My zaniest tax idea: Tax breaks based on your step count from fitness trackers. Get 10,000 steps daily for a year? 1% off your tax bill. Would incentivize healthier living which could reduce healthcare costs long term. More realistically, I'd love to see tax credits for people who don't own cars in urban areas. They're using fewer resources, creating less pollution, and not contributing to traffic congestion. Why not reward that behavior?

My crazy idea: zero taxes on the first $50k of income for EVERYONE, then a flat 33% on everything above that. No deductions, no credits, no loopholes, no exceptions. Tax return could fit on a postcard. Would solve so many problems! The complicated tax code mainly benefits the wealthy who can afford tax attorneys to find obscure deductions. A simple system would be more fair and stop wasting millions of hours on tax preparation. Plus no taxes on the first $50k would be a massive help to lower/middle income folks.

Friendly reminder that even if you use FreeTaxUSA, you can still deduct tax preparation fees as a business expense on Schedule C for your self-employment income! That includes any paid tax software. You just can't deduct the portion related to personal taxes or your rental (which would go on Schedule E). Also, don't forget about the home office deduction if you use part of your home regularly and exclusively for your self-employment work. That's a commonly missed deduction that can be significant.

I've been dealing with rental property and 1099 income for about 5 years now, and here's what I've learned: the first year is definitely the hardest because you're setting up all your depreciation schedules and figuring out what expenses are deductible vs. what needs to be capitalized. For your situation, I'd actually recommend starting with FreeTaxUSA since you're organized with your records. The software has gotten really good at walking you through rental property depreciation - it asks you the right questions about purchase price, improvements, land value, etc. The key is being conservative and keeping good documentation for everything. One thing that saved me money was keeping a separate spreadsheet throughout the year tracking all rental expenses by category (repairs, maintenance, insurance, etc.) and all my 1099 business expenses. This makes tax time much smoother regardless of which route you choose. If you run into specific questions while preparing your return, you can always pay a CPA for a consultation to review just those tricky areas rather than having them do the whole return. Many charge $100-150 for a review, which could give you peace of mind without the full $525 cost.

A heads up on Atlanta rates - I was just there last month and was surprised that certain parts of the metro area have different per diem rates. Make sure you check the specific county you're staying in. Downtown Atlanta (Fulton County) has a higher rate than some of the suburbs.

Great question! As someone who's been through this exact confusion, here's what I've learned about per diem for sole proprietors: Your accountant is right - you can use GSA per diem rates for meals and incidentals (M&I) but you'll still need actual receipts for lodging. The GSA website has a per diem lookup tool where you can enter your destination cities and get the exact daily rates. A few key things to remember: - First and last days of travel are prorated at 75% of the full daily rate - You'll only be able to deduct 50% of the meal portion when filing taxes (though the calculation is done after applying per diem) - Keep a simple travel log with business purpose, dates, locations, and who you met with - this is required even when using per diem For your upcoming Atlanta/Denver trip, definitely look up the county-specific rates since metro areas can have different rates by county. The per diem method will save you from keeping track of every meal receipt, but you'll still need documentation showing the business nature of your travel. One last tip: if you do any entertaining of clients during these trips, those meals have different rules and you'll want to track those separately with actual receipts.

18 Question about the gift letter - our lender is asking for a specific format. Does anyone have a template they used for a down payment gift that satisfied both mortgage requirements and IRS rules?

This is such a helpful thread! I'm in a similar situation where my parents want to help with our down payment. One thing I'm curious about - if my parents have already given gifts to my siblings over the years that exceeded the annual exclusion but never filed Form 709, do they need to go back and file amended returns for those years? Or can they just start fresh with proper reporting going forward? Also, does anyone know if there are any state-level gift tax implications we should be worried about, or is this purely a federal tax issue? Thanks!

Don't forget to check reviews! Google "[company name] scam" and show her results. When my grandma almost fell for one, I showed her their 1.2 star BBB rating and pages of complaints from seniors who lost thousands. Also search for their company on the FTC website - many have been sued for deceptive practices. Just Google "FTC tax relief scam [company name]" and show her the government actions against them. The AARP website has a great article about tax scams targeting seniors too - might be worth printing that out for her.

I'm going through this exact situation with my elderly aunt right now. What really helped was sitting down with her and going through the actual numbers together. I asked her to show me the letter from the tax relief company and we calculated what she'd actually save versus what they were charging. Most of these companies charge $2,000-$5,000 upfront, but when you look at what they're promising to save, it often doesn't even break even. In my aunt's case, they wanted $3,500 to "reduce her tax burden" when she actually gets a refund every year! I also found it helpful to remind her that the IRS has payment plans and their own hardship programs that are FREE if someone truly can't pay. No legitimate tax professional should be asking for thousands upfront before they've even reviewed your situation. The fear tactics are really what get to them. Maybe try reassuring your mom that being current on her taxes actually puts her in a great position - she's doing everything right and doesn't need "protection" from anyone.