Has anyone had issues with property tax reassessment when adding new trustees to an existing trust? Our county tried to claim it triggered a property tax reassessment when we updated our trust and added my sister as co-trustee.

Just wanted to add something that saved us a lot of headaches - make sure you understand the timing rules for the Section 121 exclusion with trusts. The "2 out of 5 years" primary residence test has to be met by the person who actually lived in the home, not just any trustee. In your case, since the original trustee lived there the entire 13 years, you're golden. But we almost made a mistake thinking that because my dad was added as a trustee 3 years ago, his residency timeline mattered too. It doesn't - only the person who actually used it as their primary residence. Also, keep detailed records of when the trust was updated and when new trustees were added. The IRS may want to see that the beneficial ownership didn't change, just the management structure. Since it remained revocable throughout, you should be fine, but documentation helps if questions come up later. One last tip: if you're expecting $450k in gains, even with the exclusion you might have some taxable portion depending on your filing status. Consider whether it makes sense to spread the sale across tax years or if there are any timing strategies that could help minimize the tax hit.

I'm in this exact situation - our income jumped from around $180k to $240k and suddenly we owe instead of getting a refund! Has anyone tried adjusting withholdings to account for this? I'm thinking of changing my W-4 to withhold an additional $200 per paycheck to avoid owing next year.

I went through almost the exact same situation two years ago - income jumped from $165k to $225k and suddenly owed $800 when we'd always gotten refunds before. The shock is real! What helped me understand it was realizing that our 401k contributions were still doing their job (reducing taxable income), but we were losing other benefits I didn't even know we had. The student loan interest deduction completely disappeared at our new income level, and we lost some education credits for my spouse's graduate courses. The other big factor was that more of our income was now taxed at higher marginal rates. When you're at $175k vs $228k, a much larger chunk of that income falls into the 24% bracket instead of the 22% bracket. That alone can create a significant difference in your tax liability. I'd definitely recommend running the numbers on adjusting your withholdings for 2025. We ended up increasing our 401k contributions slightly and adjusted our W-4 withholdings to account for the higher tax burden at our new income level.

I saw one where it shows the IRS as Michael Scott from The Office saying "I am not superstitious, but I am a little stitious" with the caption "The IRS requiring receipts for exactly $599 but not $600" and I think about it every time I do my self-employment taxes.

The "calculating if I can claim my plants as dependents" one absolutely sent me! 😂 My personal favorite is the one with someone frantically digging through a mountain of papers captioned "Me looking for that ONE receipt from 8 months ago that might save me $3 in taxes." There's also this classic with Drake pointing - "Doing taxes myself" (disapproving Drake) vs "Paying someone else to do them and pretending I understand what they did" (approving Drake). Hits way too close to home! Anyone else relate to the meme where it's like "January: I'm going to be so organized with my receipts this year" followed by "April: *shoebox full of crumpled receipts*"? That's literally my life story every single year.

Has anyone used TurboTax to claim home office deductions like this? The software kept giving me warnings when I tried to deduct my home office renovation costs last year.

I went through something very similar in 2020-2021 when I claimed renovation expenses for my home office setup. The key distinction the IRS agent explained to me is that major renovations like what you described are typically considered "capital improvements" rather than startup costs or regular business expenses. Capital improvements need to be depreciated over time (usually 39 years for home office improvements) rather than deducted all at once. The fact that you deducted the full $18,500 in one year as startup costs is likely what triggered their attention, especially combined with zero income. When I dealt with my situation, I had to file an amended return using Form 8829 to properly categorize the renovation as a capital improvement and start depreciating it. The IRS was actually pretty reasonable about it once I showed I was genuinely trying to run a business and had documentation of my business activities (even though I wasn't profitable yet). My advice: Don't panic, but do take this seriously. Gather all your receipts, any evidence of business activity (marketing efforts, business registration, etc.), and consider consulting a tax professional before responding. The IRS agent is likely just trying to understand if this is a legitimate business expense that was incorrectly categorized rather than looking to penalize you.

Has anyone used TurboTax for reporting small amounts of foreign interest income? Does it automatically generate Schedule B when you input foreign interest, or do you have to know to add it yourself?

I've been dealing with a similar situation for years and can confirm what others have said here. The most important thing is that you've been properly reporting the income on your 1040 - that shows good faith compliance with tax obligations. The Schedule B requirement for foreign interest is indeed a technicality that many people miss, but since you've reported all income correctly, the IRS isn't going to come after you for a few dollars of properly-taxed foreign interest. The disclosure aspect is important, but it's separate from your tax liability. Going forward, definitely include Schedule B and check "Yes" on Part III about having foreign accounts. This gives the IRS the transparency they're looking for. Don't lose sleep over amending previous returns - focus your energy on getting it right from now on. One tip: when you do file Schedule B going forward, make sure to report the interest in the foreign currency amount converted to USD using the average exchange rate for the year. Keep records of the conversion rates you used.