You have to file as married if you're married on the last day of the year. You can't file as single, you can file as married filing separately but it probably leads to more tax.

I'm not aware of any tax software that doesn't round to the nearest dollar. The more surprising thing to me is that you're allowed to use cents at all, as I've never seen it.

Honestly there is not much way to offset W-2 income that actually keeps money in your pocket, besides retirement investing. Most deductions represent money spent. You could give to charity, or run a failing business that has a net loss, but you have less money afterwards.

> Can someone give me the basics of minor income and if this is a big undertaking or not?

Earned income works the same for minors as anyone else. If she makes over $433, she'll have to file a tax return and report it as self-employment income. Below that amount, no need to do anything. Under no circumstances do the parents report their child's earned income.

Unearned income like interest and dividends has some more complex rules, and in some cases the parents are allowed to report it on their own return rather than the child filing.

No, not almost everyone should. People who have a particular short term goal they are saving up cash for should. Saving for a down payment on a house or something? I bonds are great.

All my current savings goals are either less than one year (emergency savings which I might need tomorrow, summer vacation), or very long term (retirement). Neither of those are suitable for I bonds.

No, money does not magically appear in the account. Reimbursement means that you are withdrawing the funds that you put into the account. That's why you're putting money into the account. To take it back out and spend it on medical expenses.

The advantage is that you got a tax deduction for contributing the funds, and that you don't pay any tax to withdraw either.

Ideally, you should leave the money in the account and wait until old age to be reimbursed, that way you can invest the money in it.

Is the "Voluntary Disability" CASDI and/or CAVPDI? I'm assuming so, as every worker in CA is required to pay one or the other, and you didn't list it separately.

In either case, it should only be 1.2% of your income, and should not exceed $1,601.20 for the year. Ask your employer why they're deducting so much. It's a flat rate so it shouldn't be affected by your W-4.

If it actually refers to a private disability plan and not the state disability tax, then you're paying a lot for disability insurance and should also ask why.

Yes, you can deduct depreciation on an asset converted from personal to business use. Until the end of 2022 you're allowed to take 100% bonus depreciation in the first year you put an asset into service, so no need to worry about tracking depreciation year over year, you can take the full deduction immediately.

However, the deduction would be based on the fair market value when you convert it to business use, not what it was worth when you bought it. So you have to figure out what a used, few years old MacBook would sell for, and deduct that, not its original price. Unless it's somehow worth more used than new, in that case only deduct the original cost.

You also have to determine how much you use it for personal vs business purposes and only deduct the appropriate percentage, you can't deduct the whole amount unless you use it 100% for business.

So for example, say you look on ebay and determine that your computer would sell for about $800 used. And say you use it 60% for business use. You can deduct $800 * 60% = $480. Since 100% bonus depreciation is still in effect, you can deduct that whole amount this year (otherwise you'd have to split that deduction over the next 5 years).

You don't have any tax withheld because you don't owe any, you're not close to owing any, and in fact the government is going to give you thousands of dollars as a tax "refund" when you file next year even though you didn't pay anything to be refunded.

You have to understand that the country's biggest welfare programs are built straight into the tax code. Having children, and low income, entitles you to tax credits like the child tax credit and the earned income credit. $2,000 per child for the CTC, and potentially over $6,000 for the EIC. This more than offsets any taxes you'd otherwise owe on your income, and the remainder will be paid out to you as cash.

You're in the same category as 40% of the country.