Occupation on Tax Return

[milford]

For those of you who have FIRE'd I am curious what you put as your occupation? I am sort of conflicted on what to put.... I decided to lean FIRE based on 4% withdrawal rate so I can't decide if I should put down I am an "investor", "retired", "self-employed", etc.... and does this matter at all ?

 

[Calico]

I retired on 12/31/20.

I'm going to put "retired bum" on my tax returns from now on.

 

[38Chevy454]

I just put retired on mine

 

[audreyh1]

We put retired as soon as we stopped working. Unemployed would be another option.

It’s obvious that you no longer have W2 income.

And self-employed means you get to pay FICA taxes, but it will be obvious that you don’t have “profit” from a business if all your income is from investments, pension and/or SS.

 

[CaptTom]

I figure the "R" stands for "Retired." The F, I and E are just modifiers. So I just put down plain, old, boring "Retired."

But... I kinda like the idea of messing with the IRS a bit. What happens if I follow Calico's lead and put down something humorous?

 

[RobbieB]

Yup, retired.

 

[Gumby]

I put "retired". Why be cute? Besides, it is a quick and easy signal to them that they do not need to look for W-2s for you.

 

[ncbill]

dilettante

 

[Al in Ohio]

For those of you who have FIRE'd I am curious what you put as your occupation? I am sort of conflicted on what to put.... I decided to lean FIRE based on 4% withdrawal rate so I can't decide if I should put down I am an "investor", "retired", "self-employed", etc.... and does this matter at all ?

What’s the issue? I simply put “Retired”.

 

[skyking1]

Was I supposed to put something there? It went through without it

 

[RetireeRobert]

For those of you who have FIRE'd I am curious what you put as your occupation? I am sort of conflicted on what to put.... I decided to lean FIRE based on 4% withdrawal rate so I can't decide if I should put down I am an "investor", "retired", "self-employed", etc.... and does this matter at all ?

Put "retired". Just the title sounds passive and should not conceivably raise any audit red flags with IRS. Whereas investor, self-employed, or similar titles are too "active" sounding, and might conceivably raise audit red flags if IRS doesn't see the rest of the tax return as "jibing" with that active title.

 

[Al in Ohio]

Put "retired". Just the title sounds passive and should not conceivably raise any audit red flags with IRS. Whereas investor, self-employed, or similar titles are too "active" sounding, and might conceivably raise audit red flags if IRS doesn't see the rest of the tax return as "jibing" with that active title.

I was thinking that also.

 

[scrabbler1]

I was glad to put "Retired" onto the first post-FIRE tax return I filed in 2009 (2008 year).

 

[RobbieB]

"None" would be good too.

 

[W2R]

I always put "Retired Oceanographer" on my tax forms. But I don't recall having to specify that, lately. Maybe TurboTax retains that information for me.

 

[Walt34]

I just put "retired" in the blank. No need to write in a past occupation, I seriously doubt that anyone cares what I used to do.

 

[Dtail]

Retired

 

[braumeister]

Philanthropist.

After all, I give them a lot of money every year!

 

[Midpack]

I put "retired". Why be cute? Besides, it is a quick and easy signal to them that they do not need to look for W-2s for you.

+1.

 

[Alectoris]

So, not retired, but I so desire to write my occupation as "Lava Lamp Repairman" "person, if that offends" at some day....

 

[rk911]

For those of you who have FIRE'd I am curious what you put as your occupation? I am sort of conflicted on what to put.... I decided to lean FIRE based on 4% withdrawal rate so I can't decide if I should put down I am an "investor", "retired", "self-employed", etc.... and does this matter at all ?

simply 'retired'. not complicated.

 

[ncbill]

Fred Garvin, male prostitute?

 

[sengsational]

I left mine "Engineer". Never changed it 40 years. Just because I don't get a W2 doesn't mean I stopped being one, right? Must one be paid to call it an occupation?

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I left mine "Engineer". Never changed it 40 years. Just because I don't get a W2 doesn't mean I stopped being one, right? Must one be paid to call it an occupation?

Well...occupation is traditionally defined as, "a job or profession" and a profession is defined as, "a paid occupation, especially one that involves prolonged training and a formal qualification." A job is defined as, "a paid position of regular employment." So my vote would be yes, payment is required.

I did a quick search to see how the IRS has defined occupation and couldn't come up with a quick answer. I am sure it is buried in the thousands of pages that make up the IRS code.

Personally, I was quite happy to put "Retired" on my tax returns for the last several years.

 

[steelyman]

I use “retired” even though I have some self-employment income declared on the return. It reflects why there are no W-2 forms.