Questions tagged [united-states]
For questions that relate to the laws, practices, and products of the United States.
14,486
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Should I invest all of my IRA contributions to get the max benefit?
I think I've been using IRAs all wrong.
I read a while back about putting money into an IRA, so I opened up a Roth IRA and have been maxing out my contribution. I saw that there were opportunities to ...
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How do auto insurance down payments work?
I have a friend who just immigrated to the USA and just got a driver's license for the first time (he's never had a driver's license before, either in his previous country or in the USA). Now that he'...
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How to mitigate 401k risk with bonds?
I’ve read that for 401k’s, you want to reduce risk as you get older and the primary means to do that is to move money out of stocks and into bonds.
Assuming that principle is generally valid, then ...
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Borrowed money from a friend to pay College fee - Implications of not paying
My wife is a US Citizen. She borrowed money from a friend to pay for her college.
She is unable to repay on time. She needs a bit more time, but unfortunately the lender is not ready to wait. He ...
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Alternatives to checks for rental payments. Bank account transfer
I have a tenant who would prefer not to write and mail checks each month,
and I'd rather not have to cash them.
What are the options for "bill pay" like electronic checks/ACH services between ...
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Am I obligated to report small PredictIt earnings?
If I earn money on PredictIt.org, but it is too little for PredictIt to send me a Form 1099, am I obligated to report it in my federal tax return?
Let's say I have net earnings of $10 for example.
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Can I deduct the cost of an out-of-pocket medical visit on my taxes?
Say I visit a specialist -- like an orthodontist -- without any insurance. I pay for everything out-of-pocket -- no insurance/deductibles/payment sharing plans/etc. I pay several thousands for the ...
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Is there any deferral for a Roth 401(k)?
When contributing to a 401(k) plan via paycheck deduction, one may contribute to an after-tax 401(k), a Roth 401(k), or (the or is non exclusive) a traditional (a.k.a. pre-tax) 401(k).
In one ...
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How detailed do itemized deductions have to be? (source needed)
how detailed do itemized deductions need to be?
I get the impression that one could just write the total amount of deductions in one line and be done with it. In the event of an audit the taxpayer ...
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My 18 yo son inherited his grandmother's house and his father wants to buy it for $1
My 18-year-old son inherited his grandmother's house. His father wants to buy it from him for $1. Wouldn't my son have to pay capital gains tax? The house is in Pennsylvania
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System of paying money for the apartment
I want to live in the U.S. for half a year and was trying to figure out how much the apartment price will be. I was looking at a shared room website and I found the word “from $875”or so. What does “...
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Does participating in a work 401k increase my take home from a Traditional IRA account?
I am checking out a Traditional IRA calculator and it seems that if I check that I have an Employer Plan (I do have a 401k plan), my after Tax return is 272k. If I uncheck that box, the number goes ...
- 3,817
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Commuter tax benefits when joining a company mid-year: can I deduct 12*monthly_max, or is the deduction prorated?
I've lived in the US since 2013. I used to be a student in Massachusetts till last July, when I joined a company full-time in California.
I read (mirror) that:
the tax code allows tax-free ...
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Taking Care of Family
Short Version:
If one is doing well - but by no means wealthy - what is the best strategy for watching out for relatives who are less well off?
Long Version:
My wife and I are in our early 30s, and ...
- 1,639
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Tax benefits for college expenses?
So this past year, I have held 2 jobs. One was a part-time job while going to school. Other was a tech summer internship. I am 22 years old, so my parents can claim me as a dependent. You can say my ...
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Can I sell my shares that I have losses and gains in and rebuy the gains?
I have some shares where I have big losses and others with big gains. I want to get rid of the shares with big losses completely, but want to use the tax deduction. Can I also sell the shares with big ...
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Tax implications of elective dual US/AU citizenship
I am a US citizen born in the US to an American mother and Australian father. I am eligible to apply for Australian citizenship via citizenship by descent.
I live and work entirely in the US and plan ...
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Structuring of Large Medical Bills
I have a situation where my friend is cash poor from recently buying a house and just landed in the hospital for a few days. I would like to help him cover the medical bills when they start rolling ...
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Is it worth lowering Roth contribution to pay down credit card?
My early career 401(k) receives Roth contributions to 11% of my income with a 4% employer match (so 15% net contribution) and returns 13%.
My credit card balance is currently higher than my 401(k) ...
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Who is supposed to do the preauthorization for an MRI in the USA?
Who is supposed to do the preauthorization for an MRI in the USA? Is it the responsibility of:
the physician who prescribed the MRI
the medical center where the MRI is performed
the patient, who ...
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Selling house, will the buyer payback alread paid taxes?
I own my home, and my property tax is paid via an escrow account funded an additional amount on my mortgage payment. The city requires quarterly tax payments, which the bank makes on my behalf ...
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Estimated Tax on Unplanned Capital Gains
I would like to sell stock valued at $X for combined long-term capital gains of around $Y. The sale would be in July. I expect the tax on the gains alone to be well over $1,000.
When you're in the ...
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Where should a friend dump a large lump sum retirement payout?
I have a friend that is getting about 400k as part of a retirement payout. (choose this over the 9k a year they were offering for installments)
My question is where should they invest this? Not ...
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What can I do when I have capital loss on a house and a large stock capital gain?
Last year, I read everywhere online that if you have capital gains on a house, you can offset it on your taxes with capital losses on stocks. Well, we recently sold a house on a loss, and made a lot ...
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First time home buyer: How to begin shopping for a home mortgage loan? [duplicate]
I am completely new to the world of mortgages and home loan lending, and I am looking to buy a new house. I am either looking to take out a traditional mortgage or a home equity loan on a house that I ...
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Are these scenarios considered as taxable income?
I am nonresident alien in USA for tax purpose and wondering about these two scenes. Will this be considered as taxable?
I purchased books on online store for $100 and returned back for $50. I guess $...
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Income Tax and Investments
I live in the US and I run my own online business.
If I made $50k in a year (after all write-offs), and I invest all $50k in something (stock, btc, paintings, whatever), then I would have to pay ...
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Got charged 3x for a single 6 month membership. What should I do?
I bought a single 6 month membership to OkCupid today, or so I thought. The website rejected my billing information for my debit card twice before I narrowed down the problem to a wrong zip code and ...
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How long does it take to get established as a real estate agent?
I realize that it varies, but should 2 years (beyond real estate classes) be long enough to become self-sufficient ?
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We didn't file for Homestead Exemption last year - what can we do?
We bought a home in 2015 in Florida, which was a primary residence for the previous owners and has been our primary residence since. Our mortgage is through Quicken Loans. We unfortunately didn't ...
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Is money in a UTMA considered when a student applies for financial aid?
If a student is applying to college and requesting student aid, but has a substantial amount of money in a UTMA account, can that negatively affect their chances to receive financial aid? If so, is ...
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Is there a quick way to get all statements, check images etc. from a checking account/credit card account?
Suppose someone has had a checking account or a credit card with a bank for many years and has opted out of paper statements. Suppose they wanted to have a record of all statements either in pdf ...
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Why must my student loan payment be split instead of all toward highest interest?
Hopefully the answer to this is general enough to be answerable out of the context of my specific loan/loan provider.
I have a student loan through the U.S. DOE, it is comprises 10 loan tokens of ...
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U.S. law requires the credit card due date to be on the same day every month. If it's the 30th, what about February?
Out of sheer curiosity, what would the due date be in February if it's normally on the 30th on every other day of the month, considering that the Credit CARD Act of 2009 requires it to be the same day ...
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Is it Legal to take Personal Loan in US and Repay against Home Loan in India
I am paying Home Loan against Property in India since 2011. is
it Legal to take Personal Loan in USA and Repay against Home Loan in India.
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Does dividend witholding tax typically deducted from dividend tax via double taxation agreements?
Typically under double taxation treaties you would see something where if you pay tax in one country, it's subtracted from the tax you have to pay in the other.
Does this hold true for witholding tax?...
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How should my brother and I structure our real estate purchase?
Currently, my wife and I are renting a home from my brother at a discounted (just over his mortgage) rate of $1000 per month. He wanted to buy the home across the street but didn't end up getting the ...
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Dad paid cash for house and we want to put it in my name
My dad bought a house from my aunt for 75,000 a few years back but they never changed the name in the tittle so it's still under their name. My parents have a house together right now and plan to give ...
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Do I Need to Start a Company to Get Tax Writeoffs For Expenses?
If my friend owns a company that I invest money into, can I list my expenses on my taxes as business expenses thus tax writeoffs or do I need my own company to do that?
For example, if I invest $1k/...
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What are my options for this high interest student loan?
I have about $13,000 in private student loans that I took out nearly 10 years ago before I knew better. To make a long story short, I graduated about 1.5 years ago and began paying these loans. All ...
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Tax question about selling a car
Hi I am thinking of selling my car. It is a very nice car, and I would have paid quite a bit in sales taxes. I live in Colorado.
I want to sell the car because of a few reasons. Biggest being that I ...
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can we claim the exemption on the joint filing
The exemption for the single filing is only $11250 ?
The maximum exemption for joint filing tax is $22500 suppose the salary of the husband is $18000 and the wife is $4500 are they eligible to ...
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Td Ameritrade Roth IRA question
I recently opened a Roth IRA at Td Ameritrade. I'm making regular deposits but haven't chosen a fund. I don't want to pay a fee, or cost to trade what are my options? It's overwhelming looking at ...
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How do short term treasury bills work?
I'm trying to understand what return I'll get on 1 month treasury bills. I want to invest in something that has minimal risk, minimal management, and flexibility to get my money out.
I'm looking at ...
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When is the Quarter 1 Estimated Tax form Due in the US?
I am new to filing form 1040 ES for estimated taxes; when is this form due? The form itself says April 18th, 2016:
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040es.pdf
This seems simple enough but I am ...
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Tax refund return envelope - Should I stamp it?
NJ requires a return envelope for Non-Resident tax claims (1040NR). However I live abroad and cannot put a stamp on my return mail.
I wonder if they use the envelope without a stamp to mail the check?...
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What are the taxes in India on a transfer of a huge amount like US$10,500,000?
If someone transferred a huge amount into my SBI bank account, what taxes do I have to pay to the government of India?
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W-4 was not updated when moving from part-time to full-time, still showed Tax-Exempt. What happens now?
Background
I began at a Company in Maryland, USA as a part-time employee with an expectation of earning a full refund. Since I also received a full refund the previous year, the company HR/Accounting ...
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Making a personal loan to my business from the proceeds of cashing out my 401k
I had to cash out my 401k and lent the proceeds to my graphic design business to keep it afloat. It was used replace a computer and to pay off business debt. Total loan is $22,000. We had a ...
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Evaluatiing whether it a smart idea to convert 401K's and traditional IRA's to Roth IRA's?
Recently an investment adviser was providing free consultations at my wife's workplace. He advised us to convert some 401K's from previous employers and traditional IRA's to Roth IRA's. He did this ...
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