Thanks for bringing this up - I had no idea there might be specific rules for managing her SSI benefits. Her mind is still sharp, she just has physical limitations that make it hard for her to get around and handle paperwork. Does that matter for the representative payee requirement?

If your grandmother is mentally capable of managing her benefits but just needs physical help, then you probably don't need to be a formal representative payee. The representative payee program is primarily designed for beneficiaries who can't manage their funds due to mental impairments. Since she's mentally capable and is voluntarily sending you the money to help manage her finances, this is more of an informal family arrangement. Still, it might be worth documenting this arrangement with a simple letter that you both sign, stating she's authorizing you to help manage her finances. This isn't required by law, but can be helpful documentation to have if questions ever arise.

Be careful with joint accounts! If your grandmother ever needs to apply for Medicaid for long-term care, a joint account could be considered her asset AND your asset, which can complicate eligibility. This happened to my aunt and it was a mess to untangle.

I didn't even think about state tax implications! Which state are you in that taxes Roth contribution withdrawals differently?

I'm in Massachusetts. They generally follow federal rules for retirement accounts, but they have some weird exceptions. For example, they don't recognize Roth 401(k)s the same way the feds do. California and New Jersey have some unique rules too. It's worth checking your specific state's tax department website or talking to someone who understands your state's rules. Each state can be different when it comes to retirement account taxation.

Yes! I called Vanguard when this happened to me. They were super helpful and issued a corrected 1099-R with the proper code for a return of contributions. Saved me tons of hassle.

That's a really good point! But where do you find the official exchange rates to use? Is there an IRS approved source?

The IRS doesn't specify one official source for currency exchange rates, but they generally accept rates from major financial institutions or government sources. I typically use the Treasury Department's rates at https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/datasets/treasury-reporting-rates-exchange/ or sometimes the Federal Reserve rates. You can also use rates from major financial publications like Bloomberg or the Wall Street Journal. Just be consistent in which source you use for all your calculations and keep documentation of where you got the rates in case of questions later.

I had an IRS inquiry about manually entered stock sales a couple years ago. They just asked me to provide the purchase and sale confirmations to verify the cost basis and proceeds I'd reported. Wasn't a big deal since I had kept good records. They accepted everything without adjustments once I provided the documentation.

Wait, are you saying I might have to pay US taxes on money I haven't even taken out of my company as dividends yet? That sounds terrifying. How do I figure out if GILTI applies to my Thai company?

Yes, that's exactly what GILTI can do in certain situations. It was designed to prevent US taxpayers from indefinitely deferring US tax by keeping profits in foreign corporations. The calculation is complex, but essentially if your Thai company's income exceeds a certain return on its tangible assets, the excess could be considered GILTI and taxable to you personally even if the money stays in the company. To determine if GILTI applies, you'll need to look at your company's income, the value of its tangible depreciable business property, and Thailand's corporate tax rates. This is definitely an area where professional help is valuable. Form 8992 is used to report GILTI. You might be able to reduce the impact through something called the "high-tax exception" if Thailand's corporate tax rate is high enough, or through the Section 962 election that someone mentioned earlier. Both strategies can potentially reduce the tax impact of GILTI.

The Transition Tax was a one-time tax on accumulated foreign earnings as part of the 2017 tax reform. If you've already dealt with that (or started your business after that), you shouldn't have to worry about it again. Now we just have to deal with GILTI every year instead! :-/

I haven't tried different browsers yet, that's a good suggestion. I've been using Chrome this whole time. Did you have this specific issue with the vehicle info disappearing and Firefox fixed it? Or was it a different problem?

I had almost the exact same issue - the vehicle information would disappear whenever I navigated away from Schedule C. Switching to Firefox completely resolved it for me. I think it might have something to do with how different browsers handle the form's JavaScript. Make sure you clear your cache and cookies before trying in the new browser. Also, when entering the vehicle info in Firefox, I made sure to click the specific "Save" button in that section before moving to any other part of the form.

This is really helpful info! Do you know if there are any other sections of the Free File Fillable Forms that have known bugs this year? I'm about to start my taxes and wondering if I should just use different software entirely.