All Posts

What do you mean by TurboTax "calculating my tax rate at over 50%"? Is that the overall rate applied to all of your income, or the rate that it is applying to the added short-term capital gain? Where exactly do you see a 50% tax rate? Be specific - form numbers, line numbers, and exact amounts. Depending on your other income, you might be subject to Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT), which increases the total tax rate on investment income (though not to 50%). Is there an amount on Schedule 2 line 12? That is NIIT. You cannot just compare the total amount of tax before and after you add the short-term capital gain. Adding income to a tax return can have side effects besides the direct tax on the added income. The increase in income could reduce or eliminate various deductions or credits that are not related to the income that was added, but that have income-based limits or phase-outs. If you received Social Security benefits it could make more of your Social Security taxable. You have to compare your entire Form 1040 (not 1040-X) line by line before and after adding the short-term capital gain to see what else is changing besides the amount of capital gain. If there's a change in an amount that comes from another form or schedule, you have to look at that form or schedule to see what's happening.  

Did you already file your 2023 return?   Then it’s too late to change it.  If the bank rejects the deposit they will send it back to the IRS or state and then the IRS will mail a check to the address on your return.

You cannot get a loan from TurboTax at this time. TurboTax usually offers refund advances in January and February, but only after your tax return has been filed. They have not yet announced a refund advance policy for 2025 tax returns.  

The reason the Enter Payments You've Already Made screen only asks for  Payments 1, 2, & 3 is that TT will subtract those three payments from the total 2025 ES taxes it calculated to arrive at Payment 4, due Jan 15, 2026.   Withholding is generally considered being paid evenly throughout the year unless you tell the IRS otherwise on Form 2210, 2024 Form 2210.  IRS knows the exact date of when each quarterly ES payment was made.   When you wrote, "If a withholding is made on lets say 10/2/2025", did you actually mean "withholding", if so, enter that on the first screen under "Form W-4 and estimated taxes", Adjust How Much Tax You Pay and answer Yes.   If you meant to say ES taxes paid on 10/2/2025, then I would include that in Payment 3 for this purpose.  However, since the ES were not paid evenly throughout the year before the due date, you will probably be charged an underpayment penalty for 2025, unless you use the annualize method to calculate your penalties.    

Hi Mike, Please see below and tell me if I am putting the correct number in here based on the information from my previous post. This is before I get to the screen asking about the section 179 sale.      Enter Box 20 Info: A - Investment Income                                                                 2. AJ - Excess business loss limitation                                77,757. L - Sale of property with section 179 deduction            1,538.   Thanks Mike I look forward to your input.

What you are taking about is a rollover, of funds from one Roth IRA account to another.  You want to do this by direct transfer -- open the new account and give them the account info of the old account and have the two plans transfer the money directly.      Rollovers and contributions are separate, and you can do unlimited rollovers without affecting your annual contribution limit.     However, if you withdraw the money and have it in your own hands, things get a bit more complicated.  You have to deposit the money in the new plan within 60 days, and you have to tell the new plan it is a rollover.  This type of indirect rollover is allowed once per calendar year.  But if you fail to tell the new plan that the money is from a rollover, then the withdrawal will be taxable and the deposit to the new plan will count as a contribution, which will reduce or even exceed your annual limit.  That's why it is best to do direct transfers when rolling over money from one plan to another.  

IDENTITY PIN     If you have a 6 digit PIN issued to you by the IRS you need to enter it in order to e-file.  Go to Federal>Other Tax Situations>Other Return Info>Identity Protection PIN and enter the six-digit PIN.       https://www.irs.gov/identity-theft-fraud-scams/retrieve-your-ip-pin