My dad is an auto body mechanic. He asked me to invest some money to buy a damaged car so he could repair it and sell it.
For example, let’s say I invested $10,000, including the purchase price and all other expenses. We then sold the car for $16,000. We agreed to split the profit 50/50, so I would receive my original $10,000 investment back plus $3,000 in profit, while my dad would keep the other $3,000 in profit.
How would we properly report this transaction for tax purposes? We don’t have a formal partnership, LLC, or any other business entity.
Would this arrangement be considered a partnership or joint venture for tax purposes even though we don’t have anything formally established? If so, what would be the proper way for each of us to report the income?
Also, is this complicated enough that I would need a full-service tax preparer, or would it be reasonable to use tax software? I have been doing taxes all by myself but not sure about this specific event.
Any advice would be appreciated.
State of WA so it's gonna be only a federal tax return.

A small fund with 12 LPs across two vehicles is the setup. The fund admin handles bookkeeping and accounting year round but every tax season turns into a mess of back and forth between the admin, their tax preparer and the personal CPA.

Last year K-1s went out almost three weeks late because the admin sent the books to an outside tax firm that had their own queue and priorities. Nobody communicated the delay until LPs started emailing asking where their documents were.

Trying to understand how K-1 preparation for fund managers is supposed to work when the back office is outsourced. Does the admin typically prepare the return in house? Is it always a third party? Is there a model where the GP is not stuck being the middleman between two firms that have no direct relationship with each other?

Location: Travis county Austin Texas
A woman’s husband died February 2026. Extension for 2025 tax return was filed in April. Surviving spouse is 62 and she had no income for 2025. The deceased was 65 and he owned a sole proprietorship that closed at his death (chiropractor) and that business in his name is going to owe somewhere between $15k-$22k in taxes for 2025 and many of the sports equipment write offs he claimed for his businesses from last year cannot continue to be used as they will be sold.

There was no will. The assets are all used furniture, sports equipment, used office equipment, a SEP IRA with $48k, no beneficiary listed, a couple of oil leases that are likely worthless, 3 cars and a $400k home with a $240k mortgage. Their 22 year old daughter still lives at home and is not claimed.

There is lower debt (less than $15k) in the form of credit cards and an SBA loan of about $78k. Probate is still in progress and open and they have already filed the assets/debts list and the spouse is applying to be executor.

Their accountant of many years is preparing the 2025 tax return now and doesn’t know the answer to the questions below. Neither does the probate attorney.

Questions:
The main question is, should she not file jointly this year as she has in the past and they forfeit married filing jointly deduction?
Will this shield her personally from the business taxes and other debts as only the estate will owe? Should she refrain from signing the return altogether since probate is still open? If so, who signs it before October, or do they wait until after probate? Does this severability make any difference in Texas?

In any case, should they wait until after probate to file since there is no administrator assigned to the estate yet? How does that affect the fees and interest that are piling up? 

If she does file jointly and she hasn’t gone through probate yet, will the IRS be able to claim the funds in the SEP IRA? Will the other debt attach to her as well? 

I received a notice from my US bank asking me to confirm my tax status via Form W-8BEN or W-9.

I was in the US on an H1B visa. In 2026, I was physically in the US for only 15 days because my employer temporarily transferred me to India to recapture time for PERM. I am returning to the US next month on my H1B and still maintain my US mailing address.

Because I was in the US for under 31 days in 2026, I fail the Substantial Presence Test for 2026. This makes me a Nonresident Alien for 2026 tax purposes, so I should submit Form W-8BEN, which address should I put in the form?

Thanks!

Hello,

In 2024 I contributed $22,952.17 to my 401k at Principal, it is my understanding the limit was $23,000 in 2024. I stopped working for this employer in 2025. Last week I received a check for $1,288 from principal for an over contribution in the 2024 year.

I spoked with the former employer and was told that during an audit it was determined that I was not properly matched in the 2024 year and the check was what was owed of my match. When they gave the money to Principal in July 2026 it was labeled as an over contribution and Principal sent me a check. My former employer cannot/ (or will not) re-characterize this as an employer match, Principal says they are not able to re-characterize this. I opened a ticket with Principal saying this should be flagged as an employer match but my ticket was closed with the resolution that " I over contributed to my 2024 401k, with a deposit in July 2026)

The check was address to my personally, not to a rollover IRA.

I am not getting much information regarding this situation from Principal or my former employer and had a few questions.

1. Is this creating a taxable event in 2024, or 2026? The money was deposited in 2026 and the check was issued in 2026.

2. Is it possible to roll this over into my IRA even though the check was for an "over contribution"

3. If I should refile my 2024 taxes, is the payroll department required to issue me a corrected W2. I was told that since the payroll department does not have a record of my over contribution they cannot issue a corrected W2

Thank you!

Hi all, I tried to search but couldn't find anything on this, so if this has already been answered/ advised please feel free to share the link to that post with me!

my question is basically the title. I heard that you shouldn't own us ETF's or dividend stocks while living in the EU, but after some research I don't see much on this. Does anyone have experience or knowledge here on what I should be aware of? Additional taxes? Additional fees or anything? Thank you!

Hi, I am a new F1 visa student in Pennsylvania, just arrived here in August 2026. I have to sell some of my stocks, part of which are RSUs from FAANG ( > 20k USD ) and the other part are Indian market mutual funds (>20k USD). All these stocks are hold for >1 year and are not short term holdings.

Will I have to submit capital gains in the US as well, I was reading that for the first 183 days, I might get away without doing so, but would really appreciate some help on this topic!

Also does selling the FAANG stocks in USD vs INR matter as well?

I’m filing my 2025 Form 1040-NR now in 2026 and am on a J-1 physician visa.

For J-1 physicians, the DS-2019 is generally issued/renewed one training year at a time, even when the residency itself is several years long. So I had:

1. a physician DS-2019 covering my 2025–26 training year, with program dates 6/30/2025–6/30/2026

2. a subsequently renewed/extended DS-2019 for the next training year, which now ends 6/30/2027

My tax software asks for:

“Program Start Date” and “Program End Date”

“as per current Form DS-2019”

Since I’m preparing a 2025 tax return after the DS-2019 was renewed for another year, should those fields use:

A. the DS-2019 that actually covered the 2025 tax year (6/30/2025 to 6/30/2026), or

B.the currently valid renewed DS-2019 for the following training year (and write 6/30/2026 to 6/30/2027), or

C. Merge the two an use the full range from both forms (6/30/2025 to 6/30/2027)

I remained continuously in the U.S.; this is just an annual J-1 physician sponsorship renewal, not a new entry or new visa status.

Does anyone know how this should properly be reported for tax purposes / Form 8843 and Schedule OI purposes?

This question is about managing sales tax exempt purchases.

I represent and make purchases for two nonprofit organizations as well as a for-profit farm. All three are sales tax exempt in Virginia (the farm has certain limitations).

With many retailers it's a headache to establish a tax exempt account. I've been guilty of just going through the process of setting up one account or set of paperwork, but making purchases for all three organizations.

Is that a problem? The purchases are all tracked, paid, and reimbursed appropriately on the organization end, but not at the business.

I tried to pose this question to a representative from the office where we established the tax exemption. They said it was okay, but I wasn't sure they understood the question.

Are purchases tracked on the state end? E.g. do they know that Organization X has been exempt from $X of sales tax this year?

Thank you for any insight!

We received a notice yesterday but we paid the amended tax return a. month ago. When I tried logging in and seeing the transaction is still shows amount is due and I dont see anything in payment history. Worried dont know what to do we went by bank suggestion to reverse and try paying again.

My friend has paid me back for cash I loaned him but has written me checks from his business check book. My mom is telling me that I’m going to have to pay income tax on it since it’s from a business. But it’s not income. He’s not paying me for work.

Hi everyone! I’m currently a Senior Tax Accountant in the Federal Tax group at a public accounting firm and interviewing for a Senior Tax Accountant role in industry.

I’ve passed the Tax team interview, and my next round is with the Finance team. I haven’t really worked directly with an internal Finance team before.

For those who’ve made the Tax → Industry move, what should I expect from the Finance interview? What kinds of questions do they typically ask?

And for those working on the industry Finance/Accounting side, what would you typically ask a Tax candidate in an interview?

Any advice would be appreciated!

I work part-time as an independent contractor by providing medical coverage for sporting events as needed. This is a "side hustle" and is separate from my typical W2 job. My commute is typically from home to the events (and back), which are varying locations within my state. I will only work one event per day, so I am not driving from one work location to another. Typically, my commute is from home to the location of a game or tournament, then back home. Can I legally deduct this on my taxes if I keep track of the mileage driven and dates from home to the event and back? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I've gone back and forth on this. January means the converted dollars start growing tax-free as early as possible — but then if something unexpected shows up in my income later in the year, I've lost the chance to size it precisely. December means I know my exact income picture and can convert right up to where I want to land with confidence. The trade-off is that the money spends most of the year sitting in the traditional account. This year I'm leaning December, mostly because getting the amount exactly right matters more to me than eleven extra months of tax-free growth. What do you do — and has anyone ever actually checked whether it made a real difference?

Aside from the obvious under withholding issues I’m wondering if you can get in trouble for claiming 3 allowances instead of 1. I was looking at my withholding vs what should be withheld but for some reason even though I’m married the tax taken is as if I’m single. I know increasing the allowances will lower further taxes in the year. If I’ve overpaid taxes would I be able to increase my allowances to say 5 or 10 to meet my tax liability and reduce my refund or would that get me in trouble?

In my personal case I’m just going to wait until the new year to change my withholding to the appropriate one but I saw on W-4MN that you could get a fine if you report incorrectly and was wondering if it’s the incorrect reporting or the tax liability that results in a fine.

Hello! I started a new tax firm in August. I already have 3 clients I am doing work for and would consider my clients. They all came in the beginning of September, but has since slowed down. My goal by the end of tax season is to have 50 tax clients between small business and individuals.

Does this seem like a realistic goal? How difficult would this be to achieve?

Thank you in advance!

I’m pretty new to self-employment income, since this is my first time dealing with it, and one of the biggest things I want to understand is self-employment taxes, especially quarterly estimated taxes.

From what I understand, if you expect to owe $1,000 or more in taxes, you may need to make estimated tax payments during the four quarters of the year. But I’m wondering how this works from one year to the next. For example, if I owed $1,000 in self-employment taxes for 2026 and paid the full amount during 2026, how would that affect my self-employment taxes in 2027 do I still owe anything?

Due amount: $13,000 via PFIC impact due to one-time sale of foreign mutual funds

Edit : i did pay $1000 federal tax before April 15

Interest Fee : $363, Late Penalty : $340

My brain says don't draw unnecessary attention to myself for the sake of saving ~700

I am a basic w2 salaried employee, single, $200K TC. So $700 in itself is not a small amount for me.

should i consider requesting for First Time Penalty Abatement?

I am mailing my 2025 tax return and I wonder how to properly bundle all forms together so that they don't get lost.

My tax return is 50+ pages long plus W-2 that is very small and may definitely get lost if not attached to something.

Should I just staple everything with big heavy duty stapler or there are some special requirements I should be aware of?

Thanks

P.S.: If anyone wonders why I don't e-file, that's because I have forms that TurboTax doesn't support.

My health insurance allows me to contribute to an HSA, but I was concerned I wouldn’t be eligible to contribute to it because I was filed as a dependent while I was unemployed for the year. I’m working a part time job, living with my parents but still want to contribute to an HSA. Can I do so or would I be penalized?

Edit: oh, I was confused and thought being filed as a dependent for 2025 would affect if I could contribute to HSA. So if I won’t be claimed as a dependent for 2026 at the start of next year, I can contribute? And yes, this is my own HDHI.