Is there a term for total money owed to you?
"Is there a word for that $20k owed? Trade Receivables, Accounts Receivables, or just Receivables Is there a different word for that $30k ""hypothetical"" total? Current Assets (Includes Inventory and other short term assets)"
Note that you're asking about withholding, not about taxing.  Withholding doesn't mean this is exactly the tax you'll pay: it means they're withholding a certain amount to make sure you pay taxes on it, but the tax bill at the end of the year is the same regardless of how you choose to do the withholding.  Your tax bill may be higher or lower than the withholding amount. As far as tax rate, that will be the same regardless - you're just moving the money from one place to the other.   The only difference would be that your tax is based on total shares under the plan - meaning that if you buy 1k shares, for example, at $10, so $1,500 discounted income, if you go the payroll route you get (say) $375 withheld.  If you go the share route, you either get $375 worth of stock (so 38 shares) withheld (and then you would lose out on selling that stock, meaning you don't get quite as much out of it at the end) or you would ask them to actually buy rather more shares to make up for it, meaning you'd have a slightly higher total gain.  That would involve a slightly higher tax at the end of it, of course. Option 1:  Buy and then sell $10000 worth, share-based withholding.  Assuming 15% profit, and $10/share at both points, then buy/sell 1000 shares, $1500 in profit to take into account, 38 shares' worth (=$380) withheld.  You put in $8500, you get back $9620, net $1120.   Option 2:  Buy and then sell $13500 worth, share based withholding.  Same assumptions.  You make about $2000 in pre-tax profit, meaning you owe about $500 in tax withholding.  Put in $11475, get back $13000, net $1525.  Owe 35% more tax at the end of the year, but you have the full $1500 to spend on whatever you are doing with it. Option 3:  Buy and then sell $1000 worth, paycheck withholding.  You get the full $10000-$8500 = $1500 up front, but your next paycheck is $375 lighter.  Same taxes as Option 1 at the end of the year. "IRA distributions are reported on line 15b on the standard form 1040.  That is in the same Income section as most of your other income (including that 1099 income and W2 income, etc.).  Its income is included in the Line 22 ""Total Income"", from which the Personal Exemption (calculated on 6d, subtracted from the total in line 42) and the Standard Deduction (line 40 - also Itemized Deduction total would be here) are later reduced to arrive at Line 43, ""Taxable Income"". As such, yes, he might owe only the 10% penalty (which is reported on line 59, and you do not reduce this by the deductions, as you surmised)." "This answer is applicable to the US.  Similar rules may hold in some other countries as well.   The shares in an open-ended (non-exchange-traded) mutual fund are not traded on stock exchanges and the ""market"" does not determine the share price the way it does for shares in companies as brokers make offers to buy and sell stock shares. The price of one share of  the mutual fund (usually called Net Asset Value (NAV) per share) is usually calculated at the close of business, and is, as the name implies, the net worth of all the shares in companies that the fund owns plus cash on hand etc divided by the number of mutual fund shares outstanding. The NAV per share of a mutual fund might or might not increase in anticipation of the distribution to occur, but the NAV per share very definitely falls on  the day that the distribution is declared. If you choose to re-invest your distribution in the same fund, then you will own more shares at a lower NAV per share but the total value of your investment will not change at all.  If you had 100 shares currently priced at $10 and  the fund declares a distribution of $2 per share, you will  be reinvesting $200 to buy more shares but the fund will be selling you additional shares at $8 per share (and of course, the 100 shares you hold will be priced at $8 per share too.  So, you will have 100 previous shares worth only $800 now + 25 new shares worth $200 for a total of 125 shares at $8 = $1000 total investment, just as before. If you take the distribution in cash, then you still hold the 100 shares but they are worth only $800 now, and the fund will send you the $200 as cash. Either way, there is no change in your net worth. However, (assuming that the fund is is not in a tax-advantaged account), that $200 is taxable income to you regardless of whether you reinvest it or take it as cash. The fund will tell you what part of that $200 is dividend income (as well as what part is Qualified Dividend income),  what part is short-term capital gains, and what part is long-term capital gains; you declare the income in the appropriate categories on your tax return, and are taxed accordingly. So, what advantage is there in re-investing? Well, your basis in those shares has increased and so if and when you sell the shares, you will owe less tax. If you had bought the original 100 shares at $10 and sell the 125 shares a few years later at $11 and collect $1375, you owe (long-term capital gains) tax on  just $1375-$1200 =$175  (which can also be calculated as $1 gain on each of the original 100 shares = $100 plus $3 gain on the 25 new shares = $175). In the past, some people would forget the intermediate transactions and think that they had invested $1000 initially and gotten $1375 back for a gain of $375 and pay taxes on $375 instead. This is less likely to occur now since mutual funds are now required to report more information on the sale to the shareseller than they used to in the past. So, should you buy shares in a mutual fund right now? Most mutual fund companies publish preliminary estimates in November and December of what distributions each fund will be making by the end of the year. They also usually advise against purchasing new shares during this period because one ends up ""buying a dividend"".  If, for example, you bought those 100 shares at $10 on the Friday after Thanksgiving and the fund distributes that $2 per share  on December 15, you still have $1000 on December 15, but now owe taxes on $200 that you would not have had to pay if you had postponed buying those shares till after the distribution was paid. Nitpickers: for simplicity of exposition, I have not gone into the detailed chronology of when the fund goes ex-dividend, when the distribution is recorded,  and when cash is paid out, etc., but merely treated all these events as happening simultaneously." Thanks for the link to the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, @ChrisW.Rea. It explained in clear terms that I can withdraw money from and transfer money to the line of credit any time I want. The only monthly payment needed is the minimum payment. And yes, it may have a term after which all remaining principal + interest must be paid back in full. Similar to a credit card, as you pay off your line of credit, you can   draw on it again, up to the limit you are allowed. However, a key   difference between a line of credit and a credit card is that with a   line of credit there is no interest-free grace period. You will have   to pay interest on the amount you borrow from the day you take the   money out. You will receive a monthly statement that shows the amount that you   owe on your line of credit. You must make at least a minimum payment   on that balance every month. (n.b. Specific terms and conditions for lines of credit vary from institution to institution.) A Credit Balance means that you overpayed. That's nothing to worry about; it will just be used up by your next charges. Note that this can have two reasons - either you really paid too much; or you paid off a charge that is still 'pending' - meaning it has not yet posted and is not considered in the amount you owe: Most charges in restaurants for example are pending for a day or more, because the original charge is your bill without tip (they don't know the tip when the run the card!), and the merchant spends his weekends or evenings to type in the final amount (including tip) and post the pending charge. If this is the case, it will settle ('get posted') in a day or two, and then it will match up. * Absolutely agree with /u/IsAnAlpaca  * You /must/ not agree to this without seeing his balance sheet. * That means assets and liabilities, but also ask for the last 12 months' cash flow * Inability or unwillingness to provide any of those things is a HUGE no-go red flag. "The lead story here is you owe $12,000 on a car worth $6000!!  That is an appalling situation and worth a lot to get out of it.  ($6000, or a great deal more if the car is out of warranty and you are at risk of a major repair too.)  I'm sorry if it feels like the payments you've made so far are wasted; often the numbers do work out like this, and you did get use of the car for that time period. Now comes an ""adversary"", who is threatening to snatch the car away from you.  I have to imagine they are emotionally motivated.  How convenient :) Let them take it.  But it's important to fully understand their motivations here.  Because financially speaking, the smart play is to manage the situation so they take the car. Preferably unbeknownst that the car is upside down.  Whatever their motivation is, give them enough of a fight; keep them wrapped up in emotions while your eye is on the numbers.  Let them win the battle; you win the war: make sure the legal details put you in the clear of it.  Ideally, do this with consent with the grandfather ""in response to his direct family's wishes"", but keep up the theater of being really mad about it.  Don't tell anyone for 7 years, until the statute of limitations has passed and you can't be sued for it. Eventually they'll figure out they took a $6000 loss taking the car from  you, and want to talk with you about that.  Stay with blind rage at how they took my car.  If they try to explain what ""upside down"" is, feign ignorance and get even madder, say they're lying and they won, why don't they let it go?  If they ask for money, say they're swindling. ""You forced me, I didn't have a choice"".  (which happens to be a good defense.  They wanted it so bad; they shoulda done their homework.  Since they were coercive it's not your job to disclose, nor your job to even know.)  If they want you to take the car back, say ""can't, you forced me to buy another and I have to make payments on that one now.""" Better suited to /r/personalfinance, but you definitely owe the money. Unless you had something in writing that they were going to send a bill to a certain address, it's your responsibility to pay. Hell, even if you did have something in writing that said they'd send the bill somewhere else it's still your responsibility to pay even if the bill doesn't show up. You know you owed them money.  When your parents didn't get the bill, you should have called the company to ask about it. It's your responsibility to follow up since you're the one that owes the money.  What did you think would happen when you went 5 months without paying $312 that you knew you owed?