Has anyone considered a third option? You could lease your truck to the S-Corp through a formal lease agreement. The S-Corp pays you lease payments (which are fully deductible business expenses for the company) and you report the lease income on your personal return. This avoids the whole depreciation issue while still giving the company a deduction for the vehicle use.

Great question Sofia! As others have confirmed, you're correct that the S-Corp cannot claim bonus depreciation on your personally-owned truck. Since the asset isn't owned by the corporation, only you as the individual owner can claim depreciation on your personal tax return. However, I'd suggest comparing all your options carefully. The accountable plan reimbursement you're currently using is actually quite beneficial - you get tax-free reimbursements from the company, and the S-Corp gets a full business deduction for the payments. Before considering selling the truck to the S-Corp (which creates potential tax complications as Dmitry mentioned), run the numbers on both the standard mileage rate versus actual expenses through your accountable plan. Given that you have a heavy truck over 6,000 lbs with high operating costs, the actual expense method will likely be more advantageous than the 67 cents per mile standard rate. The key is maintaining detailed records of business versus personal use regardless of which method you choose. Your current setup might already be optimal from a tax perspective!

This is such a common confusion for college students! You're absolutely right to be asking about this before filing. Let me add a few clarifications that might help: The excess scholarship amount that covered your housing IS taxable income that you'll report on your tax return. But here's something many students miss - make sure you're including ALL qualified education expenses when calculating what's taxable, not just tuition. This includes required fees, books, supplies, equipment, and even things like required software or lab fees. Since you mentioned taking loans for "course materials and living expenses," if any of those course materials were required for your classes, those expenses reduce the taxable portion of your scholarships. So if you spent $800 on required textbooks and lab fees, that $800 reduces your taxable scholarship income. Your loan refunds are definitely not taxable - you're correct about that. And yes, since your parents claim you as a dependent, they would be eligible for education credits if they paid any qualified expenses out of pocket. One important note: moving out in April won't affect your dependency status for this tax year. That's determined by who provided more than half your support for the entire year. The change might affect next year's filing though. Keep good records of all your required educational expenses - they can save you money on taxes!

I want to add one more important detail that could really help with your situation! Since you mentioned working as a campus ambassador, make sure you're considering how your earned income affects your tax picture alongside the scholarship income. If you earned income from your campus ambassador job, that's subject to the kiddie tax rules since you're claimed as a dependent. But here's the key thing - your earned income gets its own standard deduction calculation (your earned income plus $400, up to the full standard deduction), which might cover some or all of your taxable scholarship income. Also, I noticed you said you're planning to file "soon" - just a reminder that if you're a dependent with taxable scholarship income, you still need to file your own return even though your parents claim you. Many students don't realize this and think their parents' return covers everything. One last tip: if this is only your second time filing, consider using Form 1040EZ or the standard Form 1040 with tax software that specifically handles student situations. The scholarship income reporting can be tricky, and you want to make sure you're putting that excess scholarship amount on the right line with the proper notation ("SCH" next to the amount on Line 1). Keep all your documentation - 1098-T, receipts for required course materials, and records of what your scholarships actually covered. You might need them if there are any questions later!

Welcome to the community! As a newcomer here, I've been following this discussion with great interest since I'm considering entering the pet grooming industry myself. The consensus from everyone's experiences really confirms that booth rental arrangements like yours are completely legitimate when structured properly. What I find most reassuring is how consistently everyone emphasizes the same key factors - maintaining true operational independence, having proper documentation, and ensuring the relationship is genuinely landlord-tenant rather than employer-employee. Your situation clearly meets all the IRS criteria for independent contractor status. You control your own schedule and pricing, maintain direct client relationships, handle your own payments and supplies, and operate completely independently. The salon owner is essentially just your landlord, not your boss. The fact that the previous owner's audit went smoothly is excellent validation, but even without that precedent, your arrangement sounds textbook legitimate based on everything I've learned from this thread. For newcomers like me who are researching this business model, this discussion has been incredibly educational about the importance of proper documentation, clear rental agreements, and maintaining separation between your business operations and the salon's. Don't let those uninformed Facebook comments stress you out - you're clearly doing everything right and operating a legitimate business structure that's well-established in the industry!

As a newcomer to this community, I'm incredibly grateful for all the detailed information shared in this thread! I'm just starting to explore the pet grooming industry and was initially concerned about the legitimacy of booth rental arrangements after hearing conflicting opinions online. Reading through everyone's experiences has been so reassuring - it's clear that when structured properly with true operational independence, booth rental is a completely legitimate business model. The distinction between genuine independent contractor relationships and employee misclassification schemes makes perfect sense when broken down the way everyone has explained it here. What I find most valuable are the practical tips about documentation, maintaining separate business operations, and ensuring the rental agreement clearly establishes a landlord-tenant relationship rather than employer-employee. The fact that multiple people have gone through audits successfully really validates that this business structure works when done correctly. For someone like me who wants the independence of running my own business but isn't ready for the overhead of opening a full salon, booth rental sounds like the perfect stepping stone. Thank you to everyone who shared their experiences and expertise - this thread is going straight into my reference folder for when I'm ready to start my grooming business!

I just wanted to add another data point to this helpful discussion. I successfully completed my ID.me verification yesterday after dealing with the same E4401 error for over a week. What worked for me was a combination of several suggestions from this thread: - Unfroze Experian and TransUnion for 5 days (left Equifax frozen) - Waited 6 hours after unfreezing before attempting verification - Used Edge browser in InPrivate mode (Chrome kept giving me camera issues) - Did the verification at 2 PM with natural window lighting - Had my driver's license, most recent tax return, and utility bill ready The key insight for me was that the error wasn't just about credit freezes - it was also about browser compatibility. I had tried multiple times with Safari and Chrome, but Edge was the only browser that properly handled the camera and document upload steps without glitches. One thing I noticed that others haven't mentioned: make sure your driver's license isn't expired or close to expiring. Mine expires next month, and I initially got rejected even with credit unfrozen. I had to use my passport instead for the document verification step. The whole process took about 25 minutes once everything was properly set up. Finally got access to my tax transcripts and submitted them to my lender this morning. Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences - this thread was incredibly helpful!

I've been lurking on this thread for days while dealing with my own ID.me verification nightmare, and I finally got through this morning! Wanted to share what worked for me since I tried almost everything mentioned here. My winning combination: - Unfroze all three major bureaus (Experian, Equifax, TransUnion) for 4 days - Waited exactly 12 hours after unfreezing before attempting verification - Used Firefox in private browsing mode (surprisingly, this worked better than Chrome for me) - Did it at 10 AM with my phone positioned near a window for optimal lighting - Had my passport, latest W-2, and current mortgage statement ready The breakthrough moment was realizing that my address on file with the credit bureaus was slightly different from what I was entering (I had "Street" abbreviated as "St" in some places but not others). Once I made sure to enter my address exactly as it appears on my credit reports, the verification went through smoothly. One more tip: if you have multiple addresses in your credit history (like if you've moved recently), be prepared to verify information from your previous address too. ID.me asked me about a mortgage I had at my old house from 2 years ago. Total time from start to finish was about 18 minutes. Now I can finally access my tax transcripts! This thread was a lifesaver - thank you everyone for sharing your experiences.

I went through something very similar with my old Coca-Cola shares that I inherited and had in DRIP for years. The key thing to remember is that each DRIP purchase creates a separate tax lot with its own cost basis and purchase date, even if it's just buying a fraction of a share. For record-keeping, I'd strongly recommend creating a spreadsheet that tracks each purchase (including reinvested dividends) with the date, number of shares purchased, and price per share. Then apply any stock splits chronologically to adjust both the share count and cost basis per share for each lot. When you sell using FIFO, you're correct that you'd start with your oldest shares first. So yes, your original gifted share (now 4 shares after the splits) would be sold first, then move chronologically through your DRIP purchases. One thing to watch out for: make sure you're accounting for any dividend reinvestments that happened between the stock splits, as those would have their own purchase dates and would also be subject to the split adjustments. It can get complex quickly, but the principle remains the same - oldest shares out first under FIFO.

One thing that might help is to check if McDonald's has an investor relations section on their website with historical dividend and split information. Many companies maintain detailed records of all their corporate actions that you can use to verify your calculations. Also, since you mentioned this was a gift from your grandparents, make sure you're using their original cost basis (what they paid for it), not the fair market value when you received it. Gifted shares retain the original owner's cost basis, unlike inherited shares which get a stepped-up basis. If you're still enrolled in any dividend reinvestment plans, your statements should show the cost basis for each DRIP purchase. Many companies switched to electronic recordkeeping in the early 2000s, so you might be able to access historical records online through the plan administrator's website.