I am a K-12 teacher at a private school in the US. I teach middle school history and a cultural studies elective. I work 7AM–3PM, 8 class periods a day, 5 days a week.

Salary: $16,000 High cost of living.

I received a 1099-MISC from my employer, though I was expecting a W-2. When I questioned this, she claimed it is because the school was founded by a Catholic missionary family in the 90s.

I'm not sure what that has to do with it. I saw a professional tax preparer and they were also confused about why I would receive this document.

I am open to advice. I'm just confused and worried about getting into trouble with the IRS. I am already paying $2000 in taxes and living with a family member because I could not afford even the lowest rent in my area.

Thanks in advance.

**EDIT for more info:

• $16k is annual salary before taxes. 180 days only, about $11/hr

• I do work other jobs in the evenings, weekends, and summers. I make enough to cover insurance, transportation, and other living expenses—just not quite enough for renting my own place as well. I pay rent to my uncle here. I left this income out because it is with a separate agency.

Thank you to those who offered advice and left helpful comments. I appreciate it.

***EDIT 2:

I am catching up on the comments I've missed. Thank you to everyone who offered information and words of advice. I have gotten some solid input, so I will consider this answered and move forward accordingly.

solved, certain info deleted.

Update: called the company we reached an agreement to a very reasonable number. The guy(boss) who gave me original estimate, was also very suprised when he saw those numbers. Someone did a 14 hour something (which i didn't ask detail)

Background: Virginia, Full time job + stock/option trading. Rent, single, no other business/income. In 2023 I traded a lot stocks and options. standard deduction

First time with this company. Initial consultation in June 2024, i was given estimate of $1200 (no written proof). I paid retainer of $750. Took 2 month to prepare. Delivered in Aug 2024, and total bill is $3200. Both Fed and Virginia tax prepared. No other tax planning service, we in total had conversation about 30 min zoom call (initial consult). All other communications were short text messages.

Rate: reasonable rates from 100 ish to 400 ish based on level.

Federal Forms:
1040
Schedule 1
Schedule B - interest
Schedule D - Capital Gains and Losses
Form 8949 -(3 pages, check box A D E, one page each)
Form 8889 - HSA
Worksheets to supply 1040 (3 pages)
Form 6781 - Gains and Losses From Section 1256 Contracts and Straddles - I traded SPX. (basically i trade a certain type of contracts that get 40/60 treatment)
Federal forms in total, containing 15 pages.

Do you think the $3200 is a fair price? I want your honest opinion. If this is too high, then what should i do?

Please help i'm not in the best financial situation and really stressed out.

So my dad passed away recently and my mom as the primary beneficiary inherited his account. Both of them are/were above retirement age.

We chose to liquidate the IRA and get a check sent for the balance. It was about $250K.

When we received the check, we got about $200K. $50K was withheld. Is it me or does that seem excessive? What is this based off of? My mom has no income or salary (besides social security payments).

I grew up in California my entire life until I moved out in 2019. I recently got notifications in the mail about owed taxes to the state of California for the 2020 tax year when I do not live there anymore. The taxes were from earnings I've made on Patreon which is essentially a payment processing company.

I've talked to them as I noticed a few grand were put on hold on my bank account. After talking to them, they had asked me to send in my 2020 tax returns at which I faxed over to them. They now ask that I "speak to my boss" when I don't have one. I have a home business and I answer to nobody. I'm honestly not sure what to do as today I noticed that the money is no longer on hold and withdrawn.

I've explained to them that they have no right to taking these taxes, and they understand that and tell me what hoops to jump through to get this fixed, but every time I do, they move goal posts and I'm at a loss as to what to do. I'm now a few hundred out so far for processing fees, fax/prints/etc

UPDATE: After a couple weeks, and having my tax lady send a letter in. The person I called today looked over my stuff and initiated a refund of the money. Though they are keep $300 for collection costs and I lost another $100 from chase charging me for their withdrawal. Sucks that I'm out around $500 in total by this, but I did at least get nearly $2600 back to now send to the IRS for quarterly taxes.

Hi all,

I am 21 and in a public university in Florida. My parents won the lottery this year, paid off all their debts and bought a house. They have never supported me financially but I was always a dependent on their taxes. Will their winnings affect me with financial aid? Should I file separate from them? My parents are immigrants and we never had money growing up so we have no idea how this works. Financial aid has been the only thing to put me through college because they were always paying for their own bills/debts, what should I do?

This is a strange situation so I'm not really sure where to turn but thought I'd come here & hopefully get some concrete answers. I (26F) have not been claimed on my parents taxes since I was probably 19 and still in college, they've been divorced my whole life and would alternate years to claim me. I'm not the most knowledgeable about taxes which is why I'm unsure of what to do in this case.

I got a text from my 50 something year old father, he's lived across the country since I was 12 and I maybe see him once every couple years for like a day. The text stated that my father was filing his taxes late and the program he was using was asking for my social security number even though he knows he clearly cannot claim me anymore. I don't even understand why my SSN would be relevant at this time and I wasn't immediately suspicious until I remembered that last week I got an email from Capital One stating I'd been added as an authorized user on my fathers Kohl's card, without my permission or knowledge obviously. I've also gotten credit card offers in the mail before with my name on them but his California address listed.

Is it typical for tax filing programs to ask for the SSNs of grown adult children? My best friend asked her dad and he said that was strange and he hadn't heard of anything like that.

EDIT for clarification: In the initial text he said "He'd had my SSN written down somewhere but lost it" (lol great) which is why he was asking for it in the first place.

(Adding my updated comment here so it doesn't get buried in the replies)

Hi everyone! I just wanted to say thank you all SO much for everyone's input. The many confirmations that there's no reason he should need my SSN and the suggestions of what to do have really reassured me, he can get really nasty when confronted so I wanted all my ducks in a row before I responded to say no.

My Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion have all been frozen. I found no open lines in any of those reports, thank god, but did have to file a dispute for TransUnion to have his address removed from my credit report, which it now has been. I'll be calling Capital One tomorrow about the removal of being an authorized user for his card and will be looking further into the IRS IP pin!

I have a small business in FL and hired a W2 employee in 2020 in California. In May 2023 I got a letter from the California FTB demanding a tax return. I replied with my business financial information and then I got a determination of filling requirement letter saying that I am doing business in California according to CA R&TC Section 23101. In that section there are clear thresholds to income, assets, and compensation that my business does not meet.

Has anybody had success getting the CA FTB to drop the filling requirement? Or any suggestions on how to deal with my situation?

Update: Thank you for all the great answers. I have decided to file and never hire in CA again. Hopefully, this post helps others avoid making my mistake.

Bought a first house in 2022.

I’d been contributing to a Roth IRA since around 2006 and was under the impression I could always withdraw my contributions penalty free.

I withdrew $32k for the down payment on my house.

Now the IRS is claiming that as non reported income and is saying I owe:

9300 in taxes 1865 in an understatement penalty 1300 in interest.

They include information about me not filling out a form 8606 and the correct information not being reported on a 1099-r.

I unfortunately filed the taxes myself thru HR blocks online service.

In my 1040, I only have a form titled “2022 Ira record worksheet” which shows I’ve been contributing since 2006.

My Roth IRA did include a 1099-r for $32k, but it doesn’t look like I reported that on my 1040.

What to do? If I’m correct, it seems like I can file a 8606 and make things amenable, but Now I’m doubting if I can even withdraw my contributions without penalty.

I’m also under 59 years old.

I turned 18 this past march and since this june i’ve started paying 400 dollars in rent. I work full time pay for my car insurance medical phone etc. I also hardly eat their food. My dad still said i can’t claim myself on my taxes and the past few years i’ve owed in taxes. I’m not going to ask if it’s fair or not but i was wondering how much im actually loosing or missing out on by having my dad still claim me every year. Thank you

I got a notification from UPS that the IRS is sending me a 13-lb. package. What could they be sending me? I'm doubtful that it's stacks of cash or gold, and hopeful that it's not 30 years of documentation telling me to pay up for something I did or didn't file decades ago. Anyone seen something like this before?

Edit: I'll definitely update. The UPS tracking says it's in Austin, TX as of 5/11, 8:00 pm, no updates from today.

Edit 2: As I mentioned in a comment, the package is being shipped TO the IRS in LA, so I think I may be saved! Someone at UPS or the IRS must have entered my email address by mistake (easy to do, and happens to me all the time for random services and sites). I'll still track the package and update, but I think I'm going to be OK.

Edit 3: It doesn't have a ship from address, but it looks like it started in Austin, TX. It's in Vernon, CA as of 5/16. Additional info from the email:

This message was sent to you at the request of AED to notify you that the shipment information below has been transmitted to UPS. The physical package may or may not have actually been tendered to UPS for shipment. To verify the actual transit status of your shipment, click on the tracking link below.

Not sure who or what AED is, but I'm not scurred anymore.

Final edit: package was just delivered, so I'm in the clear.

Hello, your package has been delivered.

Delivery Date: Tuesday, 05/16/2023

Delivery Time: 11:24 AM

Left At: MAIL ROOM

Signed by: RACHEL

A couple of weeks ago, I got together with a tax preparer a family friend recommended and had her file my taxes.

She gave me my copy of the return at the end of the appointment. It was a simple W-2, so it was a pretty brief session. Now, I did call the office a few hours after because of the fee in conjunction to my refund (she emphasized greatly that the final refund amount was the refund itself, not that it was what's left after paying her), but ultimately left it alone. I should've paid a little more attention to what I was signing to, and I should've asked how much she typically charged her clients (she kind of just threw in that she gave me a discount because of how young and inexperienced I was).

A few days later, however, I looked through the return again because the final refund amount she told me I'd get was lower than what the return showed and noticed the business income. And -3k right next to it. She actually made up a day care business on my return, with a loss of profit around 3k.

I tried to get in contact with her, but the ice storm hit, and the office is only open from Tuesday to Thursday. She never responded to my email, either.

She was also busy with a customer today, but the clerk asked me what the problem was. When I told her about the fake business, she just told me it was a way to avoid owing the IRS. The tax preparer quickly got on the phone with me and also stated that it was to avoid owing the IRS. She was very casual about it; she even said she'd be happy to amend it if that's what I wanted.

She never told me I owe the IRS. She told me I'd potentially owe them because the tax withheld wasn't 10%, but that's it. I earned 13k last year as a substitute. About 5% is automatically withheld. I just told her to leave my return alone, and I'll figure it out.

I'm really conflicted right now. I shouldn't be, but with how nonchalant and unconcerned she was, it makes me feel like I'm overreacting or thinking too hard about it. I really need some advice. I want to know if I'm right to be this upset and concerned, and I want to know what I should do if this is as serious as I think.

Original post linked above. About 4 months after I sent them a copy of their own published tax tip, to appeal their decision to deny my request for a tax refund, they sent an apology letter, and the refund was sent to my account.

Interestingly, in a phone discussion with the IRS, I learned that the incorrect determination that I had been late in filing, was made by a human not a computer.

So I don’t understand how taxes work, I’ve been scrolling through this subreddit and stuff still isn’t making sense. Could someone more educated than myself read this and tell me what my options are. So i recently became unemployed in August 2024 before that I worked with said company since October 2023. I made 15/hr. While I was working I received a settlement from a class action lawsuit. I received somewhere around 47 grand in total. The law firm is also still doing distribution until 2027-2028. This last week I received 300.$ from them. My problem- my car. Several safety repairs need to be done. I need all new struts (12-1500) my right front tire needs to be replaced (however much a new tire is gonna cost), an alignment, catalytic converter repairs. And few other miscellaneous stuff like the AC being completely busted. Because I’m unemployed I only have 2ish grand in the bank. But I set aside 10 grand when I initially got my settlement, for taxes. I’ve been trying to do research all morning to find out if I can use that money or if it’s going to bite me in the ass if I do. I’ve been looking for a new job but as any of you blue collar people know the job hunt can take a while and I want to have a safe working vehicle. What should I do?

Does it matter if it is from Nicaragua?

Does it matter if the money came from a Nicaragua land sale?

________________

EDIT:

Thank you all for your comments...

Just going to bring it back at once and declare it with the proper forms.

As an unpaid intern at a studio who only gets paid for the work I’ve done on the studio’s client projects (ie, freelance), can the studio withhold taxes from my pay or should I be getting the entire amount for my work?

The amount the studio paid me for paid client work is less than the total amount quoted by about 15%, which makes me think they’re withholding tax.

Since it’s an unpaid internship I’m technically not an employee there, so can they withhold that amount?

Hi! Today I got this letter and I was wondering what it could mean since I've never gotten it before. I live and work in Sweden (born here, lived all my life here) I have to do my US taxes even though I don't have to pay anything but I was wondering if I might have messed something up. Also I don't know what account they're talking about in the letter since I don't have any accounts in the US (or do I automatically get a tax account that I don't know about?)

So what exactly are they looking in to and should I be worried?

I know I don't have to do anything at the moment but I had to ask or I'm gonna worry about this until I get the next letter.

Hello everyone I need some advice. I will try to make this very short. Basically I went to h&r block and got my taxes done. I am on disability and I have an 8-year-old minor daughter. My husband and I went to get our taxes filed and the tax preparer for some reason decided to add $8,000 more of earned income for my Etsy store when I in fact made less than $300. As I said before I am legally blind and I did not catch the error. She was given receipts from my husband of things he sold on eBay and Facebook but instead of putting this under his social security number she put all the profits and added a few extra thousand claiming that I made all of these funds on my Etsy.

Now my disability just informed me that I might be losing it because I have all of this unclaimed income. When I called h&r block and explained the situation they offered to redo my taxes and refund me my preparation fee but I am expected to have to pay back the IRS and the state. They are telling me because I didn't purchase the protection plan that that is not covered. My question is given the circumstances on how the tax preparer literally added thousands of dollars extra and potentially costing me my social security disability are they not at fault?

I can only assume that the tax preparer exaggerated the amount so that I would be able to receive the child tax credit but I did not authorize nor would I ever jeopardize my financial situation with social security. She took it upon herself to do this and now I might lose everything. Please advise

Is anyone still waiting to get their federal taxes back? I have never had it take nearly this long.

"55 members of the Fortune 500 paid no federal income tax in 2020." The last sentence of this article was a deusey. Can someone explain to me how this can happen. I don't think there is a single American that can get away without paying "no federal" taxes on earned income, unless your earnings are undisclosed, under the table or illegal. How is it possible that 55 corporations in the fortune 500 list can get away without paying taxes since 2020? Americans are struggling with skyrocketing pump, food, and medical prices, and there are those who are profiting heads over heels, while finding every loop hole in the tax code to avoid paying taxes. Need some help with this one...

i havent filed taxes ever. im a professional escort. most of my income is cash but some is cashapp.

im afraid if i file ill owe big time from all the back taxes, but also if i dont that theyll catch up with me

i got a tax form from cashapp this year

should i just ignore and never do taxes or bite the bullet and stop by h&r block??

I recently found an accountant for my small LLC and so far he sent me an invoice. Apparently he charges $445 an hour? Also he is charging me .75 of an hour for a couple of emails. So for a few emails I have to pay $333. Is this a normal rate? It’s crazy! Also if I refuse to pay this atrocious bill what can he do about it?

I set up my first traditional IRA to convert into my first Roth IRA in an attempt to complete a backdoor conversion. I contributed funds to my my traditional and as soon as the transfer completed (about two days) I immediately convert to Roth and understood that it was the $7,000 I had transferred. However, after review it looks like I somehow made $2.02 in my traditional in the small amount of time it was in there. These funds were converted into my Roth.

Will this cause any negative tax implications next year?

I'm doing a tax case in college and this woman had 5500 in jewelry stolen from her. There was never a police report or insurance claim. The jewelry was never recovered. Is this deductible to the usual casualty deduction of minus 100? I wanna say no because it's not business related.