Lorelai R. Gilmore, born April 25, 1992, is a single taxpayer who works at the Independence Inn. She lives at 37 Maple Street, Stars Hollow, Connecticut. Her Social Security number is 933-66-9999. Lorelai earned $40,000 in wages and had $6,439 withheld in federal income taxes; both items were reported to her on her W-2. She also earned $30 in bank interest from National Iron Bank (at 6 Bee Brook Rd, Stars Hollow, Connecticut 06794) on her savings account. This amount was reported to her on her December 2023 bank statement. Lorelai has news for you as you continue to work on her 2023 return! This is now their 2023 1040. Lorelai married her “friend” Luke on December 31, 2023. Although they got married in 2023, they did not get around to moving in together until mid-January of 2024. Lorelai has also not changed her name yet with the Social Security Administration. Luke’s social security number is 888-77-2456. He was born the same year as Lorelai. Luke moved in to Lorelai’s house with Lorelai and Rory, Lorelai’s 16-year-old daughter. Stars Hollow is a great little town, very close knit where the citizen’s treat each other like family. Lorelai actually has family living in town. Her mother Emily and father Richard live in town. In fact, they pay for Rory to addition attend a prestigious private school, Chilton Academy. The tuition for Chilton is very high, about half of Rory’s total support for the year. Richard and Emily require that Lorelai and Rory attend Friday night dinners at their house in return for the support they provide for Rory. Rory’s social security number is 933-77-8888. Her birthdate is October 8, 2008. Lorelai’s best friend Sooki also lives in Stars Hollow. Sooki and Lorelai are so close that when Sooki needed some financial help, Lorelai insisted she move in until she was back on her feet. Sooki ended up staying with Lorelai and Rory the full year. Sooki works as the chef at the Independence Inn; she’s been working there about half the year. She works full time, but makes minimum wage until she completes her 6-month probationary period. Sooki’s social security number is 882-44-8888. Lorelai, Rory and Sooki spend a lot of time together, along with Rory’s best friend Lane. The group spends weekends going to antique markets, farmers’ markets, and yard saling. Rory and Lane both have lots of homework to do, but they manage to find time for fun too. On one of the group excursions, Lorelai decided to buy an antique harpsichord which she planned to place in the Inn as a decorative piece. One of the guests tried to play the instrument, but it sounded terrible so Lorelai had a guy she knew come to tune it. While the guy tuned the instrument, Lorelai sat and visited with him. No one was more surprised than Lorelai when the tuner reached into the bowels of the instrument and pulled out an obstruction. This obstruction turned out to be a wad of packing paper which when unwrapped revealed a set of antique ruby earrings. Lorelai had the earrings appraised and it turns out the FMV of these earrings was $2,500. Rory, being ever practical, told her mom she should definitely try to track down the former owners of the harpsichord to find the owner of the earrings. Lorelai decided not to. Instead she kept the earrings and wore them for special occasions. Turns out, this package was the cause of the terrible sound from the instrument so it didn’t even need tuning!!! Lorelai and Sooki were headed down to Luke’s Diner one day for a cup of coffee (Luke has the extra big mugs Lorelai loves) and Lorelai tripped on a crack in the sidewalk. She fell and broke some bones in her hand. It was very difficult for her to work with a full cast on her hand (only the tips of her fingers showed!) so she had to take a few weeks off work. Fortunately, Lorelai had purchased a disability policy from AFLAC (after seeing a commercial with Nick Saban). This policy was not provided by Lorelai’s employer, meaning she purchased the policy with after tax dollars. She received $3,500 from the AFLAC policy. In addition to the AFLAC policy, Lorelai received funds ($5000) from the policy provided by her employer. This policy is furnished to Lorelai as a tax-free qualifying fringe benefit and was not reported on her W-2. The disability benefits she received got her through the time she was off work without having to worry about money. Whew! Lorelai had to purchase uniforms for Rory to wear while attending Chilton. She put these on her credit card. She also racked up quite an online shopping bill while she was at home with her broken hand. Turns out that even if you can’t really work with a cast that covers all but the tips of your fingers, you can still scroll and click. By the end of the year, Lorelai’s credit card company had worked with her to discharge some of her very substantial credit card debt. Of Lorelai’s $30,000 credit card debt, the company forgave $15,000 and reported this amount to her on a 1099C. Lorelai also was called for jury duty in 2023. She ended up serving on a jury for a week. Her employer has a policy of paying their employees regular pay while they serve on a jury, so long as any funds received from the county for jury pay are turned over the Inn. Lorelai received $425 from the county in return for her jury duty service. She turned the same amount over to her employer, and received her regular weekly pay from them for the week she served. Luke owns his own business (the diner) and his net income for the year was $65,000. He made estimated tax payments of $10,000 in four equal installments all paid by the quarterly deadlines. (For purposes of this return, you can ignore the Schedule C and any employment taxes Luke may owe. Simply use the net income number given, the estimated tax payments given and put the Schedule C income of $65,000 on the correct line of the Schedule 1 and/or Form 1040.) Lorelai would like $3 to go to the Presidential Election Campaign Fund, although she has no idea what that is. Luke would rather not contribute to politics. They would like any refund they may receive to be deposited into Lorelai’s bank account since her account generates interest. Lorelai’s account number is 321456987. She cannot remember the routing number for her bank. The couple would like for you, their professional tax preparer and CPA, to deal with the IRS for them if needed with regards to their 2023 tax return. Please prepare Lorelai and Luke’s 2023 Form 1040 and any required schedules.

As a tax professional, I can guide you through the process of preparing Lorelai and Luke's 2023 Form 1040 and any required schedules, but I cannot actually prepare and submit the forms for you. Here's an overview of what you would need to consider for their tax return: 1. **Filing Status**: Since Lorelai and Luke got married on December 31, 2023, they are considered married for the whole year for tax purposes. They can file jointly or separately, but usually, a joint return is more beneficial. 2. **Income**: - Lorelai's Wages: $40,000 (with $6,439 federal income tax withheld). - Lorelai's Bank Interest: $30. - Luke's Business Income: $65,000 (Schedule 1, Line 3, with $10,000 in estimated tax payments). - Jury Duty Pay: $425 (but this is not additional income since it was turned over to her employer). - Disability Payments: Since Lorelai's AFLAC policy was purchased with after-tax dollars, the $3,500 she received is not taxable. The $5,000 from her employer-provided policy is also not taxable as it is a tax-free fringe benefit. 3. **Adjustments to Income**: None mentioned that would apply. 4. **Standard Deduction or Itemized Deductions**: They would likely take the standard deduction unless their item

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