Last year, I got hit with a tax penalty for like $6,500 USD.  I believe they garnished it out of my Roth.  I thought perhaps it was because I didn't wait long enough or something before I sold a position to buy another one.  So, I figured it might be a one-off thing, but through the entire year of 2024, I did not sell anything.  I only bought more of the same positions.

Anyway, I just received a letter from the IRS again, saying this time I owe $13k+ !  I am flabbergasted.  So now, I am trying to figure out just what exactly is this 990-T, and if this is a nightmare I have to visit every year?

So, to the best of my limited abilities, I understand that this penalty is due to me holding MLPs in my Roth IRA account specifically, and my income distributions have exceeded $1k.  I thought the whole point of Roth is to be able to generate passive income tax free.  Income, I should add that I have not pulled out at all, but rather, have re-invested back into the same positions of that same account.

Assuming all this is not a scam or a mistake somehow, this is a lot of money I am going to be losing every year!  I need to figure out what's going on and make it stop!

Thank you MonkeyMama, who I'm sure is very busy during tax season right now, for diverting some of that precious little time she has just to link a recipe for me.

I've only attempted corned beef one other time in my life, and for some reason, I completely bombed it.  But then, perhaps some of you SA residents might recall, you're also talking to a guy who neglected to take the absorbent pad out of meat packets. So... yeah.

That was many years ago though.  This time around, I was determined to follow the recipe as closely and faithfully as possible, well, with two exceptions.  The first is that, due to my health condition, I can not or at least should not eat potatoes.  Instead, I substituted potatoes with mushrooms.  I like mushrooms and I found a pack on clearance for only $1 instead of the usual $5.

The other exception is, well you see... I don't drink, and I have never bought alcohol either.  I don't like the taste of it.  I don't like the cost of it.  And now, alcohol also very negatively reacts to one of my medications.  In other words, I basically have zero experience with alcohol.

So, when I finally decided to visit the alcohol section of the grocery store, I was overwhelmed by all the different choices.  What is gin?  What is port?  What is lager?  What is stout?  Even the wines, what are they are how are they different?  Instead of trying to decipher all that, I changed tact and looked for the cheapest thing I could find, which is an extra large can of Miller lite I think for like $2+ USD?  I stood there wondering if I even really want to spend on that?  Why don't I just throw in a can of french onion soup that I already have in my pantry?

So those are the two changes.  Otherwise, I was faithful to the recipe, and contains carrots, onions, cabbage, and mushrooms along with the corned beef.  And the result?  IT'S FANTASTIC!  I feel like I have been missing out, and how appropriate for the month of March right?  Oh, and while it's not much look at, here's a pic for fun anyways:

This being SA though, let's talk cost real quick.  The entire thing costed me roughly $35, but it's enough to feed 2-3 people, so let's just say it's more like $18 per meal that will last me two days.  Extrapolate for 30 days, and assuming I can keep this up from now on, grocery budget should be roughly around $550 USD per month or so.  That certainly won't put me into the same bracket as the rest of you veterans, but for me, it's still a solid step foward.  And once again, I am just loving this recipe!  I am definitely going to have to make this again.