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If the school does not have a Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN), you are not eligible for the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC), even if the school is an "Eligible institution" on the Dept. of Education  Federal Student Aid website .  You are eligible for the less generous Lifetime Learning Credit (LLC). 

Hi Palms - forgot to add that the will specifically specifies the distribution of income and principle for my mother's support and any unused income would accumulate.  Then after her death, the trustees distributes all assets.  It is complicated so hope that helps.  Your help has been very useful.   Thank you!  

Just enter it once, in one place.  Actually you can just enter your total income as Other self employment income or as Cash or General income. You don't need to get a 1099NEC, 1099Misc or 1099K. Even if you did you can enter all your income as Cash.  Only the total goes to schedule C.  You should be entering the income from your own records.

I'm so glad I came across your posts.  I also thought it did not make sense that even legal fees paid directly to attorneys are taxable to taxpayers who never received that amount.  And TT instructions clearly state legal fees for employment discrimination are deductible.  I tried to follow your instructions, and was able to deduct the fees.  Although the line # for 2025 for attorney fees is different from the time of your post , I was able to locate it after a bit of struggle.   It definitely is very concerning when "experts" dispense wrong instructions.     Thank you!  Hope others benefit from your post.

If the full FTC was not used in 2024, regardless of the amount, Form 1116 needs to be filed to be able to carry forward the unused FTC, so you need to amend. However, if the FTC was $300 or less ($600 on a joint return ) the full amount should have been allowed by not filling Form 1116. 

The correct tax accounting depends on how you handled the LLC inventory. If you threw it out, the ending inventory is $0. You get a deduction for the loss. If it was transferred to the sole proprietorship, for the LLC, you must indicate it was withdrawn for personal purposes. The ending inventory for the LLC would still be $0 but no loss. On the SP you list the same amount as a purchase.  Other scenarios are possible, but we would need details of what you did with the LLC inventory 

Regarding TurboTax is giving an error if the amount of real estate taxes reported on Form 8829 line 11b is greater than $40,000.00. The IRS is saying to enter the actual amount of real estate taxes paid on Form 8829, line 11b (indirect expenses). There is no maximum limit for the business portion of real estate taxes deducted on Form 8829, even though the personal portion is subject to the $40,000 SALT cap.  Seems TurboTax needs to fix their issue.  The work around of keeping it at 40K then entering the excess on the 'excess' line seems to work but technically is not correct.