Ashlea, what's up here?

So basically, the tax cuts are delivering bigger refunds and smaller tax bills to high income Democrat leaning regions that didn't vote for him.

They're like millions of taxpayers.

And it's largely those between $150,000 and $600,000 of income.

They're starting to reap the benefits of this change in the SALT cap.

And what that is, is this... tax deduction that you can take if it's higher than it just it's super it's super good if you have high property taxes high state taxes then you get this salt deduction and it used to be capped at ten thousand dollars but the new tax law increased the cap to forty thousand dollars which means a much bigger deductions for all these people

But not a lot was made of this, right? It was mostly about the tax law, overtime, tips, things like that.

So that's true.

So, if I want to convert my retirement accounts that I have now to Roths, how do I go about doing that?

There are multiple ways to get Roths, and the one is contributing directly, which a lot of young people are doing now, just maxing out a Roth IRA contribution.

There are income limits for that.

But for people who already have a lot of money in traditional retirement accounts, they might want to consider converting some of those over to a Roth account.

And you basically just take the money out of one, into the other.

The catch is, you pay income taxes on the amount you convert.

So it's not a decision to be made lightly.

When you spoke to financial advisors, what was their guidance when it came to Roths and how much you should convert your savings into Roth accounts?

Can you tell me more about why that, in particular, can feel so painful to investors right now?

So, required minimum distributions can be especially painful in down markets 'cause they're set based on the previous year's account balances, and in 2024, markets were booming.

So you're looking at your December 31st, 2024 balance, and that's what you base the 2025 required distribution on.

But retirees who've planned well should have some cash reserves in their retirement accounts knowing that these required distributions are coming due.

For those who don't, one thing they can do is they can sell in regular increments over the course of the year, and that way you're not locking in losses at market lows.

As investors weather this turbulent market time, what tax concerns would you caution them to keep top of mind?

Probably the most important thing is just keeping current on your taxes.

There's all this noise out there, "Oh, the IRS has layoffs and is cutting staff.

For anyone who's thinking of opening a Roth IRA, what are some key things to keep in mind, and are there common mistakes people make?

Two big things.

One, you have to have earnings to contribute.

There is an exception though, for spouses who don't work.

They can open accounts based on their working spouse's earnings.

The other big thing with Roth IRAs is the ability to contribute directly depends on savers' modified adjusted gross income, and those above the income limits can still put money into a traditional IRA and then move it into a Roth.

That's another more complicated strategy called a backdoor Roth, and there are pitfalls to watch out for that.

How often should you contribute?

And gig workers are taxed on profits rather than gross revenue, and so that means understanding business deductions is super important. I wonder from your perspective, what kinds of expenses would you recommend a self-employed taxpayer pay extra close attention to?

The, the first big one, maybe you can take the home office deduction, and that's if you use part of your house exclusively for your gig job, and there's a simplified version based on the size of your office, up to 300 square feet, so you can get up to $1,500 off your taxes that way. Other deductions you should look at would be business phone and internet usage, vehicle mileage if you drive for your business, business meals can count, but the key thing is meticulous records are absolutely essential in case you do get audited. So you're reporting on Schedule C probably, your business income, and then you're likely able to get this extra 20% deduction just for being a self-employed person.

Your story makes mention of one tax form in particular, the 1099-K. Why is it important that gig workers understand this form and its significance?

That is super important. A good nine-to-five worker gets a W-2 form at tax season and that outlines their wages, that would go to the worker and the IRS. So along the same lines, a self-employed worker would get a 1099-K and that could be from transactions from online payers like PayPal or it could be from eBay if you're selling stuff online. The threshold for these forms to go out for last tax year, the, well, this current tax season is when transactions for goods and services exceed $5,000. It used to be $20,000, so way more people have gotten those forms in January and, and they're dealing with them on their taxes this year.