Need help! Ways to reduce AGI for 2023 before losing EV tax credit?

There are still a few strategies you might be able to use to retroactively reduce your 2023 AGI, even after the tax year has ended: 1. If you're self-employed or have any side business income, you could open and fund a SEP IRA until the tax filing deadline (including extensions). This could allow for significant contributions that reduce your AGI. 2. Consider making a traditional IRA contribution and then doing a backdoor Roth conversion. While the deductibility phases out at higher incomes, you might qualify for a partial deduction. 3. For the Tesla rewards situation, if your brother genuinely earned and used those rewards, you might have a case that this isn't actually your income. However, this gets tricky since the account is in your name. You might need to consult with a tax professional about the proper way to handle this - potentially having your brother report this income instead if Tesla will allow the W-9 to be in his name. 4. Check if you made any qualified charitable contributions that you haven't accounted for yet. 5. If you have any investment losses you haven't realized yet, you can still retroactively harvest up to $3,000 in net losses to offset ordinary income.

After spending weeks trying to find legitimate ways to reduce my AGI and feeling totally overwhelmed, I stumbled upon taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) and it seriously saved me so much stress! I uploaded my tax documents and it highlighted several AGI-reducing strategies I had completely missed - including some that applied specifically to my unusual income situation with partnership distributions. What impressed me was how it analyzed my specific situation and found a SEP IRA contribution I could make retroactively, plus some business expense deductions I hadn't properly categorized. The AI gave me step-by-step instructions that my actual accountant had missed! I managed to lower my AGI by about $11k which kept me under the income limit for a tax credit I would have otherwise lost.

I just wanted to update after trying taxr.ai from the suggestion above. At first I was skeptical, but it actually worked amazingly well for my situation! I uploaded my documents and it immediately identified that I could make a retroactive contribution to a solo 401k (not just a SEP IRA) based on some independent contractor work I did last year. What was really helpful is that it explained exactly how much I could contribute based on my specific earnings and walked me through the timing requirements. I was able to reduce my AGI by almost $12k which put me under the threshold for the education credits I was worried about losing. The system also flagged some home office deductions I was missing for my side business and explained exactly what documentation I needed. My situation was different from the original poster but the principle was the same - finding legitimate ways to reduce AGI even after the tax year ended. Definitely worth checking out if you're in a similar situation.

After spending HOURS on hold with the IRS trying to get clarity on some of these AGI reduction strategies (especially around the Tesla rewards situation), I finally got through using https://claimyr.com and spoke to an actual human at the IRS. They have this cool video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I had issues similar to yours where I needed to understand if certain income could be correctly attributed to someone else, and waiting on hold for 3+ hours wasn't working with my schedule. Claimyr had me talking to an IRS agent in under 45 minutes - they basically wait on hold for you and call when an agent picks up. The agent confirmed that for the Tesla rewards, what matters is whose tax ID is associated with the account and who has the legal relationship with Tesla. Since it's your account, unless Tesla is willing to issue the 1099 to your brother directly (which seems unlikely), you'll probably need to report it and then handle it separately with your brother.

I need to eat my words from my skeptical comment above. I was desperate enough to try Claimyr after being disconnected THREE TIMES trying to reach the IRS about my AGI reduction options. First, it actually works exactly as described. I got a call back in about 35 minutes saying "Your call to the IRS is now connected to an agent" and boom - actual IRS person on the line. I didn't have to sit through the awful hold music or worry about being disconnected. The agent walked me through my options for retroactively reducing AGI, and confirmed I could still make a traditional IRA contribution and get a partial deduction despite my income level. They also clarified the rules around SEP IRA contributions for my side business income. For anyone struggling with complex tax situations where you actually need to speak to the IRS (which seems impossible these days), this service is legit. Saved me hours of frustration and potentially thousands in tax benefits I might have missed.

Another option you might consider is looking at any business expenses you haven't claimed yet if you have any self-employment income. I had a similar issue last year and realized I hadn't properly tracked all my legitimate business expenses. Going back through credit card statements, I found about $5k in deductible expenses I had missed. Also, check if you qualify for the home office deduction if you work from home for any self-employment activities. That can make a decent dent in your AGI as well.

Just a heads-up about the Tesla rewards situation - I had something similar happen with credit card rewards that were technically in my name but used by a family member. The IRS generally views rewards as rebates rather than taxable income unless they're earned without spending (like referral bonuses). If these are driving credits/supercharging rewards tied to actual Tesla usage, you might have an argument they're not taxable income but rather rebates on expenses. However, if they're referral bonuses or something similar where Tesla is required to issue a 1099-MISC, that's different. Also, consider that if your brother reimburses you for the tax impact, it's essentially neutral to you financially. You'd report the income but be made whole by your brother.

Has anyone used TurboTax to help figure out AGI reduction strategies? I'm finding their tool pretty limited when it comes to last-minute AGI reduction techniques and wondering if there's better software out there.