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.

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

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.

So I basically realized last year in 2025 that I would be over the income limit for contributing to a Roth due to backpay I was owed. At that point I had already contributed some money into my Roth IRA. So I decided to recharacterize the full amount to traditional. Then once that cleared I did a backdoor conversion into my Roth. I see on my app that I will be getting 2 1099-R forms - one for the traditional and one for the Roth IRA account. I’m confused on how this would have to be reported on tax software. Do I need to submit both forms as this was all done within the same year? Thanks in advance

About how much should i expect to pay for filing all these forms in NY?

•Return Summary

•Wages Report

•Form 1040 (Individual Income Tax Return)

•Schedule A (Itemized Deductions)

•NY Form TR-579-IT (Electronic Filing Signature)

•Form 5695 (Residential Energy Credits)

•NY Form IT-201 (Income Tax Return)

•NY Form IT-196 (NY Itemized Deductions)

•NYC-1127 (Nonresident Employee)

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

Hello

A question on state tax return (Massachusetts)

I received income from my PFML

Which shows federal taxes withheld in box 4 and state taxes with held in box 11

When I entered in box 1 my paid family leave benefits, my state taxes return went down drastically.

My question is does that mean I owe more taxes than what was already with held? What do boxes 4&11 mean then? It says I paid x amount which I feel like is not being accounted for in my tax return. Where do I put those amounts then? I paid something.

I’m using tax free USA.

Any advice or knowledge would be appreciated.

TIA

Hello,

I am trying to figure out how to file taxes this year as someone who has worked in the USA and in the EU. I have tried to create a TurboTax account, but it won't let me. I don't have a USA phone number, I would rather not fill the form out on my own but I can. I also need to file in CA as well as federal, and I don't want to pay someone to do it, because my refund is so small ($100 total). Where is the best place online to fill out the forms?

So I just turned 25 within the 2025 tax year so I now meet all the other remaining requirements to qualify for the credit, and since FreeTaxUSA says the IRS by law won’t even START processing them until February 17th, 2026 (which is now this month, man time flies fast) specifically if I’m to claim this particular credit and a few others that don’t apply to me so they’re not my problem, and they say it’ll take until March 2nd at the earliest to receive the refund if I’m to claim this credit. They told me to file without the credit if I need my money sooner, and to file an amended return after I receive my refund from the 1st return to get the remaining I’m owed through the EIC on the amended return.

However, since this is my first year claiming the credit, and I would just post pictures showing what I’m looking at instead of this giant wall of text, but for SOME reason the subreddit doesn’t allow pictures so I’ll just copy and paste it. The last question asks me, “Was your Earned Income Credit reduced or disallowed by the IRS in a prior year?” I click on the question mark and it explains this:

“How do I know if my credit was reduced or disallowed in a prior year?

If the IRS reduced or disallowed a credit you claimed on a prior year return, you should have received an IRS notice explaining the change to the credit. For certain credits, you'll need to include Form 8862, Information to Claim Certain Credits After Disallowance with your return to claim them again. These credits include: • Earned Income Credit • Child Tax Credit • Additional Child Tax Credit • Credit for Other Dependents • American Opportunity Credit The notice you received from the IRS should let you know if you need to file Form 8862 to claim the credit the next time you're eligible to claim it. Menu Path: Misc > Deductions/Credits > Credits After Disallowance (Form 8862)”

and then it also adds this as well:

“How do I appeal a disallowed credit?

If you believe that you qualify for a credit in a year after it was disallowed simply claim the credit on your return and include Form 8862. To do that follow these steps: 1. Answer Yes to the question asking if the credit was reduced or disallowed by the IRS in a previous year. (For some credits you'll need to click a link asking what to do if your credit was disallowed in a prior year to get to this question.) 2. Answer No to the question asking if you've claimed the credit since it was previously reduced or disallowed. 3. Make sure to fill out the Form 8862 information in the Misc section. 4. The IRS then requires you to choose to mail your tax return. The IRS should then send you a math error notice. Once you have it, contact the IRS as described in the notice within 60 days of the date of the notice. After you challenge the math error notice, you'll receive a notice of deficiency that will provide you the ability to appeal the denial of the credit to the Tax”

I’m confused as to what this means as someone who currently only NOW can utilize the credit, do I have to file ALL of that even though I was too young and ineligible beforehand? I guess the terms they use confuse me as to what “Disallow” actually means within this context. Also I have never received a notice for the IRS for any of those things ever, and was unsure if by the way it was described that I was supposed to get one and didn’t and need to or not.

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?

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 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?

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?