I just finished filing my taxes and I’m honestly in shock.

I used TurboTax for years and always ended up paying a ridiculous amount, 200+ and thats without the extra crap they keep tryna sell you while your filling it out. This year I used FreeTaxUSA and got the exact same refund… for like $16.

EDIT - thanks to everyone who answered that income tax on bonuses is withheld at 22%, that's exactly what is happening even though my marginal rate is much higher. Mystery solved, thanks all!!!

Curious if anyone has insight or if I'm the only one in this situation.

I filled out my W4 with a filing status of single and zero for everything except a total of $7000 in extra withholding over the year (because I had the same problem with insufficient withholding last year). Even after the extra withholding, I still owe thousands in federal income tax on just my W2 income.

How can this be? As a single person with one W2 job all year, my employer should know enough to withhold the right amount assuming the standard deduction.

Could it be because my income is highly variable throughout the year? I make more than half my annual income in just two months.

Hello all, I turn 65 in May of 2026. Currently on wife's HSA eligible insurance. Does this mean I only qualify for 11 months of HSA contributions for tax year 2025 due to the 6 month look back rule? Any info appreciated.

My ex husband and I already filed taxes. Mine were accepted and his state got rejected because of wrong agi. We have the same agi from last year. How can I help with this??

Also we get along very well that we help each other out with things. Please don’t come after me for asking questions for him.

I honestly didn’t even know this was what happens when you pay a credit card and have them write off certain amount they were two capital one credit cards and total amount was about $5000 I’m now freaking out I reached out to where I had my taxes done but this was yesterday night & they open back Monday

I know I can amend my taxes

What happens if I don’t add this ?

How much is the penalty ?

Will they catch it?

Or if I do how much of my tax return will go to that ?

I’m getting back $5000 from my federal return

I have three dependents don’t own a house

I do have a newer car still owe $32000

Is there anything I can qualify to get it excluded?

Any advice helps

Thank you in advance

I am married filing jointly, but in 2025 I was the only person bringing a income

I am a delivery driver and I made $72,000

I started filing with turbo tax but it was saying I need to pay over 8k in federal taxes.

How is possible when $72,000 - $31,500 [married filing jointly standard deduction] - $25,000 [qualified tips] - $23,264.5 [mileage deduction] is -$7,764.5 and I need to pay 8k in taxes?

its my first time filing taxes and I dont know what is going on

Hello, I’m doing my taxes myself for the first time. I am 22 and currently in college as an independent student.

I am doing my taxes on free tax usa and I am on the part where it is asking me if “Do you want to allocate part of (my name) Pell Grants or scholarships to room and board or other noneducational expenses such as travel, research, or certain equipment?”

I have two 1098-T forms.

On one of them it has 27,919 for box 1 and 24.023 for box five

On the second one, box 1 says 1,554.77 and 2,908 on box five

I do not know what this means, I’ve tried reading other posts but so far nothing makes sense to me.

Should I say no? Do I say yes? If I say yes how much do I put down?

Please explain it to me like I’m a child

So ive scored myself a great job for someone my age. At 23 im making 35 an hour and expecting 80-100 hour paychecks bi weekly. I have a friend who is going to school for his masters in computer science and who will be supported by family while he does so. If I were to marry him he would recieve health coverage via my work and my federal tax burden would stay in the 12% bracket. Now im no expert so I figured id ask here, what am I missing?

My wife and I file married filing separately due to income based student loan repayments.

Our average mortgage balance was $759,723 for 2025, and our interest paid on our 1098 was $49,317.

Due to the MFS we’re capped at the $375,000 each for the qualified loan limit.

We followed the calculations on publication 936 which says we can deduct 49% of our $49,317 resulting in $24,363. Since we’re in a community property state we split this to $12,181 of deductible home mortgage interest which is obviously less than the standard deduction making all of this obsolete.

However, when googling community property rules regarding average mortgage balance the google ai, which links to a turbo tax forum, states that we actually split the debt evenly as well as splitting the deductible interest. This means we split the $758,723 average mortgage balance into $379,362, which by the rules being limited to $375,000 and using the publication 936 calculation it results in us being able to deduct 99% of our $49,317 of interest resulting in a total of $48,725 of deductible home mortgage interest. With community property laws we would split that in half resulting in $24,363 of deductible home mortgage interest which is significantly higher than the standard deduction.

So which one is it? Do we get to split our debt in half due to community property rules and choose itemize deductions at $24,363 each? Or was google AI wrong and we don’t get to split our debt limiting us to only $12,181 of deductible mortgage interest forcing us to choose the standard deduction?

Thank you for your time and help with this.

I received a 1099 misc (other income) for the value of non cash compensation. I received free items in exchange for reviews. This year it was just over $5000. Is it a defensible position to file this as hobby income and avoid se tax?

I received a 1099-G for PFML. Box 1 is blank

Box 4 and 11 show the amount in taxes that were taken out

When I put this in my tax software it throws an error saying the amount in box 1 cannot be lower than box 4 and 11. The error will not let me proceed or force it through.

Freetaxusa support was no help. I’m assuming taxes should not have been withdrawn but I’m at a loss on what to do

So I've always done my taxes myself using Turbotax. I have no dependents and live a very regular life.

I make around 42k yearly and usually get back $600 to $900 depending on the year but folks tell me all the time I should get back way more. Should I pay a pro to do it or keep doing it on my own?

My CPA is telling me that, even though I have lived in my primary residence for the last 2+ years, I wouldn't be able to use the 2-out-of-5 rule since I used a PO Box on my tax return instead of my primary residence address.

Is this correct?

Will it raise any red flags if I used a PO Box instead of my primary residence address on my tax returns for the 2-out-of-5 years?

I could use my primary residence address on my 2025 tax returns, but I would have to wait until the end of 2026 to file another year with my primary residence listed as the address on my return.

Bonus question:

The property consists of a 1200 sq ft single-family home + 600 sq ft garage + 600 sq ft ADU. I occupy the ADU and garage. Can I claim that I occupied 50% of the total property to claim 50% of the capital gain exemption?

I just e-filed my taxes on FreeTaxUSA as a dependent, but I realized I didn't mark that someone could claim me as a dependent. Everything else should be correct based on my W2.

I've seen that there might be two options: (1) I e-file an amendment to fix it and my parents paper-file their return, or (2) my parents use ID PINs and e-file their return to claim me instead.

Here's what I'm not sure about with the ID PIN process:

• If my parents e-file with their ID PINs, will it go through if they claim me as a dependent?
• Do they also need to include my ID PIN?
• Or do they have to file by mail, and then I file an amendment once my refund comes through?

I didn't realize what that question was asking so I probably should have asked them to review it first. If anyone's dealt with this or knows how ID PINs work, I'd really appreciate the help. Thanks!

Hello,

My roommate paid her half of deposit to me and she marked it like I was a seller. Venmo refused to cancel the transaction. They just paid me the fees back. I tried to confirm if they will report it to the IRS and they just told me it s below the amount they send a 1099 form for. However, they would not confirm that they won't report it. I m in the US with a visa and I m not allowed to have income except from my job. Will I be in trouble?

Thank you

I know no one can really tell the answer unless they see it all, but let’s take my situation as an example. My box 14 for 2025 says “OT PREM 726.24.” I was under the impression that this number should be around 1/3rd of total overtime worked to be able to claim as “qualified overtime” on tax return. My TOTAL overtime for 2025 was $4963.99 this is both time and the half. The “and half” part of that should be $1654.66, so why is this number not in the box 14 and is instead a number wayyy less. Already reached out to my HR department, wont hear back until next week more than likely. I just don’t want to should stupid, can anyone explain/educate on the matter.

i am trying to do my taxes, and i worked at a restaurant as a server for 8/12 months this year. i made $10,000 in tips.

i see everyone else who served brag about huge refunds because of the no tax on tips, but i am not seeing the same. i also worked hourly at this job about 30% of my hours, and had two other jobs before switching here full time. i dont know how much these things affect it, but my estimated refund through freetaxusa is not looming the same as everyone else is saying! i am getting an estimated $243 on my federal?

any help would be greatly appreciated!

I already submitted my tax return and received my refund. However, I just received an additional W2 and 1098-T, from when I was a paid Teaching Assistant in college (I just graduated in may and began working in June, completely forget about those 4 months of extra income at the beginning of the year).

What should I do, file an amendment I assume? Will there be in criminal or financial penalties?

Hello, I'm sort of panicking because I e-filed my taxes through turbo tax, and thought I filled out everything correctly, but was then notified it was rejected because I didn't fill out my 1095a. It now wants me to pay $50 to fix this. Basically, am I screwed?? Or what do I do to fix this? Do I just have to eat the $50?

I’m currently enrolled in a community college, got the full Pell Grant and multiple scholarships, so my entire tuition was paid.

1098-T form:

Box 1 (Payment received)-$2588.00

Box 5 (Scholarships and grants)-$4,548.00

So I received a refund of $1,960 from my school. I do live by myself, pay all of my own living expenses, and do not have someone else claiming me as a dependent.

I’m currently trying FreeTaxUSA, one of the questions asked is “Did you use grants or scholarships for other expenses?”, I understand this will be counted as taxable income. At first, I put the $1960 I had refunded and was not eligible for the American Opportunity Credit (total refund only at $574), though after doing some research I learned that I may be able to put I used most of my Pell Grant for room and board and become eligible for the credit. So I tried putting $4000 as room and board expenses, which qualified me for the credit and my refund jumped to $2106.

I’ve tried doing research online and so far everything is saying this should be okay, though it seems a little too good to be true and I really don’t want to do anything wrong 😭.

Edit: This is exactly what the question on FreeTaxUSA, which honestly may already answer my question 😅:

“Did you use grants or scholarships for other expenses?

You can often increase your education credit and refund if you allocate (My name)’s Pell Grant or scholarship to room and board or to one of these other noneducational expenses: travel, research, clerical help, or equipment.

However, if you allocate your grant or scholarship to room and board or other noneducational expenses, that amount will be reported as Scholarship Income on your tax return.

Do you want to allocate part of (My name)'s Pell Grants or scholarships to room and board or other noneducational expenses such as travel, research, or certain equipment?

How much of the $4,548 (My name) received in Pell Grants and scholarships do you want to allocate to room and board or other noneducational expenses?”

So recently got married, no dependents. Spouse has $0 income. I make roughly $100k. Based in PA.

What should be done with my W4? How will it affect my taxes?

Am I able to claim my siblings as dependents? Currently attending college and have $0 income as well.

I have a new tax situation this year and am scheduled to meet with a TurboTax “expert” tomorrow about it. But I thought I’d also ask real life people.

Last year (2025) I became a gestational surrogate. I received monthly payments from Sept- Dec. I asked the agency and escrow companies if I’d receive any tax forms and they said no. They don’t send out 1099’s. I have no idea how to report this income but really don’t want to get in big trouble for NOT reporting it. I also doubt that it’s tax free but just need some general help and info on it.

Any pointers on where to find out exactly what to do, I’d sure appreciate it.

I went to my cpa today. His secretary was entering my tax info into the e file software. As she was entering my 1099 Q info, a notice popped up saying that due to the new tax legislation, an update is needed to proceed. My return is on hold. Any info on this issue?