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add moar citations and clarify estimated tax payments
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tlnagy committed Jun 1, 2017
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16 changes: 12 additions & 4 deletions blog/_posts/2017-05-31-grad-student-taxes.md
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Expand Up @@ -38,13 +38,19 @@ Yes. In my opinion, the easiest and best way to do this to
[set up estimated tax payments](https://www.irs.gov/uac/pay-taxes-by-electronic-funds-withdrawal)
when you e-file. Your bank account is debited according to whatever
estimated tax plan you submit. This is also nice because you do not have to pay
the penalty for failing to withhold income[^4].
the penalty for failing to withhold income[^4]. Make sure to set up payments to
both the IRS and California's Franchise Tax Board. This should be quite easy if
you are setting this up during e-filing.

### Can we contribute to a Roth IRA?

Unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge, we cannot. Since the money we make on a
1098t is considered taxable, unearned income it does not qualify for IRA. However,
the moment you are switched to a W2, you can contribute up to your earned
1098t is considered taxable, unearned income it does not qualify for IRA. According
to [IRS Pub 590-A](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p590a.pdf) (Page 6):

> Scholarship and fellowship payments are compensation for IRA purposes only if shown in box 1 of Form W-2
However, the moment you are switched to a W-2, you can contribute up to your earned
income amount or $5500, which ever is smaller.

### What is a Roth IRA?
Expand All @@ -68,7 +74,9 @@ for more details.
[^1]: So YMMV on all this depending on your specific circumstances

[^2]: This post was inspired by a presentation by Kyle Barlow at iPQB journal
club. Thanks Kyle!
club. Thanks Kyle! Update: After I wrote this piece, I found out that Kyle also
had a blog post about this a couple years ago:
<https://www.kylebarlow.com/dearth-and-taxes.html>

[^3]: Naturally, this value will increase if the UCSF graduate student stipend
increases. For reference, in my first two years, we made 34K (TY2015) and then
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