Has anyone considered using a land trust instead of an LLC? I've heard they provide some liability protection while still maintaining the tax benefits of personal ownership.

I went through this exact decision process about 18 months ago when buying my home. After consulting with both my CPA and attorney, I decided against putting my primary residence in my LLC name, and I'm glad I did. The main factors that swayed me were: 1) Loss of the primary residence capital gains exclusion - this alone could cost you hundreds of thousands in taxes when you sell 2) Mortgage rates and terms are significantly worse for commercial/business property loans 3) The complexity of calculating fair market rent to yourself creates ongoing compliance headaches 4) Home office deduction works the same whether you own personally or through business One thing I did do was get an umbrella insurance policy instead, which gives me excellent liability protection for a fraction of the cost and complexity. For around $400/year, I have $2M in additional liability coverage that protects all my assets including my business. Unless you're in an extremely high-risk profession where you expect frequent lawsuits, the tax downsides of business ownership for a primary residence far outweigh any potential benefits. Save the LLC structure for actual investment properties where it makes more sense.

Has anyone considered the impact of living in a duplex on your ability to exclude gain when selling? From what I understand, you can only exclude gain on the portion you lived in under the primary residence exclusion ($250k single/$500k married).

Great question! I went through this exact situation when I purchased my duplex three years ago. The key thing to understand is that you'll be treating this as a mixed-use property - part personal residence, part rental business. For mortgage interest deductions, you'll allocate based on the percentage of the property used for each purpose (usually square footage). So if each unit is equal, 50% of your mortgage interest goes on Schedule A (subject to the $750k loan limit) and 50% goes on Schedule E as a rental expense (no limit). Don't forget about depreciation on the rental portion - that's a major tax benefit! You can depreciate 50% of the property's basis (excluding land) over 27.5 years. Also, make sure to track all expenses separately: utilities, maintenance, insurance, etc. The rental portion expenses are fully deductible against rental income. One tip: keep detailed records of your square footage calculations and any improvements made to each unit. The IRS may want to see your allocation method if audited. A simple floor plan with measurements works great for documentation. Since you're in the 35% bracket, the rental deductions will provide significant tax savings. Just remember that when you eventually sell, you'll have depreciation recapture on the rental portion and can only use the primary residence exclusion on your half.

Has anyone ever successfully gotten a company to correct or cancel a 1099-MISC in this situation? I'm dealing with something similar now and wondering if it's even worth trying to get them to fix it.

This is such a frustrating situation that shouldn't happen but unfortunately does all the time! I went through something very similar two years ago with a different company. Here's my advice based on what worked for me: First, definitely try calling the company's accounting department (not HR) and ask them to issue a corrected 1099-MISC showing $0. Explain that this was a pure expense reimbursement, not compensation. Some companies will cooperate, especially if you can speak directly with their AP manager or controller. If they won't budge, you have a few options for handling it on your return. The cleanest approach is to report the 1099-MISC income on Schedule 1 but then take an offsetting deduction on the same schedule under "Other Adjustments" with a clear explanation that this was reimbursement for actual expenses. Attach copies of your receipts and a brief statement explaining the situation. Whatever you do, don't just ignore the 1099-MISC - the IRS will definitely notice if you don't report income that was reported to them. But you absolutely shouldn't have to pay tax on money that was just reimbursing your actual out-of-pocket costs. Keep all your documentation and be prepared to explain the situation if questioned.

Has anyone considered that the type of YouTube channel might matter? I have a gaming channel with income from both ads and gaming sponsorships. My tax preparer said the sponsorships are definitely Schedule C, but put the ad revenue on Schedule E since they're technically royalties from my existing content. Been doing it this way for 3 years with no issues.

This is exactly the kind of gray area that drives people crazy during tax season! I've been dealing with a similar situation with my old blog that still generates affiliate commissions. After years of going back and forth, here's what I've learned: The IRS generally looks at the "origin and character" of the income rather than your current level of activity. Since you originally created YouTube content as part of what was essentially a business venture (even if informal), the income retains that business character even when the channel goes dormant. I'd recommend sticking with Schedule C for consistency, especially since you've been filing it that way for 7+ years. The IRS tends to scrutinize sudden changes in income classification, and you could face questions during an audit about why you switched approaches. One silver lining: even with a dormant channel, you might still be able to deduct certain ongoing expenses like internet costs (percentage used for business), software subscriptions for video editing tools you maintain, or even a portion of your phone bill if you use it to monitor analytics. These deductions can help offset some of that self-employment tax burden. The peace of mind from consistent filing often outweighs the SE tax savings, especially at your income level where we're talking about maybe $200 in additional taxes.

This happened 2 me after I amended. Took about 20 days before I could see everything again

Just wanted to add that this is totally normal and happens to pretty much everyone who files an amendment or has any kind of adjustment processing. The IRS basically puts a temporary "lock" on your account info while they're working on it to avoid showing you incorrect balances or confusing data. I know it's nerve-wracking when you can't see your info, but the fact that your 2023 stuff is still visible means the system is working fine - it's just that specific tax year that's temporarily hidden. The processing time really does vary depending on what type of adjustment they're doing, but most people see their info come back within 3-4 weeks. Try not to stress about it too much! Your account will be back to normal once they finish processing whatever adjustment triggered this.