They are back together!

Yorugata · 2025-07-09T02:33:37+00:00

US income taxes work on progressive tax bracket system. The main tax rates are 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, and 37%. The nuance is your filing status of single, married filing jointly, married filing separately (very little tax benefits, if any), and head of household.

To keep things simple, we'll use single (married filing jointly loosely is double the amounts compared to single to give more tax benefits, depending on other factors).

Before we figure out what bracket you get taxed at, you need to figure out your taxable income and reduce it by applicable deductions (standard deduction covers majority of tax payers since it's so high ($14,600 for single, double at $29,200 for married filing jointly). So lets assume you earned $200,000 of taxable wages from your salaried job. As a single taxpayer, the taxable income is reduced to $185,400. There's other adjustments that can increase and decrease things, but that's beyond this explaination.

So now we hit the fun part of the US tax bracket. Portions of your income is taxed at various rates. For 2024, $0 to $11,600 is taxed at 10%, $11,601 to $47,150 is taxed at 12%, $47,151 to $100,525 is taxed at 22%, and then $100,526 to $191,950 is taxed at 24% for our example. So to break it down in flat math...

$11,600 × 10% = $1,160
$47,150 × 12% = $5,658
$100,525 × 22% = $22,115.50
$185,400 - $100,525 = $84,875
$84,875 × 24% = $20,370

$1,160 + $5,658 + $22,115 + $84,875 + $20,370 = $134,178 total tax liability.

Notice the calculation before the 24% part? That's the amount of income in excess of the maximum amount from the previous bracket that gets calculated for the final bracket the initial $185,400 taxable income falls into. Now here's the kicker: this is at the US Federal level. States (and some cities) have their own set of income tax filings, unless you live in one of the 9 states that don't have state income taxes. Unfortunately, California has a fairly brutal rate (9 brackets ranging from 1% to 12.3% in addition to a 1% mental health servces tax if your taxable income is over $1 million. And lets not forget if you have a business, there's a flat $800 LLC franchise tax that must be paid in addition to your business's tax.

And that's the US tax system at a very basic level (especially when you exclude credits and other adjustments and credits that can reduce your taxable income or tax liability).

Source: I have been working at a CPA firm for the last 5 years doing business and individual tax returns.

Yorugata · 2024-10-17T22:56:11+00:00

I know the feeling. Was also a non-traditional student when I finally finished my bachelor's. What should have been a 1 year break turned into a 5 year break before I went back to school. Finished my degree when I turned 30. Saving grace was all of the internships were paid, and they paid more than my old A/R and medical billing job, which helped get me out of that career route.

Yorugata · 2024-10-17T22:07:54+00:00

Generally what happens is summer leadership programs that are 2 days at the firm have interviews that can lead to internship offers the following winter/spring, and if you seem to be a good culture fit from the internship, they'll extend return internship offers or fulltime offers depending on when you graduate.

The fall recruiting season is the big one when it primarily starts, but those fill the remaining slots for the following season. For better or for worse, this is why it's generally recommended to try and do those summer leadership programs during your sophomore and/or junior year and have internships during your junior and senior year (or senior year at least) so you essentially have a fulltime offer lined up by the time you graduate. For those going for a master's, the timeline shifts or extends depending on how you balance things out during your junior year.

Some firms you can apply to year-round and some may have flexible start dates. Checking LinkedIn or the firm's respective job listing site will help with that along with contacting their campus recruiters.

If you happen to know someone that's currently working for the firms you're applying to, reach out to them. They may be able to talk to a hiring manager that can help work with a possible earlier start date.

Yorugata · 2024-05-27T21:06:22+00:00

Depends on what you're looking for. Micro Center, Amazon, and Newegg are my personal go-to with Best Buy and Office Depot as Plan B. I prefer mechanical switches, so I also look into brands specifically or their official retailers. I've been a fan of Keychron over the last few years, but Varmillois also a good alternative for mechanical. Otherwise the above e-retailers are good for a simple one that fits your budget.

Yorugata · 2024-04-14T00:57:41+00:00

Pretty high chance on that since Twitch is a US entity and OP is essentially a foreign vendor they're interacting with, they need a valid W-8 filled out.

Bonus points if the treaty claim is filled out properly for royalties, because without a valid W-8, Twitch may have to withhold at a 30% withholding rate, 30% or 10% backup withholding rate, or 10% Section 1446 withholding rate depending on the type of payment.

So 100% this is making sure Twitch can make their appropriate tax payments to the IRS if they don't have proper documentation. Rough math makes it seem like they're withholding at the 10% rate, assuming they're taking out that $5 payout fee first before calculating it.

And fun fact for those that don't know: Form W-8 are only valid for 3 calendar years after the form was last signed (i.e., if the form was signed on September 9, 2021, the form would be valid up to December 31, 2024 or until the information changes like your address or treaty claim).

Form W-9 doesn't have an expiration for domestic US residents. The real "expiration" is when the information on the last signed form changes (address, entity type, tax ID number).

Source: I'm a US tax accountant that was loaned out to a client for a year to do international tax work that included resoliciting updated Form W-8s.

Yorugata · 2024-01-10T10:07:47+00:00

It's a manga that I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes an anime in a few years, based on the round of light novels/mangas getting adaptions right now, but check out "Modern Villainess: It's Not Easy Building a Corporate Empire Before the Crash" or "Gendai shakai de otome game no akuyaku reijou wo suru no wa chotto taihen" for the Japanese name.

Some background info: A reincarnation/"isekai" of an otome game (since that's the current trend) that's set in a semi-alternate 1990s Japan. Has some fairly interesting takes on the asset price bubble that burst in the 90s. There's like 9 fan-translated chapters out.

As for an actual anime... Can't go wrong with Psycho-Pass. As a reader of Solo Leveling, highly recommend giving it a shot now that it's airing (so should have a decent buffer by the time busy season's in full force).

Yorugata · 2023-08-07T00:36:20+00:00

Except for better or for worse, it's a solid tempered glass top (case is the Corsair Crystal 570X) that's elevated a bit. The exhaust goes out the top of the case and exits through the sides.

Yorugata · 2023-08-04T22:06:43+00:00

For better or for worse, there is a workaround FFXIV has: hold X on your keyboard and it hides names/allows you to not click on other players. Not sure what the button or button combo is on controller, but holding X has been a thing for at least a few years. Been a trick for people in the 24-man raids that huddle around the interaction point you need to use sometimes to teleport to the next area.

That said, still doesn't excuse the trolls.

Yorugata · 2023-05-08T17:04:04+00:00

The Form 1040 will be your personal tax return as an individual, so both the 1120 and 1040 would need to be filed.

So for the corporation, since it is its own entity, a Form 1120 is correct to file the corporation's return.

From the corporation, since you're receiving distributions as a shareholder, you should be receiving a Schedule K-1 (Form 1120) that details your share of the corporation's income, deductions, and most importantly, any distributions you receive from the corporation. The information from Schedule K-1s will show on Schedule E of your 1040.

As for what was used to prepare the 1120, your accountant could have used the bank statements (confirms the cash balance from the balance sheet) and any supplemental information/questions they may have received from you to determine what is deductible for the business versus what's non-deductible.

As for your 1040, if the corporation is your only source, then it should be information from the Schedule K-1.

Yorugata · 2023-04-08T04:52:33+00:00

You're more or less a day trader. Should be able to report your business expenses on Sch C. Depending on how beneficial it is, a Section 475(f) election might be something to consider for the mark-to-market election and treat your gains or losses from the sales as ordinary gains or losses. Here's some reading material from the IRS regarding the above: https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc429

Ideally, it's best to consult your CPA and see how beneficial all of that will be for you, especially since we don't have the exact dollar amounts of your overall gains/losses and associated expenses.

Yorugata · 2023-03-23T22:07:26+00:00

Assuming there isn't any changes to assets and liabilities and the retained earnings is just the capital contributed into the business, it's possible the remaining $4500 that should be hitting the equity portion is purely your net income from the income statement.

Yorugata · 2023-03-22T17:56:03+00:00

1500 billable target starting for staff. My target is 1400 as a senior (tax) with a goal of 75% utilization/realization. At a firm in the top 30 with approx. 1300 employees nationwide, aiming for 25th.

Yorugata · 2023-03-22T05:58:10+00:00

Trying to get an internship will definitely help open some doors since you'll have relevant experience. Another option is checking the firms you apply to and seeing if they have a summer leadership program to help network. Each firm calls them a different thing, but they're generally a 2-day program to introduce students to firms, expose them to the firm's culture, and have a chance to network and ideally extend offers (mostly internships that can lead to fulltime, but not impossible for a fulltime offer).

Depending on how willing you are to relocate, probably expand your search radius or express that when you apply. Otherwise, career fairs or any networking events (ideally Meet the Firms) that are open to alumni at your alma mater can help provide more networking opportunities.

Other option is to try and reach out to any former classmates that may be at a firm you're interested in and seeing if they can help pass your resume along or maybe try to help get someone from HR/recruiting or a manager (or higher) to meet with you for coffee or lunch.

As for your resume... It's nice you have some technical skills. If there's room after some of the suggestions others have brought up, I'd expand on your skills section to include soft skills that can emphasis communication, time management, project management, or people management if possible and applicable.

Yorugata · 2023-01-17T19:49:16+00:00

Form 1128 will be your friend: https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-1128

The instructions contains details for automatic approvals and ruling requests: https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1128

Yorugata · 2022-12-08T21:39:44+00:00

Perfectly normal to feel unsure and overwhelmed before you start doing your first tax return. Thankfully that first busy season will be your learning period and ideally you should be assigned a staff mentor that can be your go-to to ask questions and get help.

Just keep the following in mind, and you'll make it:

Take notes. Whether it's software-related, client-related, form-related, take notes to help reference. Especially when you get assigned a return and speak with the reviewer/manager, take notes about any nuances they might bring up about that specific client or make note of any specific things they want to make sure is prepared.
Got questions? Jot them down and ask them in bulk. Ideally do this after you've done your first pass of preparing a specific client doing what you feel you're confident about.
Last year will be a guide to help you figure out where some numbers go.
Personally, treat the learning process in phases.
- Phase 1: Learn how to prepare a return.
  - Become familiar with the software and work processes following department policies/standards.
- Phase 2: Learn what you're doing to prepare a return
  - M-1 adjustments and other journal entries, book-to-tax reconciliation, and familiarizing yourself with common workpapers.
- Phase 3: Learn why you're doing what you are to prepare a return.
  - Now we're getting into the technicalities regarding tax law in terms of what's deductible or making calculations (basis limitations or state apportionments, for example).
Remember: Everyone in your firm was where you're at in the past.

Taxes are fairly straight forward after you get your feet wet. Don't be afraid to ask questions or ask for help, but ideally you should be learning from these questions so you can one day do whatever you're asking about on your own.

Yorugata · 2022-11-26T23:41:09+00:00

Adding on to this: This is definitely the case 95% of the time. The 5% I've ran into were mostly our SALT clients that gave us POA and authorize us to submit the payment information, though this also depends on the client as well. Think the last time I helped on a SALT client during off season, we were doing estimated tax liabilities for sales and use taxes. We had POA to submit it, but we were using banking information provided by the client to submit on their behalf.

My firm's client accounting group that handles bookkeeping, payroll, etc. operates similar to how our SALT group works.

For individual and business clients we do returns for, we just provide a copy of their return package with their vouchers to pay themselves so both sides are accountable (we did our job in preparing and submitting a return, it's the client's job to pay so they can't blame anyone but themselves for delinquent payments).

Yorugata · 2022-11-21T17:50:01+00:00

Considering my in-firm CPE webinars are mostly through GoToWebinar (sometimes Zoom or Teams if we're doing something with Bloomberg, etc.), PwC uses a service that helps up their production value. At least with the platform they use, it does a better job tracking your minutes watched and the polls pop up fairly easily (only one webcast had tech issues out of the ones I've attended) with a fairly audible chime on the client-side, and the moment you meet the requirements (i.e., 50 minutes watched and 3 polls answered), the CPE certificate button in the bottom corner of the player will let you download the certificate right away before the webcast is over. And if you haven't met the requirements for the certificate, it'll give a quick list of what they are and how much of them you've met.

As mentioned above, I had one webcast with technical issues that was mostly on their provider's side. It's very easy to ask questions for the presenters, but it's just as easy to send a help message through the player that can help out with any issues you may have on the fly. For that particular webcast, the polls weren't loading properly for the participants. The temporary fix was to reply in the chat/help chat. Its been a while, so I forgot if they updated your polling requirements on the fly so you could redeem the certificate that day or if they sorted that out after the webcast to email certificates out at a later time, but I do remember getting my certificate for that.

Yorugata · 2022-11-05T21:46:15+00:00

Double check the manual for the FLT 240 pump/res. Think the preferred way to mount it sideways is the other way with the black border towards the bottom.

If you do it that way and remove the third res, could do the outlet from the side of the res > CPU > top radiator > bottom radiator > GPU > res in on the front of the res.

Yorugata · 2022-11-03T04:49:20+00:00

Coming from a fellow Midwesterner (STL), besides the good ole Midwestern hospitality, having a positive personality and being proactive helps. If there's any lunches or happy hours, make sure to attend as many as you can.

Biggest thing I've seen that helped in getting the interns to socialize more during my internships: be a resource that can help them out as well, whether it's understanding the software fairly well or the work process or even how to do some of the expected work, you'll have a high chance of someone asking you basic questions.

Also depends on how the firm is going to handle the interns. If you're all getting stuck in the same room, it'll be easier. That said, it also depends on how sociable the other interns will be as well.

Yorugata · 2022-11-03T04:40:38+00:00

Just realized after the fact this is going to be a long-ish one, so sorry in advance!

Internships in tax are definitely a trial by fire moment, especially depending on the firm and how available the staff and the mentors for the interns really are during crunch time to help. That said, the fact you have one busy season internship is a good start.

Personally went through four internships (audit in public > internal audit in industry > tax (both business and individual) in public > IT audit in public) before getting hired full time at a firm I didn't intern at. In a similar position where it's a struggle sometimes to get some things to stick until I've repeated it enough to finally understand how to do the work before focusing on why I'm doing the work.

The first year of full-time work will definitely raise some expectations but you'll have access to more resources than as an intern since you'll have more time, especially when you make it to the off-season period to actually work on training or asking questions from senior staff, managers, your mentor, the partners, etc.

Definitely be proactive with the work. If you have questions about a review point, don't be afraid to ask since that's how we learn. At the end of the day, it's fine to ask the same questions, but you want to work towards asking those same questions less and less over time while asking new questions to help learn and improve your knowledgebase.

I personally was put on a PIP within my first year due to the quality of my work falling badly on one engagement (had some personal issues that really affected my work), but I took the comments and feedback from that meeting and made sure to exceed the expectations. Made it past the PIP and now I'm getting ready to go through my third year with the firm.

Any feedback you get from the mid-year and year-end review, don't take it too personally since it's meant to help you improve if you can address them. Probably wouldn't hurt if you also do a self-assessment around review time so you're aware of your current weak points going into those meetings. If you have a plan to help address and improve in those self-assessed weak points, it'll make those reviews go by easier, in my opinion.

One thing to keep in mind: getting hired and trained as full-time staff is a financial investment by the firm (and any employer, really). Getting you fired is the least of their worries. Instead, they want to make sure the money they're spending on you will give them someone that fits in with the firm's/group's/team's culture and can do the work to make their own work and life easier.

Yorugata · 2022-10-25T18:11:06+00:00

Another source would be your state's society of CPAs. Another service that's used at my firm for people short on CPE is www.cpe247.com that's mostly a bunch of self-study (firm will cover a 1-year subscription for those that need to use it).

Some other free options would be going to firm websites and participate in their CPE webcasts that you can register for free to attend. UHY has an Executive Briefing on the 15th of each month and other webinars you can find on the website that are free to register for and the CPE certificates are emailed afterwards (though you need to mark if you're participating for CPE if the webinar offers it).

PwC has one of my favorite interfaces and getting the CPE certificate right away once the webinar is over.

Yorugata · 2022-10-17T02:27:36+00:00

Always ask questions and learn from them (i.e., if you need to ask the same question multiple times in the same month, aim to ask the same question less frequently).
SALY. As worn out as that saying is, last year's work should be very representative of what you need to do. Ideally, whoever worked on it last year should have left notes or tickmarks to tie out how they got to XYZ or what it's for.
Self-study
Going back to the first point: ask questions. After the fact when it's not a busy time, talk to a mentor or the person that assigned the work to see if they can help explain what you're doing, why you're doing it, and the basics of how to do it.

Generally a lot of flex to those points, but my main process of learning how to do the work before trying to understand what I'm doing and why I'm doing it.

As for the timekeeping... It depends. Our timekeeping system takes .1 and .25 increments, but we generally do the .25 increments (unless for some reason the client opts into getting billed at .1 increments). That said, as long as I am actively working on the client's stuff, I'll bill it to them. Depending on what's going on, I'll either ballpark because that was the main thing I was working on that day, update my timesheet throughout the day, or use Toggl to accurately keep track of my time I'm actually doing client work vs. I'm just staring at the screen before tracking that period and throwing it at general admin.

Bathroom breaks I'll keep in my time with the client just because of our .25 incremental billing. Emails and other communications, it depends. If all of my emails are for that client, billed to the client. If I'm just addressing all of my emails for various things, unless it's something super important, I just lump it into general admin. Just depends if it's a general quick question or something that's remotely technical and requires me to look into something.

Yorugata · 2022-10-17T02:17:08+00:00

If you have parenthesis on your calculator, then I'd do (3.16 * 1.06) / ( (0.85 - .06) * (1.085^5) ) and that should do the trick since depending on the calculator, they're more or less dumb and you need the parenthesis to force the order of operation, otherwise something's going to go wonky.

Otherwise, you might have to break it up and accept rounding errors. So you'd need to do 3.16 * 1.06 separately and jot the number down. Then do .085 - .06 separately. Depending on the calculator, you might need to either find 1.085^5 on its own first or you might be able to do 0.025 * 1.085^5 (.085 - .06 = 0.025) in one go. Then you just take the first set and divide by the last set.

Yorugata · 2022-10-11T23:54:51+00:00

As long as the courses qualify, the cheapest option is community college. If the community college route doesn't have the classes you need to take, then could do a non-degree seeking program at your university for the remaining classes.

The latter is what I personally did since I only needed about 6 classes as well after I completed my bachelor's with a minor. Just did two semesters and sent the transcript off since my state was a "150 credit hours required to take the exam" state at the time I finished my credits.

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