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Good to 'hear' from you, Ms. TabbyKats. Hard to believe it's been 5 years. I hope they have been good ones. Perhaps just make the account payable or transfer on death to your son. That is what we have done for our accounts and house.

I agree with Margaret. To answer your question though, yes, 1/2 of the deposit into a new brokerage account would be considered a gift to your son if putting his name on the account. A benefit to doing as Margaret suggests is that if the account is in your name, at your death and transfer, your son would get a step up (or down) in basis and wouldn't pay income tax on that growth if he sold it.

You may have a problem, because under current law, employees can no longer claim home office use as a misc itemized deduction on Schedule A. In order to deduct home office for your freelance work, you have to meet the "exclusive use test". So the question is if you use the same space for both functions, have you blown the "exclusive use test" requirement?

Copied from the Journal of Accountancy: "When reporting total Social Security wages paid to an employee on Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, employers who deferred the employee portion of Social Security tax should include any wages for which the employers deferred withholding and payment of employee Social Security tax in box 3, “Social Security Wages,” and/or box 7, “Social Security Tips.” Employers should not include in box 4, “Social Security Tax Withheld,” any amount of deferred employee Social Security tax that has not been withheld. Employee Social Security tax deferred in 2020 under Notice 2020-65 that is withheld in 2021 and that was not reported on the 2020 Form W-2 should be reported in box 4, “Social Security Tax Withheld,” of Form W-2c, Corrected Wage and Tax Statement. On Form W-2c, employers should enter tax year 2020 in box c and adjust the amount previously reported in box 4 of the Form W-2 to include the deferred amounts that were withheld in 2021. All Forms W-2c should be filed with the Social Security Administration, along with Form W-3c, Transmittal of Corrected Wage and Tax Statements, as soon as possible after the employer has finished withholding the deferred amounts. These rules will be in the 2021 General Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3 (which will be published in January 2021). The IRS says that Forms W-2c should also be furnished to employees." Having to file a W-2c for every employee who has deferred a portion of their 2020 SS, which then is withheld in 2021 is just insane! What a mess! I am so glad I don't have any payroll clients who are doing this.

Hi, MsTabbyKats! Nice to hear from you again. Stop by once in a while to catch us up on your life. Stay well.

Copied from IRS eNews; " Update on $500 per child payments for federal beneficiaries To help people who were unable to provide their information in time to receive Economic Impact Payments for their qualifying children, the IRS announced that federal beneficiaries who did not register to receive $500 per child payments earlier this year now have additional time. If eligible, anyone who registers using the Non-Filers: Enter Info Here before the 3 p.m. E.T. Nov. 21 extended due date will receive an EIP. This includes federal beneficiaries who already received an EIP but did not receive a supplemental $500 payment for qualifying children."

Small separate desk for the 9-5 work. Can be in the same room as the home office space, but the sqft must not be counted towards the home office usage. Employer should be willing to provide compensation for use of your space and utilities, hopefully accountable basis, or enough to cover your costs and the increased tax (if treated as additional wages). Or remove the sqft shared with the 9-5 use, and only claim the remaining amount (assuming there is some space not shared). If you can document less home office use, you may have a number to show your employer as to your "cost" of the space you are providing.