Do you own a home? If yes, how much did you pay in property tax and the interest portion of mortgage in 2022?

I made an edit in my OP: our income is $55k, not $65k.

Thank you for the explanation, although I’m not sure what the outcome means. Thanks for the info about the gift.

Also, I know having the cash on hand to put into the 2022 traditional IRA can be difficult. Make sure you find a good CPA first

Ally money market is now at 4% as of last week

It all depends on other info you haven’t given. Do you pay for a mortgage? What do your real estate/property taxes look like?

You can only deduct medical expenses above 7.5% of your AGI. With only his income and no other adjustments, medical expenses for deductions would be around 19k. If that’s the only deduction you have, you’d be taking the standard. If you have mortgage interest, property taxes, insurance premiums, charitable contributions, etc (Google Schedule A to see deductions)..then you’d be able to deduct medical expenses as long as itemized deductions exceed $25,900 (assuming you’re filing jointly)

Lmao. A "ghost preparer" isn't going to tell you you owe 25k! That's just absurd. That totally undermines the whole premise of a "ghost preparer".

I make a couple times their combined income and have several non-work income sources, and various things which require me to itemize deductions. My taxes are "complex" compared to most people's. I have NEVER needed to pay someone to do my taxes. And I've had a similar insurance situation to what OP describes.

Taxes aren't rocket science, any anyone required to report anything is also required to send you a w2 or 1099, so you legally WILL receive everything you need to do it. Even if you do it on paper, by hand, it's comically easy, with step-by-step, very explicit instructions for every single item. You don't even have to do any math beyond simple addition and subtraction. Everything else is pre-calculated to way beyond their income in tables the IRS publishes for free, and the instructions tell you exactly what forms/tables to look at.

Don't be scared of tax preparation.

And you seem to be assuming this service is somehow sub-par. It's not. It's been around at least 20 years and is vetted by the IRS. And it doesn't play tricks with you like H&R Block does, to try to get you to pay for things. Simple, no-nonsense, and thorough tax preparation.

Why would you not just do it to at least compare? Come on...

For a full family plan? Easily. I'm on an individual HSA plan and my employer's contribution alone is $9,250, plus my personal contributions of about $1200/year.

If OP is eating the entire unsubsidized cost of a family plan $20-25k is possible. It's also likely the subsidy repayments are only part of the bill, e.g. if they didn't pre-pay enough taxes in advance since OP was self employed.

I've had the same but opposite issue. I didn't make enough money but I was still able to claim the tax credit because my estimated income was within the FPL limits (at the time of enrollment). So I should be in the clear, in theory. I could very well get some fine or tax bill in the future but others have assured me that shouldn't be the case.

Also, to be clear, that $15,000 that you would “owe” would’ve been deducted by your employer throughout the year. So by the end of the year it should be pretty even. There are the trump “tax cuts” that are going into effect this year, so idk how that changes it yet.

They don't. Combined they make 75k. That's not much, especially combined. People (myself included) who make multiple times that don't pay accountants to do our taxes, because it's just not necessary. And that's with various investments, itemized deductions, and non-job sources of income that generate 1099s.

H&R Block and its ilk have done a fantastic job of convincing everyone that taxes are hard or complex or that you're going to get in trouble if you make one little mistake. Even if you get audited and are found to owe something you didn't pay, you're just given the chance to pay up (potentially with interest) and everything is fine. Then you file an amended return, pay the difference, and go on with your life.

> But that’s what I’m here asking

You said $24k was out of pocket.

$55k was the AGI.

7.5% of $55k is $4125.

$24k - $4125= $19875.

Do you have anything else to itemize? Such as

1. $19875: medical expense
2. $_____: charitable donations
3. $_____: property tax, real estate tax, etc.
4. $_____: either state income tax or state sales tax (#3 and #4 are capped at $10k together)
5. $_____: mortgage interest
6. $_____: losses in federal disaster areas
7. $_____: gambling losses

If your total itemized deduction exceeded $25900 (standard deduction for MFJ), take the itemized deduction.

> Does it matter that the $24,000 was a gift?

No

If you haven’t contributed to a traditional IRA, set up the account at a brokerage and contribute the maximum you can to lower the AGI to below 400% poverty line. This allows you to only pay the cap amount ($2800) for repaying the subsidy you received.

This is a method I used to help my parents in a similar situation. You will have to pay tax when you withdraw from traditional IRA but at least you get the money back one day. If you are not comfortable with investing, just leave the money in there and don’t touch it.

Like others have said, shop your CPA around and ask if they are an enrolled agent. Then tell the CPA you need methods to lower your AGI to below the threshold and they can give you tools to do so based on your individual situation. Don’t panic, you got this! No way you pay this much back. I hope your health get better!

> The suggestion is because they're quite possibly getting bad advice and, at minimum, need a second opinion. The situation sounds shady for at least the reason of this person preparing but not filing for them, which suggests either they're unqualified to do so or potentially trying to scam them, even if just for billable hours.

Totally agree

> If the result jives with what the accountant said, they have confirmation.

Disagree. In this scenario, just because a bad accountant and basic free tax software both say you owe a bunch of money do not validate one another. In fact that's probably all this "accountant" is doing for them and I would be surprised if the numbers weren't pretty similar.

A good tax accountant should easily make back their fee and thousands more. Considering there is $25,000 at stake, I think they can afford a little more than $8 to verify there is no way to pay a smaller amount.

if you owe money an extension does not delay your pay date. you will get fines or interest payments. OWED money is always due the 15th or earlier.

just an fyi.

get a cpa. google a local one. explain the situation. with a w2 generally the employer takes out taxes, so something is wrong with this picture. if you find someone whos sympathetic and the problem is an easy fix it could be under $500. assuming its straightforward and you dont have crypto and 10 brokerages and income from 8 jobs etc.

if its really straightforward (1 job, 1 investment account, nothing else) just use HRblock/walmart type of thing.

You don’t have to open a CD if you just want the savings account (which is currently 3.75% I believe. It’s been getting increased every so often).

The suggestion is because they're quite possibly getting bad advice and, at minimum, need a second opinion. The situation sounds shady for at least the reason of this person preparing but not filing for them, which suggests either they're unqualified to do so or potentially trying to scam them, even if just for billable hours.

And it's free. So literally no skin off their noses. If the result jives with what the accountant said, they have confirmation. If the result doesn't match up at least in the same ballpark, they can either accept it or get a new accountant or tax law attorney.

Usually we would do standard, but this year it’s been so high due to dental stuff, I’d have to think itemizing would result in a better outcome. But that’s what I’m here asking. I know no one here can do my taxes here or tell me the exact answers but just looking for info.

Does it matter that the $24,000 was a gift?

If u make a large salary it's worth paying a professional to do ur taxes. Tho I definitely recommend freetaxusa. It's like identical technology to turbo tax etc just free. Every time I do my taxes with turbo they make me either redo my return or pay $100 or some shit and it's hard to actually do it free. But free tax usa is legit af. If you just work a normal w2 job or 1099 too in lower brackets it's perfect and everybody should use it.

Tho somebody else was saying to plug their info into TurboTax and just see what it comes up with to compare to the accountant. If they are doing something big wrong it would be noticeable.

I would recommend you search for someone who is a tax expert. Someone with expertise involving taxes. Check and verify their experience along with reviews. You might have to pay a little bit more for their knowledge. If you get the right person. It will be well worth it. I wish you success.

There could have been a large medical debt forgiven, which counts as income.

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Were you paid on a 1099? That could explain taxes like this. Screws a lot of people over that don't set aside taxes

It’s FreeTaxUSA.com

They are about to pay $25,000 in taxes and you are suggesting they use Free Tax USA? To save a couple hundred?? They need a good accountant, maybe even an attorney to sort this out. There are tens of thousands of dollars on the line.