Selling stock to pay tax bill. Am I an idiot?
Got a $60k tax bill for married filing jointly on $700k total household annual wages. I sold stock to pay for $30k of it. Now am wondering if that was a bad move and if I could have paid it off slowly until Oct 18th. Am I an idiot for having sold stock to pay a tax bill? My cpa is an idiot as he kept pressuring to pay the whole amount by Apr 15. #tax TC: $350k
Yes you are
If you are a citizen or a permanent resident you must form a LLC, have a rental property or 2 and start showing business losses. Also get a good cpa.
Uncle Sam penalizes late payments after April tax day even if you get extensions. No due to uncle Sam is the best option after avoiding tax as much as possible.
Why aren’t you withholding enough?
I use Amex credit card to pay big tax bill, and then use 6 months free plan it to spread out the payments. I do get the 1.5% paid extra for using credit card in points so all in all free money for 6 months
they charge 3.95% for paying tax by credit card so how is this a good option?
1.82% to be precise. It has been this way for last few years. I do this every year. https://www.irs.gov/payments/pay-your-taxes-by-debit-or-credit-card
Now, you've got to add the "realized capital gains" tax on those stocks for next year.
As someone else said, even if you file an extension, 100% of your payment is still due on April 15. No you're not an idiot for selling stock to pay your taxes if that's what you needed to do. Yes you should listen to your CPA on this stuff.
This is the right answer. You need to pay now regardless of extension. They'll refund you if your amount ends up lower in October
Your fine.
Sell tax efficient lots
I’ve done this. It’s fine.