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Join us right here on January 28th any time between 9:00am - 5:00pm Pacific Time for a special co-branding of our Ask the Experts event series.  In partnership with MetLife Legal Plans, we'll be answering any of your tax questions, such as life changes, employee stocks, investments, maximizing deductions & credits, lowering taxable income, as well as how these situations may impact your tax situation.  Plus, we’ll talk about the new tax law changes for tax year 2025.    RSVP by clicking the “Yes” button on the right, then join us in the TurboTax Community forums to get live answers from Tax and Financial Experts.  As a MetLife Legal Plans member, we’ve dedicated this day to help provide the confidence you need to file your taxes. Ask unlimited questions like:    What does my marital status change (e.g divorce, marriage) mean for my taxes?   Is it better to file married filing jointly or separately? What are the tax implications of changing jobs? I’m confused about my taxes and my investments like employee stocks, RSU / ESPPs How do I report my side gig income?   Is it better to itemize deductions or take the standard deduction?   What are the latest tax law changes?   How do I lower my taxable income?   How The Day will work:   On the day of the event, this page will be refreshed with a link to access the Special Event Forum. Tax and finance experts will be online and ready to tackle your tough questions and engage in real-time conversation with you.  Just sign in to the TurboTax Community, and select the teal blue ‘Ask a Question’ button at the top of our special event forum to start a conversation! Note: If it is after 9 am Pacific Time on January 28th, and you don't see the event link yet, just refresh this page and it will appear.    Millions of customers come to the TurboTax Community every month—we hope that you’ll join us for this special event on January 28th.   REMINDER — TurboTax products are included with your MetLife Legal Plans benefits!  As a MetLife Legal Plans member, you can:    Prepare and file one federal and one state tax return with any TurboTax do-it-yourself product at no additional cost Work with a dedicated TurboTax expert to prepare and file your taxes at a discount Access the TurboTax refund calculator, tax bracket calculator, planning checklists and other helpful tips To access your MetLife Legal Plans benefits, visit https://login.legalplans.com/register to log in or create an account.  Then under ‘Debt Matters,’ select ‘Tax Preparation & Filing’ to access your benefits. Filing with TurboTax is included with your Legal Plan — Complete and file at no additional cost!

Line 26was an amount more then allowed in 2022 when Intuit turbotax so now I received bill to be paid this November 26th.  I am noy sure in 2 years of filing a senior with fix income has to pay $388 or have daily penalties.   

I was awarded a judgement against a contracting company for around $10,000 in 2023. The company abandoned my home repairs after they were paid that amount. I took them to court and won a judgment for the $10,000. The next step was to hire a collection firm to collect the debt. I have paid them nearly $1000 so far. They have sent discoveries and motion to compels and nothing is getting done. The collection firm wants more money to continue to collect.    I wonder if I can even write this debt off or not on my personal taxes. If I can, what needs to be done to prove to the IRS that I have done all I can do to get the money back?

Through several sources I learned that you can claim the Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit if your tax liability is less than $2,000, but the amount of the credit is limited to the amount of taxes you actually owe.  The credit is nonrefundable, meaning it can reduce your tax bill to zero, but you cannot receive any excess amount back as a refund. Also, any unused credit for this program cannot be carried forward to future tax years, unlike the Residential Clean Energy Credit for things like solar panels.    Key Points Credit Limit: The credit has annual limits (e.g., up to $2,000 for heat pumps, or $1,200 for other improvements, with an overall annual maximum of $3,200). Tax Liability: The amount you can claim is capped by your total tax liability for the year (the amount of taxes you owe before applying the credit, as shown on your Form 1040). No Carry-Forward: If your potential credit amount (e.g., $2,000) is more than the taxes you owe (e.g., $1,500), you can only use $1,500 of the credit, and the remaining $500 is lost.  Therefore, if you anticipate a low tax liability for the year you make the improvements, you might want to adjust your tax withholdings during the year to ensure you have enough tax liability to offset with the credit.    I went into TT and tested it out and it actually allowed me to take the $2K credit even if I was getting a refund. Also, in the help section it states, "1) Eligible homeowners can claim both residential energy credits when they file their federal income tax return. Because these are credits, not deductions, they increase a taxpayer's refund or reduce the tax he or she owes; and 2) Note: Keep in mind, these are not refundable credits, which means you can take the credit up to the tax owed. There is no refund of any credit amount left over."    These two sentences seem to contradict themselves.   Please clarify for me.