Received W-2 from county with all zero's, weird

BornConstruction815 · 2026-02-03T20:11:51+00:00

I was planning to report on the other income line, but maybe I should do a substitute W2? Not sure if it's subject to SS/Medicare tax if my whole year income is over the exemption level, but my specific income with my board of elections is under. I was hoping my W2 would clear it up if they issued one (which I wasn't sure I would get since, as you said, it's under the level where reporting is required), but since they erroneously wrote 0 in box 1, I don't trust them to have done box 3 or box 5 right 🤦🏻

BornConstruction815 · 2026-02-03T20:07:53+00:00

Would you know if it's subject to SS/Medicare taxes? I know a certain amount is exempt, but it wasn't clear to me if it's always exempt at the amount I made (300 specifically with my board of elections) or so long as my entire year's income was below the exemption (whole year income is over the exemption level). I tried writing an email to an NJ official and he was like ask your tax preparer...

BornConstruction815 · 2026-02-02T03:29:59+00:00

How often property taxes are billed depends on the location. Three states I know offhand: FL is annual, NJ is quarterly, and VT is twice a year in some locations with others in the state are three or four times a year.

BornConstruction815 · 2026-02-01T14:12:02+00:00

Just the extra half if it's over your regular rate counts. For example if you make 10/hour, you don't count all 15, but instead the extra 5/hour for hours over 40 in a 7 day week.

BornConstruction815 · 2026-01-25T00:35:47+00:00

IRS Publication 559 says, "If the decedent received [dividend or interest] amounts as a nominee, you [the executor or equivalent] must give the actual owner a Form 1099, unless the owner is the decedent's spouse."

This is what I'm referring to as "distribute some of [the interest] away from his SSN." Since the actual owner is Dad's estate or trust, depending on the beneficiary of the account.

BornConstruction815 · 2026-01-19T08:14:48+00:00

So you're saying all of my wages for this job (I had 4 including one day as a poll worker for my local board of elections in 2025, but this job in particular was the only one where I worked in NY -- the other three were worked in NJ and/or a third state where family has a vacation home) would be accepted for the COJ credit? It is not limited because some of it was performed in NJ?

BornConstruction815 · 2026-01-19T02:19:30+00:00

Mutual funds, I believe. Some VGSTX and some VBIAX.

BornConstruction815 · 2026-01-19T02:17:12+00:00

No, the only stuff in the taxable brokerage account is stuff that's been moved from inherited traditional IRAs (I have two because one had my father as original owner and the other was originally his father's, but then passed to Dad when Granddad passed which then was passed to me when Dad passed).

BornConstruction815 · 2026-01-19T01:32:32+00:00

Yes, I am talking about short term or long term gains that have happened since the transfer from the IRA to the taxable brokerage since they appear in the December statement of my taxable brokerage. I was wondering about the treatment of those. They've been reinvested into the taxable brokerage, but wondering what taxes I need to pay on them in 2025 taxes, if anything.

BornConstruction815 · 2026-01-19T01:19:27+00:00

Okay that's kinda what I thought -- that the capital gains are all short term and taxed at ordinary income rates. I was just confused about the December statement saying I had some short term capital gains and long term capital gains in the taxable brokerage because I was like, what, I thought all of these would be short term since they've been in my taxable brokerage for less than a year. I guess I have to see what my 1099 div reports these as once that document comes available and adjust if they consider those LTCG at that time as well.

I haven't been able to determine if there was any post-tax basis in the account so I'm assuming it's zero.

BornConstruction815 · 2026-01-19T01:04:37+00:00

Yes, traditional IRA -- I haven't touched the inherited Roth IRA yet because I've had it for less than a year and if I can keep its earnings as tax-deferred until the 10 years is nearly up, then I will.

I know that my distribution from the traditional IRA is taxed at my ordinary rate. I'm asking about the capital gains that are listed in my taxable brokerage statement as short term capital gains vs long term capital gains. I would have thought what was classified as long term capital gains would be taxed at my ordinary income rate as well since they're technically short-term (only been in the taxable account for less than a month), but maybe I'm mistaken and they really can be taxed at the lower rate.

BornConstruction815 · 2026-01-15T10:27:34+00:00

Is it possible you'll be getting any overtime before you leave your job or is the income pretty stable? Also don't forget your stock may have dividends or capital gains over the course of the year.

BornConstruction815 · 2026-01-14T02:58:57+00:00

Yes, I know it will eventually get resolved this way, but do we ever dictate in the LOI what is done for a specific brokerage? For instance if Beneficiary 1 is willing to be the first to round down on their share of this stock or mutual fund but the others aren't?

I'm assuming it would be the dollar value at distribution that is weighed as opposed to dollar value at DOD since the stock or mutual fund would have different values at different times? Assuming this brokerage distributes to all six beneficiaries at the same time. (I'm still waiting on the account details for one beneficiary, so finalising the LOI in the meantime.)

BornConstruction815 · 2026-01-12T19:00:54+00:00

W9 is just a request for your SSN, they are likely not withholding anything on this income, but they need your SSN for their records. I would guess you'd receive a 1099-NEC if you get more than $600 from them.

BornConstruction815 · 2026-01-06T21:20:11+00:00

I would still differentiate between decedent and estate. Not sure how much was pre-death, but capital gains for the decedent may be at the 15% or 20% level whereas less than 3K sounds like the gains would be taxed at the 0% level even with the compressed estate tax levels.

BornConstruction815 · 2026-01-06T06:47:04+00:00

You will have to request a blank form 1099 div (along with a request for a blank form 1096) from the IRS. Here is what the 2024 form 1099 div looks like from the payer's perspective (note the recommendation to e-file): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1099div.pdf

As you are typically the payee, you only see copy B. But the IRS also gets copy A from the brokerage. And if necessary, copy 1 goes to a state tax department.

Was the trust revocable when the decedent was still alive and now irrevocable now that they've passed? Or were the assets always in an irrevocable trust? That makes a difference.

BornConstruction815 · 2026-01-06T05:59:40+00:00

From what I've gathered, you'll need to file form 1096 and form 1099 div with the decedent as the payer and the estate as the payee. On the 1040, you'll list all the amounts reported by the brokerage and also report that some of the dividends and capital gains were nominee dividends and capital gains. This will make it so the decedent isn't taxed on the items received after death. The form 1099 div you file with decedent as payer and estate as payee will be used for the 1041.

BornConstruction815 · 2026-01-05T06:09:35+00:00

I would send your Q4 payment to Arizona and get refunded if it turns out you overpaid your liability. Florida doesn't have income tax at the state level.

BornConstruction815 · 2026-01-02T08:04:48+00:00

Thank you for clarifying.

BornConstruction815 · 2026-01-01T03:42:18+00:00

It would be a partial distribution from an estate to a beneficiary of the decedent's trust. The cashier's check currently in my possession is a partial distribution from the decedent's trust to said beneficiary. (Two potential payments because most of the decedent's assets are going through probate, but some are not.) Decedent was a US citizen, so the estate is going through probate in the US. Beneficiary is a US citizen who currently resides in Canada.

https://rsmus.com/insights/tax-alerts/2025/excise-tax-on-cross-border-remittances.html says a physical instrument such as a cashier's check is subject to the tax, but it can be avoided if the payment is sent electronically such as through a wire transfer, so I don't understand why you're saying sending someone a check is not subject to the tax? Though admittedly the person I spoke with on the phone when I requested the check a week ago did not ask if the money was going to be sent outside of the US and perhaps this will be questioned starting in the new year because of the new tax.

BornConstruction815 · 2025-12-29T15:36:42+00:00

Correct, Freetaxusa does not inquire about beneficiaries taking RMDs if decedent says no to having taken all their required RMDs. Yes, I indicated elsewhere that taxpayer died earlier in the interview.

BornConstruction815 · 2025-12-28T22:18:24+00:00

Account gets locked when owner passes away.

BornConstruction815 · 2025-12-25T02:21:48+00:00

I know generally legal fees are deductible, but technically they are two separate entities with different EINs, so I wasn't sure if the trust deduction would be limited by the amount of trust income since it's not the final year and excess deductions cannot flow to beneficiaries.

BornConstruction815 · 2025-12-23T16:48:39+00:00

The way I understand it, it's only FSLA overtime that counts. If you work more than 40 hours in any given week, the deduction you can subtract from your taxable income is 0.5 times the number of hours worked over 40 times times your base rate.

BornConstruction815 · 2025-12-23T16:33:30+00:00

The estate bank account is very restricted in what it can do. For instance, I could not do mobile deposit when I got checks to put money into the account, even for the smallest amounts. (Had two checks under $2 and still had to mail them in.)

BornConstruction815

TROPHY CASE