vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
"You can always ask. The answer is likely to be ""no"" -- the company is probably not set up to be able to tweak that number  on a case by case basis. I'm not sure whether there are regulations which might kick in, as well; these plans are regulated to prevent abuse and that tends to make doing anything unusual difficult. Find another tax-deferred/tax-advantaged investment and route the money there?"
I'm not a huge fan of tax-advantaged retirement accounts anyway, so I wouldn't fault you for not contributing even if you weren't likely to develop a disability. Do you have disability insurance?  I hope so.  If you already have the disease then you may not be able to get it now if you don't have it already because they may not cover existing conditions.  If not, try to get it however you can. You may be able to withdraw the money without much problem if you can prove it's a permanent disability.  (Information here.) Do you have 401(k) matching from your employer?  If that match is vested in a reasonable period of time, then even with the penalties you'll end up ahead. Beyond that (this wasn't part of your question but I'm just trying to help) I'd think about what kind of work you can do after you can't work at your current job.  You have the luxury of an early warning, so plan for it. Also, check out National Industries for the Blind.  Our Lions Club sells some of the Skilcraft products (brooms) as fundraisers and they're quality products.
"I had been pondering this recently myself too.  This question motivated me to do a little research.  It appears that what happens is that (take a deep breath) the capital gain does push you into the next tax bracket, but the capital gain is always interpreted as the ""last"" income you received, so that if your non-capital-gains income is less than the threshold, it will all be taxed in the lower bracket, and only your capital gain will be taxed in the higher bracket (but it will be taxed at the capital-gains rate of that higher bracket). In short, a capital gain can only push capital gains into higher capital-gains tax brackets; it cannot push ordinary income into higher ordinary-income tax brackets.  In addition, the amount of the capital gain is taxed in a marginal fashion, such that any portion of the gain that will ""fit"" into a lower bracket will be taxed at a lower level, with only the topmost portion of any gain being taxed at the top rate. This site is one claiming this: Will capital gain or dividend income push my other income into a higher tax bracket? No, the tax rates apply first to your “ordinary income” (income from sources other than long-term capital gains or qualifying dividends) so these items that are taxed at special rates won’t push your other income into a higher tax bracket. If my ordinary income puts me in the 15% tax bracket, can I receive an unlimited amount of long-term capital gain at the 0% rate? No, the 0% rate applies only to the amount of long-term capital gain and dividend income needed to “fill up” the 15% tax bracket. For example, if your ordinary income is $4,000 below the figure that would put you in the 25% bracket and you have a $10,000 long-term capital gain, you’ll pay 0% on $4,000 of your capital gain and 15% on the rest. There are several Bogleheads forum threads (here, here, here and here) that also touch on the same issue. The last of those links to the IRS capital gains worksheet.  I traced through the logic and I believe it confirms this.  Here's how it works: (In conclusion, we now know Mitt Romney's secret.)"
"If you use ""a room or other separately identifiable space"" within your apartment exclusively for your business, then you might be able to recoup a fraction of your rent for that. Check the rules for home office at the IRS and adopt a consistent and well-documented approach. (I would pay your full rent out of your personal account, and then do an ""expense report"" for the portion that's legitimately business related, but that's not a unique approach.) Other than that, I agree with the answer by litteadv - You cannot reduce your tax by the full amount of your rent just by having the S Corp pay, and trying to do so is probably playing with fire.  Generally speaking, don't comingle business and personal expenses like that."
If you have multiple accounts, you have to empty them all before you can deduct any losses. Your loss is not a capital loss, its a deduction. It is calculated based on the total amount you have withdrawn from all your Roth IRA's, minus the total basis. It will be subject to the 2% AGI treshhold (i.e.: if your AGI is > 100K, none of it is deductible, and you have to itemize to get it). Bottom line - think twice. Summarizing the discussion in comments: If you have a very low AGI, I would guess that your tax liability is pretty low as well. Even if you deduct the whole $2K, and all of it is above the other deductions you have (which in turn is above the standard deduction of almost $6K), you save say $300 if you're in 15% tax bracket. That's the most savings you have. However I'm assuming something here: I'm assuming that you're itemizing your deductions already and they're above the standard deduction. This is very unlikely, with such a low income. You don't have state taxes to deduct, you probably don't spend a lot to deduct sales taxes, and I would argue that with the low AGI you probably don't own property, and if you do - you don't have a mortgage with a significant interest on it. You can be in 15% bracket with AGI between (roughly) $8K and $35K, i.e.: you cannot deduct between $160 and $750 of the $2K, so it's already less than the maximum $300. If your AGI is $8K, the deduction doesn't matter, EIC might cover all of your taxes anyway. If your AGI is $30K, you can deduct only $1400, so if you're in the 15% bracket - you saved $210. That, again, assuming it's above your other deductions, which in turn are already above the standard deduction. Highly unlikely. As I said in the comments - I do not think you can realistically save on taxes because of this loss in such a manner.
"If you sell an asset for more than you paid for it, the excess amount realized is called a capital gain and is generally considered a form of income for tax purposes. Generally, one pays income tax on realized capital gains, unless the sale is exempt—such as the sale of one's principal residence. Capital gains tax can also be avoided or deferred by holding assets in a tax-advantaged investment account like a TFSA or RRSP. When taxable, the effective income tax rate on capital gains income is half the normal rate due to the capital gains inclusion rate. Capital gains income is generally not considered to be employment, ""earned"", or ""working"" income. However, individuals who, say, trade stocks frequently and earn a substantial portion of their income that way may have their gains considered employment income and subject to regular income tax instead of the better rate. I suggest you contact Service Canada and ask them about the impact of a one-time sale of personal property that would result in a realized capital gain. While you would owe income tax on the capital gain, it might not have any impact on your disability benefits, because it would not be earned or employment income. You should also check with your private insurer; they may also consider the sale a capital gain and not employment income, however, only they would be able to tell you for sure whether it would have any possible effect on your benefits."
"You should really be talking to a tax adviser (EA/CPA licensed in your State) about taxes and to a lawyer about the liability protection. You won't find answers from neither of theses here. Besides the liability protection, how do these 2 options affect taxes? There's no liability protection difference between the two (talk to a lawyer to verify) since you'll be cosigning them personally either way. In the first case (loan to the LLC) - everything goes on the 1065 and you get the bottom line on K-1 which transfers to you own tax return. In the second case the loan interest is your personal investment expense (Schedule A deduction) while the loan proceeds you moved to the LLC add to your basis. I'd suggest getting the loan directly in the LLC name, if you can. However, the Lawyers seem to agree that this would void the mortgage   because of the ""Due on Sale"" clause in mortgage loans. ""Due on sale"" may or may not be invoked, but that's a risk you'd be taking, yes. LLC is a separate legal entity (as opposed to a living trust, to which your second quote seems to be referring), so it is definitely a possibility for a lender to call on the loan if you re-title it."
You can call what you're asking about a 'wealth tax', or 'capital tax'.  These are taxes not based on income you earned in a year, but some measure of how much you own. Some countries (Italy I believe is a prime example) tax ownership of foreign land. Some countries tax amounts owned by corporations [Canada did this until ~5-10 years ago depending on province]. Some countries strictly tax your wealth above a certain level (Switzerland, as has been mentioned, does this).  One form of what you are referring to that does exist in the US is the 'Estate Tax'. This is a tax on the amount of wealth that a person owns, at the time they die. The threshold for when this tax applies has been very volatile over the last 20 years, but it is generally in the multi-millions, and I believe sits somewhere around $5M. If these taxes start to crop up more and more (and I believe they will), don't be shocked at the initial 'sticker price'. Theoretically a wealth tax could replace some of the current income tax regime in many countries without creating a strict increased tax burden on their people. ie: if you owe $10k in income tax this year, but a $2k capital tax is instituted next year, then you are still in the same position as long as your income tax is reduced to $8k.  Whether these taxes are effective/preferable or not is really a question of economics, not personal finance, so I will not belabour that point. Note: if the money you have saved earns money (interest, or dividends, or maybe rent from a condo you own), then those earnings are typically taxed alongside your wage income. Any 'wealth/capital tax' as I've described it above would be in addition to income tax on investment earnings.
I don't know if I would go so far as to hire an accountant. None of those things you listed really complicates your taxes all that much. If you were self-employed, started a business, got a big inheritance, or are claiming unusually large deductions, etc. then maybe. The only thing new from your post seems to be the house and a raise. The 3rd kid doesn't substantially change things on your taxes from the 2nd. I'd suggest just using tax preparation software, or if you are especially nervous a tax-preparation service. An accountant just seems like overkill for an individual.
"Payment gateways such as Square do not normally withhold tax. It is up to you to pay the appropriate tax at tax time. That having been said, Square does report your payments to the IRS on a form 1099-K if your payments are large enough. According to Square, you'll get a 1099-K from them if your total payments for the year add up to $20,000 AND more than 200 transactions.  Whether or not they report on a 1099-K, you are required to pay the appropriate taxes on your income.  So now the question becomes, ""Do I have to pay income tax on the proceeds from my garage sale?"" And the answer to that question is usually not. When you sell something that you previously purchased, if you sell it for more than you paid for it, you have a capital gain and need to pay tax on that. However, generally you sell things in a garage sale at a loss, meaning that there is no tax due.  If you make more than $20,000 at your garage sale and the IRS gets a 1099-K, the IRS might be curious as to how you did that with no capital gain. So if you sell any big ticket items (a bulldozer, for example), you should keep a record of what you paid for it, so you can show the loss to the IRS in the event of an audit."
The penalty is 10% regardless of the tax. If your marginal rate is so low, I'd consider converting some to Roth each year, and not touching it for tuition.
You should talk to a tax professional in your area.  It seems like you should start filing your returns.  In the US there are certain income thresholds that need to be attained before a return is required, though it's often thought of as best practice to file anyway.  Also in the US there are programs designed to encourage delinquent filers to begin filing again, which may include penalty/fee reduction for voluntarily filing.  Somehow I suspect Canada has similar programs. If you stand to inherit a sizable amount of money it seems that you should have a history of tax returns in order to minimize the number of questions that are asked should the money come your way. I'd talk to a tax person before consulting an attorney.  From the tone of your question the Canadian tax authority hasn't initiated anything against you.  You just want to understand the best course of action regarding your tax situation.
Yes, you've summarized it well. You may be able to depreciate your computer, expense some software licenses and may be home office if you qualify, but at this scale of earning - it will probably not cover for the loss of the money you need to pay for the additional SE tax (the employer part of the FICA taxes for W2 employees) and benefits (subsidized health insurance, bonuses you get from your employer, insurances, etc). Don't forget the additional expense of business licenses, liability insurances etc. While relatively small amounts and deductible - still money out of your pocket. That said... Good luck earning $96K on ODesk.
Assuming you have registered your activities as partnership and receiving this money as Individual, you need to show this under Schedule OS, 1d [other income]. this will be under the ITR-2 [tab CG-OS] XLS tax preparation utility given by Tax Department. The XLS can be found at https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/portal/individual_huf.do If the funds you are receiving are large [more than say Rs 500,000] then suggest you incorporate a partnership firm or company, there are quite a few exceptions you can claim lowering you tax outgo.  The fact that you are transferring funds to your partners can be an issue incase you get audited. You would need to have sufficient evidence to show that the money paid was for services rendered directly and not your income. It would be easier if you create a partnership or have the client directly pay to them. Again if the sum is small its fine, as the sum becomes large, it would get noticed by the tax authorities.
Yes, they're often a beneficial choice because it means you are earning the interest on the money instead of the government. You won't necessarily pay taxes on it, you have many options once you reach the point of wanting to do something with the money. Many people accumulate the wealth and then pass it down to subsequent generations without paying tax, which is perfectly legal if done right. Others make donations to charity.  Those are just a couple examples, but the point is that you accumulated the wealth over a long period of time and bought yourself time to decide what to do with it. Edit: No, if the investor decides to cash the money out all at once at the end, it would not be equivalent. Assuming you had $1,000 to put in an account and could get a 5% return on your money and you were in the 25% tax rate, the tax-free account ends up with more in the end (mostly by virtue of the compounding being tax-free):
"I transfer all their funds to my bank account Are they paying tax on that transfer?  Gifts under $14,000 are excluded from taxation in the US, but they're going going to have a hard time arguing that it is a gift (since they expect it back).  The taxes are almost certainly going to exceed the amount you can make from your investments in the short term, and if they aren't paid then your ""clients"" are going to be in hot water with the IRS. You need to have something set up that establishes you as merely managing the funds, and not receiving them personally as a transfer.  The other answers have good suggestions."
You might need to check yes... but I would check out New York's nonresident income tax requirements... My guess is yes if you meet the requirements, but I am not an expert nor do I work in the accounting or legal field. Check out New York's nonresident tax page explaination
As per Indian tax laws; income, expense, gain and loss constitute the basic pillars of every individual’s economic life. There are very few cases under which this new 'income' is non taxable. Based on the circumstances, you might have to pay capital gains tax.
As far as accounting  goes, if you speak with a CPA, you may be able to reduce the business tax liability.  So... the company buys the truck, deducts it, and the adjusted gross income drops, so he'd pay less tax.  Or something.  You said anything helps, hope you meant it!
"Short answer: Yes. For Federal income tax purposes, you are taxed on your total income, adding up positives and negatives. If business A made, say, $100,000 while business B lost $20,000, then your total income is $80,000, and that's what you'll be taxed on. As @littleadv says, of course any business losses you claim must qualify as business losses under IRS rules. And yes, there are special rules about losses that the IRS considers ""passive"". If you have wage income in addition to business income, business losses don't offset wage income for social security and medicare tax purposes. You can't get a refund of the social security tax deducted from your paycheck. I don't know if this is relevant to you, but: If you have businesses in different states, each is taxed by that state. For example I have two tiny side businesses, one in Michigan and one in Ohio. Last year the Michigan business made money while the Ohio business lost money. So my federal income was Michigan minus Ohio. My Ohio income was negative so I owed no Ohio income tax. But I couldn't subtract my Ohio losses from my Michigan income for Michigan income tax purposes. Thus, having, say, $10,000 income in Michigan and $10,000 in Ohio would result in lower taxes than $30,000 income in Michigan and a $10,000 loss in Ohio, even though the total income in both cases is the same. And this would be true even if the tax rates in both states were identical."
For the 1st part of your question. Yes the other taxes still apply. You are only deferring your income tax, not the other taxes. Read the 3rd paragraph: http://www.irs.gov/Retirement-Plans/Plan-Sponsor/401(k)-Resource-Guide-Plan-Sponsors-401(k)-Plan-Overview
Normally when thinking about whether it's worth it to start a small business, the biggest factor is your time. There's a big difference between spending 10 hours to make a profit of $50 vs spending 1 hour to make a profit of $50. Your scenario is quite different though, in that you suggest your wife is considering teaching for free instead of accepting payment. In this case the time factor almost goes away, since if you accept payment there is very little extra time involved for depositing checks, tracking income, and filling out some extra forms come tax time. From a financial point of view there is no reason to turn down the money if people are willing to pay it. There may be other reasons to prefer doing it for free, but taxes, Social Security payments, and the small extra effort to run the business wouldn't normally be among those reasons. I don't know what your reasons for possibly preferring to do it for free are, but an alternative option to consider is to donate all of her income to charity.
"That works for something like consulting where you are advising the client on specific things but for accounting jobs like Tax and Audit work which have been very commoditized  it's expected to only bill the client for ""productive hours"" because the project only has a set budget and we need to get the work done. My work hours is seen as a cost to my team because my project needs to make money which the partner/manager/senior are all responsible for keeping man hours down. (Again that's hours chargeable to the client wasted hours in the day don't count).  And then on top of that we need to hit a certain number of chargeable client hours per week.    It's an annoying balance"
You're partially correct, at least in my understanding of this. Yes, the tax credit can be carried forward to future years, but since it is non-refundable it will reduce your tax liability solely. Depending on your tax situation this may result in a bigger refund or it may not. In an example, If you've had $3K withheld from your paycheck toward your income tax and this is also an accurate reflection if your tax liability then taking the NRTC would reduce your tax liability enabling you to be eligible for a refund (due to having already pre-paid more tax than you're liable for).
No, you can't. The limits are contribution limits, not limits on the value of the investment.  If you contributed $5,500 for 2015, you are done contributing for that tax year. You are free to contribute another $5,500 for 2016.
I don't think so in your case. Unless the account generates so much interest income that it became reportable (I don't know the exact limit, but I think it's in the hundreds if not thousands of dollars, you might get a 1099 form if it generates over $10 of interest income, but you don't have to file taxes if your overall income is too low anyways). The US does not typically tax assets, only income. There are some states (Florida is the only one I can think of) that has odd tax treatment of intangible assets, but I doubt that would apply in your case. If this were a large enough amount, usually over $10,000, it might trigger some reporting requirements (possibly by your home country).
Gifts from your parents are not treated as income for tax purposes. You should not include that in your subsidy calculation. If you are here on a student-visa and have been in the US for less than 5 years, then you are considered a non-resident alien, and you are not required to buy a qualified plan through the insurance marketplace. You might be able to get a cheaper student plan through your school, but the subsidy might be enough that it's still worth it when calculated correctly. If you are a resident-alien or you are a citizen of the US, then you are required to get coverage, though you can choose not to purchase coverage and pay the tax for not having creditable coverage. That tax cannot be collected by the IRS unless you have already had federal tax withheld. They can only confiscate your tax return money to recoup that money. I don't have enough information to recommend one way or the other what you should do, but I would bet that if you recalculated your subsidy without including your parents income it would cover the majority of the cost. You should also consider applying for Medicaid if you meet the eligibility requirements in your state.
A CPA or Enrolled Agent can be helpful, especially if you have a complicated situation such as owning your own business. The people at a lot of tax-prep places don't have many qualifications (they are not accountants or enrolled agents or certified financial planners or anything else). They are just trained to enter stuff into the computer. In that case, you can measure their value according to how much you prefer talking to typing. But don't expect them to get it right if your taxes involve any judgment calls or tricky stuff. I think a good strategy is to try TurboTax (or whatever program) and if you get stuck on any of the questions, find a pro to help.