I've been running my single-member LLC for 8 years now, and honestly what matters most isn't which account you pay from but how you RECORD it in your books. The IRS cares about proper documentation more than anything. I pay all my quarterly taxes from my personal account after taking a distribution from my business. In my bookkeeping software, I record the transfer as "Owner's Draw" not as a business expense. This keeps everything clean for tax purposes. The one time I got audited (for something unrelated), the IRS agent actually commented that my bookkeeping was well-organized because I had a clear separation between business expenses and personal tax payments. Just my 2 cents from someone who's been through the ringer!

This is such a common question for new LLC owners! I went through the same confusion when I started my freelance business last year. After talking to my CPA and doing some research, here's what I learned: For a single-member LLC, you're absolutely right that it's a pass-through entity, so technically either method works. However, I've found it's cleaner to transfer money to my personal account as an owner's draw and then pay the taxes from there. This way, my business books clearly show the transfer as a distribution rather than a business expense (since these are personal income taxes, not business taxes). The key is just being consistent and documenting everything properly. I keep a simple spreadsheet tracking my quarterly estimated payments and the corresponding owner's draws, which has made tax filing much smoother. Your friend isn't wrong about keeping things "clean" but paying from personal after a proper transfer is equally clean and actually makes more accounting sense in my opinion. Good luck with your Q4 payment!

Omg I went through this EXACT nightmare last month! I filed on Feb 18th and couldn't access my SBTPG account for almost 3 weeks! I kept checking every single day and getting more frustrated. Turns out my return had a small review flag on it (nothing serious) but that delayed the SBTPG account creation. When I finally got through to someone, they told me they had my info the whole time but their system doesn't create the customer-facing account until certain processing steps are complete. So annoying they don't explain this anywhere! Just keep checking WMR and be patient - your money isn't lost!

I had the same exact issue earlier this tax season! The key thing to remember is that SBTPG operates on a "just-in-time" account creation system. Your account literally doesn't exist in their customer portal until your refund has been approved by the IRS and is ready for processing. I made the mistake of calling them repeatedly for a week, only to learn that this is completely normal. Check your IRS "Where's My Refund" status first - if you're still showing "Return Received" or "Being Processed," then SBTPG won't have your account visible yet. Once you hit "Refund Approved," you should see your SBTPG account within 24-48 hours. It's frustrating but totally normal!

One additional consideration that hasn't been fully addressed - if you're dealing with significant investment gains, you might want to explore charitable remainder trusts (CRTs) or donor-advised funds as alternatives to direct donations. With a CRT, you could transfer some of your appreciated stock directly to the trust, get an immediate charitable deduction, avoid capital gains tax on the transfer, and still receive income payments back over time. This could be especially beneficial given your unexpected investment returns. Donor-advised funds are simpler and let you make a large contribution in a high-income year (like this one with your investment gains), get the immediate tax deduction if you itemize, and then distribute the funds to charities over multiple years. You'd still need to itemize to benefit, but it gives you more flexibility in timing your charitable giving. Since you're in a partnership, these strategies would typically be done personally rather than through the LLC, but they might be more tax-efficient ways to achieve your charitable and tax planning goals given your current situation with the investment gains.

This has been such a helpful thread! As someone also dealing with unexpected investment gains in my LLC partnership, I wanted to share what I learned after consulting with a tax specialist following this discussion. The key insight was that LLC charitable donations are really more about the individual partners' tax situations than the business itself. Since the deduction passes through, it only helps if you itemize - and with the current high standard deduction amounts, many people don't. What worked better for my situation was a hybrid approach: 1) Used legitimate business expenses (equipment purchases, professional development) to reduce the partnership income directly 2) Made personal charitable donations using the stock donation strategy mentioned by Nia - donated appreciated shares directly to avoid capital gains while getting the full FMV deduction 3) Bunched two years of planned donations into this high-income year to push itemized deductions above the standard deduction threshold This combination gave us both business-level tax reduction AND personal charitable deductions that actually provided tax benefit. The stock donation piece was especially powerful since we avoided paying capital gains on the appreciation. For anyone in a similar situation, I'd definitely recommend mapping out both business expense strategies AND personal charitable giving strategies rather than assuming business donations are automatically better. The pass-through nature of partnerships makes the tax planning more nuanced than it first appears.

This whole thread has been incredibly helpful! I've been putting off doing my taxes because I was so confused about this "other income" section. Based on everyone's responses, it sounds like I need to be more systematic about this. I have a few different situations: I sold my old textbooks for about $320 (definitely less than I paid for them originally), got a $100 referral bonus from my bank, and made $180 helping my neighbor build a deck. From what I'm reading here, the textbook sales don't need to be reported since I sold at a loss, but the bank referral bonus and the deck work should go in "other income." One question though - should I put each item on a separate line with descriptions, or can I combine them? Like "Bank referral bonus $100, Construction work $180" all on line 8z? The forms don't seem super clear about whether you need to itemize each source separately or if you can group similar things together.

This has been such a helpful thread! I'm a tax preparer and I see people struggle with the "other income" section constantly. A few additional things to keep in mind: 1. **Timing matters** - Report income in the year you received it, not when you earned it. So if you did work in December 2023 but got paid in January 2024, that goes on your 2024 return. 2. **Keep records** - Even for small amounts, keep documentation. Bank statements, PayPal records, Venmo transactions, etc. The IRS can ask for proof of any income you report (or don't report). 3. **State taxes** - Don't forget that most states will also want to know about this "other income" if you have to file a state return. 4. **Form 1099-MISC threshold** - If any single payer gave you $600+ during the year, they should have sent you a 1099-MISC. If you didn't get one but should have, you still need to report the income. The key is being honest and thorough. The IRS would rather see you report questionable small amounts than find out later you didn't report something you should have. When in doubt, report it with a clear description!

Does anyone know if you can apply NOL carryforwards when using tax software like TurboTax or do you need an accountant? I'm trying to save money since I'm still in startup mode but don't want to miss out on using my losses from last year.

Just want to add my experience as someone who went through this recently. I had about $8k in losses from my graphic design business startup costs and was able to carry them forward successfully. The key thing I learned is that you need to distinguish between startup costs (which might need to be amortized over 15 years) and regular business operating expenses (which can create the NOL immediately). Things like your office supplies, software subscriptions, and marketing expenses that you mentioned should qualify for immediate NOL treatment. But if you had any costs related to actually starting the business (like legal fees to set up your LLC, initial market research, etc.), those might fall under the startup cost rules and need different treatment. I'd recommend keeping track of which category each expense falls into - it'll make carrying forward much smoother and help if you ever get questioned about it. The NOL carryforward has been a lifesaver for offsetting my profits this year!