If your income is right on the edge of the threshold, don't forget that any traditional 401k or IRA contributions will lower your AGI for determining eligibility! Contributing more to retirement could potentially keep you under that $150k limit. In my case, I was projected to be about $3k over the threshold, so I increased my 401k contribution for the last few months of the year to get my AGI back under the limit. Saved me thousands in credits while also boosting my retirement savings.

Great advice about the retirement contributions! I wanted to add that you should also consider HSA contributions if you have a high-deductible health plan. HSA contributions reduce your AGI just like traditional 401k contributions, and the 2024 limit is $4,300 for individuals or $8,550 for families. Also, if you're self-employed or have any 1099 income, don't overlook SEP-IRA contributions - you can contribute up to 25% of your self-employment income and make the contribution all the way up until your tax filing deadline (including extensions). This could be another way to get your AGI under that $150k threshold while the window is still open. The key is that all these strategies reduce your Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI), which is what the IRS uses to determine eligibility for these energy credits.

Has anyone dealt with Edward Jones specifically for estate accounts? They rejected my EIN too initially because I had selected "Estate" on the SS-4 form but apparently there was some additional coding they needed. Had to call the IRS back to get it adjusted.

I'm going through almost the exact same situation right now with my father's estate. After reading all these responses, I applied for the EIN online using Form SS-4 and made sure to select "Decedent's Estate" specifically (not just "Estate"). Got the number immediately. However, I'm still waiting on the official letters testamentary from probate court - our attorney said it could take another 2-3 weeks. In the meantime, I've been using the EIN to set up a basic estate checking account at our local bank, which has been helpful for paying ongoing bills like utilities and property taxes. One thing I learned is that some financial institutions are more familiar with estate procedures than others. The smaller local bank was much more helpful than the big national one I initially tried. They walked me through exactly what documents they needed and even gave me a checklist for dealing with other institutions. @Xan Dae - definitely get that EIN application in ASAP even while you're waiting for other paperwork. It's free and you'll need it for pretty much everything moving forward.

A tip from someone who's been doing survey sites for 3 years now - use a separate email address just for survey sites. It keeps all your notifications in one place and makes it easier to track which sites have paid you. Also super helpful at tax time when you're trying to figure out where all your income came from!

Great advice from everyone here! I want to add something that might help with the record-keeping aspect - if you're using PayPal to receive survey payments, they actually provide a pretty decent transaction history that you can download at tax time. This has been super helpful for me to cross-reference with my own spreadsheet. Also, regarding the self-employment tax that was mentioned - don't forget that you can deduct half of the self-employment tax you pay when calculating your adjusted gross income. It's not a huge amount, but every little bit helps when you're dealing with side hustle taxes. One more thing - if you're planning to make this a regular thing and expect to owe more than $1,000 in taxes, you might need to make quarterly estimated tax payments to avoid underpayment penalties. The IRS doesn't like waiting until April to get their money!

Did you check if your refund amount matches what you calculated when filing? Sometimes the IRS adjusts the amount which can delay things. Also, have you verified the last four digits of the account number on the Where's My Refund tool?

Welcome to the tax refund waiting game! As someone who's been through this process multiple times, I can tell you that February 24th is actually a pretty reliable date. The IRS has gotten much better at hitting their deposit dates in recent years. One thing I learned the hard way - don't obsessively check your bank account every hour like I did my first year! The deposit usually shows up early morning (around 3-6 AM) when banks do their overnight processing. If you're with a smaller bank or credit union, you might even see it a day early. The key is that once the IRS gives you that specific date, they've already sent the payment through the Treasury system. Just make sure you have the IRS2Go app downloaded so you can track any last-minute updates, and try to relax - your money is on its way!

Wouldn't this tax just get passed on to consumers anyway? If you tax Amazon more, they'll just raise prices to compensate, making things more expensive for regular people while not actually solving the monopoly problem.

This is a fascinating policy proposal that touches on some really complex economic and administrative issues. As someone who's worked with tax compliance for small businesses, I can see both the appeal and the challenges here. One practical concern I haven't seen mentioned yet is how this would affect smaller companies trying to grow. If you're a startup that innovates and naturally captures significant market share through superior products or services, this tax could actually punish success and innovation rather than just targeting anti-competitive behavior. Maybe instead of a blanket market share tax, we could focus on specific anti-competitive practices? For example, higher taxes on companies that engage in predatory pricing, exclusive dealing arrangements, or acquisitions that reduce competition. This would target the behaviors we actually want to discourage rather than penalizing market success broadly. The enforcement challenges everyone's mentioned are real too. Market definitions change constantly - just look at how streaming services have redefined the entertainment industry in the past decade. Any tax based on market share would need to be updated continuously, creating a regulatory nightmare. What if we started smaller? Maybe pilot this concept in specific industries where market boundaries are clearer and concentration is most problematic, like telecommunications or utilities?