I’m looking for advice on how to maximize my retirement contributions and avoid unnecessary taxes for 2026.

My situation:

- Married filing jointly.

- Washington state resident.

- I was unemployed for the first six months of 2026 and started a new job in August.

- My salary is $3,500 per month.

- I realized approximately $300,000 in stock-trading gains during 2026.

- I have a Traditional 401(k) through my new employer and have not contributed to a 401(k) earlier this year.

- I also have an existing Traditional IRA at Fidelity, but I’m not sure how much of its balance is pre-tax versus nondeductible contributions.

My questions:

1. Can I contribute as much of my eligible salary as possible to my employer’s 401(k), up to the 2026 IRS limit?

2. Can I contribute $7,500 to my Fidelity Traditional IRA for 2026, assuming I’m under age 50 and meet the compensation requirements, even if my income is too high to deduct the contribution?

3. Can I then convert the $7,500 to a Roth IRA through the backdoor Roth strategy?

4. Since I already have a Traditional IRA balance, how does the IRS pro-rata rule affect the taxes on the conversion?

5. If my existing Traditional IRA contains pre-tax money, could I roll the eligible pre-tax portion into my employer’s 401(k), if the plan allows it, to make a backdoor Roth conversion more tax-efficient?

6. Given my stock gains, is there anything else I should consider before making these contributions or conversions?

My main goal is to maximize tax-advantaged retirement savings while avoiding an unexpected tax bill. I’m particularly interested in advice from people who have handled a similar situation.

Thanks!

If someone were to give another person a large chunk of cash, say $300k, would either the giver or the recipient have to pay taxes on that?

And as a follow-up: what if that same $300k essentially came back via one person selling a house to the other at a $300k discount? Would that affect either person's taxes?

I am confused on the taxing issues for each.

Thanks

🚨🚨 does anyone know if the Department of Education still has a pause on garnishments and offsets for student loans??? Not sure if I need to file a form 8379?

Hi everyone, first post on this sub. I wonder if there’s any specific tool to track buying and selling cards for tax purpose?

Background: I started buying, selling, and trading Pokemon as a hobby last year (Mainly singles and slabs, some sealed stuff but not much anymore). This year, I have been going to bigger shows and trading bigger cards. I started an LLC but have no idea where to start. I have a simple Excel tracker that tracks the dates and prices bought/sold.

I recently got my CPA but the exam didn’t prepare me for this. Any tax professionals please shed some lights on the important stuff (inventory, revenue tracking, sales taxes, expense deductions, etc.) We are in Q4 so I think it’s better to think ahead.

Thank you so much! 🙏🏻

Hi, I have a W2 role and also a LLC that operates rental properties.

My home office is the second bedroom of our tiny 2 bed room SF Bay Area apartment (~$5K per month including utilities)

I use the home office for LLC related work, but my wife is hybrid w2 and uses this space for her work (on days in I'm my W2 office).

I was going to claim ~15-20% of the apartment's sqft for this year's home office deduction, given the high rent price in the area it would be a substantial amount.

Do you see any issues with my math?

Im a dual us citizen and a citizen of another country

I have been in the other country since exactly Jan 1 of this year.

I have been employed through a US employer as a W-2 while withholding taxes. I have lived with my parents in that country and they both are citizens of that country.

Travelled to the US mid-September planning to go back beginning of December.

My other country is right now in a war as well that’s why I’m staying 2.5 months.

I have spent over a month and I am no longer eligible for the Physical Residence test.

I want to understand if I’m eligible for the Bonafide residence test and would be able to get some of the federal income tax back.

My understanding is that if Box 5 of my form 1098-T is greater than Box 1, then I have to claim the excess as income. I am currently an undergraduate student, and am going to be starting a Masters program next year. I am saving the excess scholarship from this year to pay for my master’s tuition next year [will be paying out of pocket for tuition due to no scholarships]. Considering that I am going to be using the excess scholarship for qualified tuition and education expenses for next year, do I still have to claim this amount as income? I don’t plan on claiming any Education Tax credit for 2026 or 2027.

Hi guys,

We registered a Delaware c-corp in May 2025 and it's owned by two foreign owners. In a nutshell, the company has been completely dormant.

- $0 in transactions in our accounts.
- The setup fee (via clerky) was paid personally by the other director. it was never reimbursed nor was it a loan.
- There was no IP that was "transferred" to the company. We only had a pitchdeck and had a plan to buy a domain but we never did (we used a temporary domain owned by the other director).

We had filed for the accounts filing extension (15 Oct due date) but unfortunately a few days behind now.

My question is do I file the 5472 form any of the above?

This is our first time filing. I'll be dissolving the corp in a few months anyway. I can't think of any other transaction that needs to be reported. The only concern is that it's delayed. I already have a letter describing the delay.

Any advice would be appreciated.

I owe around 4k from previous years. Haven’t filed for 2024 or 2025 and stopped making payments due to financial hardship on my plan.
I have all of my info needed to file the taxes. Just no idea where to start.
It’s all simple. No investments. Just w2’s and such.
Can I file this myself or do I have to hire someone?
TIA

Hi Reddit Gang,

I started a new job recently. It’s a restaurant job where it’s more than a majority paid via gratuity. Here’s a snapshot of a the most recent pay. I do opt to have something nominal taken out each week to be extra safe when tax season comes but it’s nothing outrageous (like an extra $75/week). Anything seem off. My yearly income should be around $120K.
Thanks for your help.

Edit: this is for one week of pay.

Description
Rates
Amount

Regular
$11.35
$454.00

Overtime
$19.35
$16.64

Tips- Credit Card

$3,326.40

Gross

$3,797.04

Employee Taxes

Description
Amount
Federal W/H(S)
$1,024.48
Medicare
$55.05
Social Security
$235.41
New York State W/H(S/0)
$225.89
New York City, NY - Resident Local
$151.25
Total
$1,692.08

Sorry tried to embed a screenshot but always struggle on Reddit to include pics.

My spouse and I live in IL but I worked in CA for a few months this summer while they stayed in IL. I’m a bit confused by CA tax law and was hoping someone could clarify how filing a state return for CA for 2026 will work.

My understanding is that since my spouse has no CA earned income and was a non resident for the entire year, that I can file separately as single for CA even though we’ll be MFJ for federal and IL. Is this accurate? Am I missing anything?

Thanks!

Edit- It came from my company's US Bank Account but not from the Payroll bank and not through the payroll system.

I'm on F-1 STEM OPT and work as a regular W-2 employee for the US entity of my company. I've been in the US for less than 5 years, so I think I'm a nonresident alien for tax purposes (please correct me if I'm wrong).

I recently got a $15K bonus, but it didn't go through payroll. It came as a straight bank transfer, and I'm pretty sure it was sent from the company's account in New Zealand (the parent company is based there). They usually send reimbursements this way too ( have gotten 2-3 times in the past), but I have an email chain that clearly calls this a bonus.

My questions:

1. If they do add it to my W-2, is there anything I should double-check?
2. If they don't, how do I report this on my 1040-NR? Do I just list it as wages?
3. Should I make an estimated payment before Jan 15, or is it better to bump up my W-4 withholding for the rest of the year?
4. Is there anything about it coming from a foreign account I need to worry about tax-wise?

Thanks in advance!

This took me way too long to figure out, so sharing in case it helps someone.

1. Add up what you've earned and subtract business expenses. That's your profit.
   
2. Self-employment tax in the US is roughly 14% of profit (15.3% on about 92% of it).
   
3. Add your income tax rate on top (for many people it's somewhere around 10-22%).
   
4. Divide your total tax estimate by your total income. That's the % to move into savings from every payment.

For a lot of freelancers it lands around 20-30%. I put money into a separate savings account the day I get paid so it's never "mine" to spend.

I got tired of doing this by hand and made a spreadsheet that does it automatically. Happy to share it if anyone wants it.

Not a tax pro, so check your own situation with one if you're unsure.

Considering opening a dependent care FSA for next year. My nieces will be off school and could be my nanny over the summer. Since they are minors and my brother claims them on taxes, how would this work tax wise for them? TIA!

I received a letter in August stating that my amended tax filing from the spring resulted in a greater refund.

The IRS website shows the correct amount I’m owed, but it’s never hit my bank account. And when I call their help numbers, I can never speak to a human.

What in the world? How do I speak with a human?

Not check, just paying with credit card.

I'm from Bosnia and have been in the US on J-1 visas in 2024, 2025, and 2026, spending at least 4 months there each year.

For my 2026 tax return, do I qualify as a resident alien and will I be eligible for the standard deduction, or would I still need to file as a nonresident alien?

Thank you in advance!

Hi, me and my wife are US Citizens and file jointly.

Background:
In June 2026 we both resigned from our CA jobs and permanently relocated abroad to care for an elderly parent. Currently, our days in CA for 2026 as as follows:
Me: 142 days total (includes Oct–Nov visit to CA to see my daughter & wrap up affairs).
My Wife: 219 days total (including a Sept–Nov visit to CA during which she briefly worked as a substitute teacher for the school district she used to be employed at).
I have started a new job abroad after the move but my wife hasn't.
CA Home Status: We own a home in CA that is now occupied by our adult daughter. It's covered under a Family Residential Occupancy Agreement: No cash rent; daughter covers house maintenance and expenses in lieu of rent.

Question:
I am planning to sell an apartment I bought almost 30 years ago abroad of which I'm the sold owner (bought it before I met my wife). The gain will be about $100k USD.
I plan to file Form 540NR (Part-Year Resident) in California for 2026 since I relocated from the state.
Is that a sound plan? Or would I be on the hook for California taxes? If I do have to pay state taxes, I would prefer to sell the property next year.
Any thoughts welcome! Thank you 🙂

I'm doing a PhD at a university in the USA.

I do the PhD as a distant learner - means, I'm not a resident, and I also don't have a student visa for the USA.

As part of the PhD I need to take part in conferences and lectures around the world.

The university wants to compensate for my expenses but they require I have an ITIN.

How can I apply for an ITIN with my status, any ideas?

I became a US tax resident in 2026 after living in Canada for tax purposes through 2025. I own more than 90% of a Canadian IT consulting corporation. It had no income or passive income in 2026.

I think I need Form 5471 and possibly FBAR and Form 8938. I’m also trying to understand whether the Canadian departure tax affects my shares.

Has anyone dealt with a similar situation? Are there firms that handle this well at a reasonable price?

Thanks in advance.

I own an LLC taxed as an S corporation that had three members. Two members were bought out for a total of $500,000, while their combined book equity was approximately $300,000. I recorded the buyout in a “Partner Buyout/Acquisition Equity Account” and cleared the departing members’ equity balances, leaving a $200,000 difference.

How should this remaining balance be handled in the books? Should it remain in equity, be transferred to retained earnings, or be recorded as goodwill and amortized over time? The buyout price was based on an appraisal of the business, and the company itself funded the buyout.

The case governments make is that betting can bear higher taxes like tobacco or alcohol a profitable, harm adjacent industry that should pay more into public funds.

The counterargument is that unlike those, betting demand flees easily to offshore sites you can’t tax. Which view holds up better?

Background
- Irish citizen , born in Ireland
- Became US citizen in 2024. So now dual citizen
- Selling $300K house
- House was in Wifes name, then was put into an irrevocable family trust name (Texas). Family trust belongs to wife and I
- at time trust was created I was a US citizen
- my name was never directly on the house, only as a custodian of the trust

Am we on the hook to pay FIRPTA tax on the sale of this property? Or does either being a US citizen or the property being in the trust, exonerate us from this?

I recently found a babysitter to watch my kids for 2 to 4 hours per week. Initially, she was going to watch the kids at my house, but after trying that once, she suggested watching them at her house, which seemed better for everyone. For payroll purposes, is she my "household employee" if she doesn't work in my home?

Because we started so late in the year, I'm also wondering whether, for purposes of 2026, I need to set up payroll if we won't cross the $1K per quarter threshold?

I filed Form 2210 with Schedule AI and calculated a small penalty for underpaying my estimated taxes - I had a very small underpayment in Q1 and a slightly bigger underpayment in Q3 which resulted in a tiny penalty.

I did the Form 2210 and the Sch AI the same way I've done it for years - some years a small penalty, some years no penalty.

But this year I received a CP30 saying my penalty was 20x what I had calculated. And I can't figure out the chart the IRS put on the CP30 - there are some pretty big numbers for each quarter in the "Principal" column but they don't correlate to my actual receipt of taxable income and they don't correlate to my total annual taxable income divided by 4.

Anybody shed any light on how these CP30's work? I'm trying to draft a response but don't know wear to start.