This is really helpful info everyone, thanks! I had no idea about the business expense deductions. Quick question - for equipment like my gaming chair, webcam, and microphone that I bought specifically for streaming, can I deduct 100% of those costs? Or do I need to calculate some percentage for personal use too? Also, should I be keeping receipts for everything streaming-related? I've been pretty casual about record-keeping but sounds like I need to get more organized before tax season hits.

Great thread! As someone who's been dealing with streaming taxes for a few years now, I wanted to add that it's also important to understand the self-employment tax implications. When you earn over $400 in net self-employment income (which includes streaming), you'll owe self-employment tax (about 15.3%) in addition to regular income tax. This is why tracking business expenses is so crucial - every legitimate expense you can deduct reduces both your income tax AND self-employment tax burden. Things like your streaming software subscriptions, portion of internet costs, equipment depreciation, and even things like music licensing fees if you use copyrighted music can add up to significant savings. One tip: if you're just starting out and income is irregular, consider opening a separate bank account just for streaming income and expenses. Makes tracking so much easier come tax time, and the IRS loves clean record-keeping if you ever get audited.

One more thing to consider that might help speed up the process - if you're dealing with losses from major brokerages like Fidelity, Charles Schwab, or E*Trade, they often have historical tax documents available online going back several years. You can usually download your original 1099-B forms and consolidated tax statements for 2021-2022 directly from their websites, even if you didn't save them originally. This can save you a lot of time versus requesting paper copies by mail, and having the official brokerage-generated forms will make your amended returns much cleaner and less likely to trigger questions. Most brokerages also have year-end summary reports that clearly break down your gains and losses, which makes filling out Schedule D and Form 8949 much more straightforward. If you've switched brokerages since then, you should still be able to access your old accounts online in most cases. Just make sure to download everything you need now while it's still easily accessible - some brokerages only keep online records for a limited number of years.

Just to add another perspective on the amended return process - I went through something very similar last year with unreported losses from 2020-2021. One thing that really helped me was organizing everything chronologically before starting the amended returns. I created a simple timeline showing each trade date, security name, purchase price, sale price, and loss amount. This made it much easier to spot any potential wash sale issues (where you buy back the same or substantially identical security within 30 days) that could disallow some of the losses. The IRS is particularly strict about wash sales, and if you miss them on your amended returns, it could trigger an audit later when you try to claim the carry-forwards. Also, don't forget that if you had any worthless securities in those years (companies that went completely bankrupt), those are treated as sales on the last day of the tax year for capital loss purposes. I had a couple of penny stocks that went to zero that I almost forgot to include, but they added up to a few thousand in additional losses I could carry forward.

I'm a bit confused. I have a client with a family partnership that owns mineral rights, but they're not actively involved in operations - they just receive checks from the oil company. Should I still be reporting this on page 4 of Form 1065? Or should it go somewhere else?

As someone who's dealt with similar mineral royalty reporting issues, I'd recommend creating a standard checklist for your oil and gas partnerships to ensure consistency across all your clients. Based on what others have shared here, the key is proper categorization rather than lumping everything together. Here's what I've found works well: 1. Always report royalty income on page 4 as portfolio income (confirms it's not subject to SE tax) 2. Break out expenses by their true nature - don't default everything to line 13i 3. Maintain detailed supporting schedules for any "other deductions" reported on line 20 4. Keep good documentation of the partnership's passive vs. active role in operations The IRS instructions may be vague, but consistent application of these principles has served me well. If you're still uncertain about specific situations, the suggestions about getting direct IRS guidance or using specialized tax research tools might be worth exploring for your more complex cases. One additional tip: make sure your K-1s clearly identify the character of income being passed through to partners so they can properly report it on their individual returns.

I've been lurking on this thread and wanted to share my experience since I just went through this exact situation last month. I had about $1,600 in business equipment that I forgot to depreciate for 3 years - felt terrible about the mistake but this community really helped me understand it's more common than I thought. I ended up filing Form 3115 and the process was much smoother than expected. A few things that helped me: I created a simple spreadsheet showing what I should have claimed each year using the actual MACRS percentages (20%, 32%, 19.2% for years 1-3 of 5-year property), then calculated my total Section 481(a) adjustment. The form itself took about 4 hours to complete once I had everything organized. I was super nervous about it but got my refund processed normally with no questions asked. The IRS really does handle these timing corrections routinely. For anyone still on the fence about this - don't let perfect be the enemy of good. Yes, it's a bit of paperwork, but claiming those missed deductions is worth it and you're not doing anything wrong by correcting the timing. The peace of mind alone made it worth the effort!

I went through this exact same situation last year with some office equipment I'd purchased in 2020. Missed claiming depreciation for three straight years and was absolutely panicking when I realized my mistake! After reading through tons of IRS guidance and consulting with a tax professional, I can confirm what others have said - Form 3115 is definitely the right approach. It's specifically designed for these "accounting method change" situations, and missed depreciation is incredibly common. The key things that helped me: 1. **Get your documentation together first** - Purchase receipts, dates placed in service, business use percentage. This is the foundation everything else builds on. 2. **Use the actual MACRS tables** - Don't just divide by 5 years. For 5-year property with half-year convention, it's 20%, 32%, 19.2%, 11.52%, 11.52%, 5.76% over 6 tax years. 3. **Be clear in your explanation** - I wrote something like "Taxpayer inadvertently failed to claim allowable MACRS depreciation deductions for business equipment. Requesting Section 481(a) adjustment to correct timing difference." My total catch-up adjustment was around $1,800 and it processed without any issues. No audit, no follow-up questions, just got my refund as normal. For your $1,440 situation, this is really routine stuff that the IRS sees constantly. The form looks intimidating but it's manageable if you take it section by section. Took me about 5 hours total, but most of that was double-checking my MACRS calculations. Totally worth it for the peace of mind and getting those deductions you're entitled to!

Lol @ all the complicated answers here. The simple fact is the IRS knows about your gains bcuz your broker reports them. So if you make enough to file a return anyway, just include them. If you don't make enough to file a return, don't worry about it. And FYI - the IRS isnt coming after anyone for a few hundred bucks in unreported gains. They're after the big fish with millions in hidden income, not regular folks with tiny stock sales.

Adding to what others have said - the key thing to remember is that the IRS has automated matching systems. When your broker sends them a 1099-B showing your stock sales, their computers automatically check to see if those transactions appear on your tax return. Even for small amounts like your sub-$1000 gain, if there's a mismatch, you'll likely get a CP2000 notice in the mail asking you to explain the discrepancy. This creates unnecessary paperwork and stress, even if you don't end up owing any additional tax. Since you mentioned these are long-term gains and you're likely in a lower income bracket, you're probably right that they'll be taxed at 0%. But reporting them is still required and honestly pretty straightforward once you have your 1099-B form. Just fill out Schedule D and Form 8949 - it's a few extra lines but saves you potential headaches later. Better to spend 15 minutes reporting them correctly now than dealing with IRS correspondence later!