Dumb question maybe but what happens at the end of the year with wash sales? If I have disallowed losses from December, do they just disappear?

Great explanation from everyone here! As someone who got burned by wash sales in my first year of active trading, I want to emphasize how important it is to track these across ALL your accounts. I had Fidelity, E*TRADE, and a small Robinhood account, and each platform only reported wash sales within their own system. What really helped me was setting up a simple spreadsheet to track any stock I sold at a loss, with a 30-day "no buy" reminder. Sounds tedious but it saved me from creating unnecessary wash sales, especially during volatile periods when I wanted to jump back into positions quickly. Also worth noting - if you have a spouse who trades, their transactions count toward YOUR wash sale calculations too! Found that out the hard way when my wife bought Tesla shares two weeks after I sold mine at a loss. The IRS considers all accounts under the same tax filing, so coordinate with your partner if applicable. For anyone doing tax-loss harvesting near year-end, be extra careful about the calendar. That 30-day window can easily cross into the new tax year and mess up your planning.

Just wanted to add another perspective on the F1 visa work authorization issue. I run a digital marketing agency and went through this exact situation last year with a talented MBA student from Brazil. The process ended up being more straightforward than I initially feared, but timing was everything. She applied for CPT through her university since our marketing work directly related to her MBA coursework. The university's international office was incredibly helpful - they walked her through the entire application process and had her authorized within about 2 weeks. One thing I learned is that CPT has some advantages over OPT in this situation. CPT can be used while she's still in school and doesn't count against her OPT time (which she might want to save for after graduation). The downside is that CPT requires the work to be directly related to her field of study, so you'd need to make sure the marketing role aligns with her MBA program. For the tax side, I ended up working with a CPA who specializes in international contractors. Worth every penny - they handled all the withholding requirements and made sure we filed the right forms. The 30% withholding rate was reduced to 15% because of the US-Brazil tax treaty, but we needed Form 8233 to claim that benefit. My advice: get her to her international student office ASAP, and don't be afraid to invest in professional help for the tax compliance piece. The potential penalties for getting this wrong far outweigh the cost of doing it right.

As someone who's navigated similar waters, I can't stress enough how important it is to get this right from the start. The good news is that if she's pursuing an MBA and this is marketing work, CPT could be a great option since it's directly related to her field of study. Here's what I'd recommend as immediate next steps: 1) Have her schedule an appointment with her university's international student services office this week - they'll know exactly what authorization options are available and can guide her through the application process. 2) Don't start any work relationship until you have her work authorization documents in hand, even if it's just a few hours here and there. 3) Once she gets authorization, connect with a CPA who has experience with international contractors to handle the tax compliance piece properly. The whole process took about 3-4 weeks for a similar situation I dealt with last year, and having proper authorization from the start saved us from potential compliance nightmares later. Yes, there's some upfront complexity with the tax withholding and reporting requirements, but it's definitely manageable with the right professional guidance. The investment in doing this correctly will pay off in peace of mind and avoiding any future issues with immigration or tax authorities.

Based on the excellent discussion here, I'd recommend a phased approach that balances tax efficiency with your diversification goals. Since your son is only 12, you have time to be strategic. First, request detailed tax lot information from your broker showing the purchase dates and cost basis for each gift. Look for any positions that are at a loss or have minimal gains - these should be your first candidates for selling and reinvesting in your S&P 500 fund. For the remaining positions, consider selling just enough each year to stay under the $2,500 kiddie tax threshold (around $1,250 in actual gains after the standard deduction). This gradual approach will take several years but avoids the large tax hit while steadily reducing concentration risk. However, if college is definitely in your son's future, there's merit to accelerating this timeline. Completing the diversification by his sophomore year of high school could significantly improve financial aid eligibility, as UTMA assets are assessed at 20% versus 5.64% for parent assets like 529 plans. One hybrid strategy: sell positions with the highest cost basis first (lowest taxable gains), reinvest in index funds, and keep 1-2 of the best performing individual stocks with the lowest basis. This gives you diversification while maintaining some upside exposure. Also consider discussing future gifting strategy with your brother-in-law - cash gifts instead of appreciated stock would avoid this complexity going forward.

Most brokerages will provide detailed tax lot information if you request it, though the format varies. You can usually find this in your online account under "tax documents" or "cost basis reporting," or call and ask for a "detailed position report" that shows each lot's purchase date, shares, and cost basis. For concentration risk, a common rule of thumb is to limit individual stock positions to 5-10% of the total portfolio each. If your son's account has grown to where individual positions exceed this, that's when diversification becomes more critical than tax optimization. Regarding the 529 strategy - you cannot directly transfer securities from a UTMA to a 529. You'd need to sell the stocks (triggering capital gains), then make cash contributions to a 529 plan. While the 529 would get better financial aid treatment, you'd lose the "step-up in basis" that occurs when your son inherits the UTMA at majority age. A middle-ground approach might be to gradually sell portions of the UTMA over several years, paying the kiddie tax, then contributing the after-tax proceeds to a 529. This spreads the tax impact while improving the financial aid profile. You could also consider keeping some funds in the UTMA for non-education expenses since 529s have penalties for non-qualified withdrawals. The key is modeling different scenarios with actual numbers to see which approach saves the most money long-term considering taxes, financial aid impact, and your family's specific college/career plans.

Does anyone know if the IRS ever provides this breakdown when they send your refund? Like some kind of statement that says "You received $X for Child Tax Credit, $Y for Earned Income Credit" etc.? In Canada, their tax agency sends a detailed explanation with the refund payment, wondering if the IRS does something similar.

For anyone still looking for a simple solution within TurboTax itself, there's actually a really useful feature called "View Your Tax Summary" that breaks down your refund components. After you complete your return, go to the final review screen and look for a link that says something like "Why is my refund this amount?" or "View detailed summary." This will show you a breakdown that includes: - Total tax before credits - How much each credit reduced your tax - Your total withholdings and estimated payments - The final refund calculation It's not as detailed as some of the third-party tools mentioned here, but it gives you a good overview of the major contributors to your refund without needing to upload your documents anywhere else. I found this really helpful for understanding that my refund wasn't just from overwithholding - a big chunk actually came from the credits I qualified for!

Quick question about this - does this same rule apply for state taxes too? My husband and I file separately for federal but jointly for state because our state has better credits for joint filers.

I've been following this thread and wanted to share my experience as someone who went through almost exactly the same situation. My spouse and I had been filing separately for about 6 years, with me itemizing (due to high medical expenses and charitable donations) while my spouse took the standard deduction. Like you, we never received any notices from the IRS, so I assumed we were doing everything correctly. It wasn't until I mentioned our situation to a CPA friend that I learned about the "both must itemize if one itemizes" rule for married filing separately. What really opened my eyes was when we finally did a comprehensive comparison of filing jointly vs. separately (with both of us itemizing correctly). We discovered we had been overpaying by about $1,800 annually! The joint filing gave us access to credits we couldn't claim when filing separately, and even though our combined income pushed us into a higher bracket, the overall tax was still significantly lower. The lesson I learned is that tax situations change over time - income levels, deduction amounts, tax law changes - and what made sense years ago might not be optimal anymore. I'd strongly recommend doing that side-by-side comparison before this year's filing deadline. You might be surprised by the results!