so true! I got my refund in my bank account 2 days BEFORE the Where's My Refund tool updated last year. The whole system is a mess.

Student loan interest (up to $2,500) is actually an "above-the-line" deduction, not an itemized deduction. That means you can take it even if you claim the standard deduction! It's directly subtracted from your income before calculating your adjusted gross income.

Thanks for mentioning this! We actually did install some energy efficient windows as part of moving in. Do you know if that counts if they were installed by the previous owner right before we bought the place? Or does it only count if we paid for the installation ourselves?

Unfortunately, you only get the credit if you paid for the improvements yourself. If the previous owners installed them, they would get the credit on their tax return. However, now that you own the home, any new energy-efficient improvements you make going forward would qualify for you! The credits are pretty substantial - up to 30% for solar and geothermal, and up to $600 for energy-efficient windows (with a $1,200 annual maximum for most improvements). Might be worth considering additional upgrades this year!

What if my brokerage is a smaller one that doesn't offer those kinds of services? I'm with a regional firm that's not as full-service as Fidelity or Schwab.

If you're with a smaller brokerage, you still have options. Even if they don't offer formal basis reconstruction services, their customer service might still be able to help you identify the share price on the date of death. If that doesn't work, you can also use resources like Yahoo Finance or Morningstar to look up historical prices for most mutual funds. Just search for SSHFX and find the historical price data for your uncle's date of death. Document how you determined the value (take screenshots), and keep that with your tax records.

This is actually a really good point. The executor had to choose one valuation method for ALL assets in the estate though - they couldn't cherry pick different dates for different assets. So you might want to check what method was used on the estate tax return if one was filed.