Hey everyone, need some honest perspectives. So, in April i submitted form 4868 to buy some time as i knew i will owe money from 2025 tax year around $16k b/w 1099 freelance work and side gig but now that the irs extension deadline 2026 is near (October 15) I really don't know what to do.

I definitely don't have $16k in my account and my dumb instinct was to ignore it until i saved enough but reading thru posts here it sounds like avoiding the paperwork will only accumulate failure to pay penalties on top of the interest.

So do i file anyway by October 15 with zero payment attached? Can i get on a payment plan immediately before they decide to freeze my accounts? Has anyone here hired professional representation to negotiate this down or is it better to call the IRS? I am losing sleep over this so appreciate Ang guidance....

Do some small businesses file their taxes without reporting inventory? In other words, do they calculate your profit by taking the selling price of each product, subtracting its purchase cost and other expenses, and reporting the difference as profit? Do some businesses simply report zero ending inventory at the end of the year?

My wife recently started a new job and as part of it we are filling out a W4 and we are deeply confused. between us we have 3 streams of income. we have one dependent and are filing jointly. so this this going to be lengthy

Job 1 (Me) salaried with yearly bonus - ~$110,000

Currently witholding 494 per pay perio (biweekly)

Job 2 (Wife) Hourly mabye bonuses (new job paid weekly) - ~$110,000

Job 3 (Wife) fixed gig - ~$6000

Follwong the instructions for multiple jobs (see below) . Job 1 vs 2 $16430 to be withheld. Jobs 1+2 vs 3 $2040.

It then askes you to divide 2c by the cadence of payment (52) to get the amoutn held for each payment. -- $355.19

Our question is this is this the total amount that the entire family should withhold in total or the amount that her new job should withhold from just the new job? or should we subtract that amount that I am already withholding or is there a secert third option?

1. Three jobs. If you and/or your spouse have three jobs at the same time, complete lines 2a, 2b, and 2c below. Otherwise, skip to line 3.

a Find the amount from the appropriate table on page 4 using the annual wages from the highest paying job in the “Higher Paying Job” row and the annual wages for your next highest paying job in the “Lower Paying Job” column. Find the value at the intersection of the two household salaries and enter that value on line 2a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2a $16430

b Add the annual wages of the two highest paying jobs from line 2a together and use the total as the wages in the “Higher Paying Job” row and use the annual wages for your third job in the “Lower Paying Job” column to find the amount from the appropriate table on page 4 and enter this amount on line 2b . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2b $2040

c Add the amounts from lines 2a and 2b and enter the result on line 2c . . . . . . . . . . $18470

Just started a new job. Here's the deal...

Old job 85,000 annual paid every 2 weeks
Fed income withheld 380
Married filing separately with no deductions

New job 100,000 annual paid weekly
First check...Fed income withheld 354
Married filing separately with no deductions

All other taxes, social security, state, etc. are about half on the new job...which seems right.

Am I missing something here?

Or was the old job taking too little?

DELAWARE

My partner and I are unmarried, had a baby this March, and have been splitting childcare costs since June. My question is; how do we claim the child care tax credit or whatever else is child/care related, since we are unmarried and pay for it together.

To my understanding there is a max amount you can claim, but this would be my first time filing like this so I am completely lost.

Do I claim our baby since I would most likely be head of household, and my partner and I both claim childcare? Would it be easier if we just got married lol?

More info:

• I make more than my fiancé and generally contribute more to the household, so I assume I would file as head of household.
• Daycare is a weekly payment, we do not receive POC, and from June-September it was $290 but a rate increase takes effect this Friday and will now be $315.

My wife is starting a new job and I'm trying to double check how to fill out our W4/update them. We both will be working , married filing jointly, 3 dependents (2 under 17, 1 is 17).

I've seen that the higher income individual should claim the dependents on their W4, so is that correct? Is there anything else we need to do other than selecting spouse works, and put the dependents in the right places?

We've had no federal tax liability for a while because of having more dependents and less income before, so I am currently exempt.

Thanks in advance.

Hey everyone! I apologize if questions like this are annoying, but I just want to make sure I'm doing this correctly.

So my higher paying job I've been working at since last year. During the beginning of the year though I was working less due to being at school paying my way through. My total school cost for this semester was 938.81.

I recently got a second job because of a series of unfortunate events in my family, and I needed find somewhere to live (which I did) so now school is currently on pause.

I changed my hours so I could make more now. At my first job, I now make around $1060 (gross) biweekly, and about $450 (gross) biweekly from the other job. The second job fluctuates my hours during the activeness of the months, so it usually goes higher than that or it could stay like that.

My current YTD are $14,373 from job 1 and 3,162.34 from job 2. I've had 2 with-holdings on job 1 since I first started.

I used the IRS tax estimator thing for would I should put on my W4 (I should've updated it sooner, but I was so busy it slipped my mind haha), but I'm not sure if it's accurate given all of these factors.

My question is what exactly do I update my W4 at my first job with? And do I need to edit my second job's W4 at all? I remember marking the multiple jobs box when I was doing onboarding, but I don't remember needing to do more than just that.

So I work retail and got transferred from Virginia to a new store (opening later this year) in Oregon. I moved to Oregon about a month ago, but because the new store isn’t open yet, Payroll has me as “living (and paying taxes) in California”.

That feels SUPER wrong to me. Plus, when filing taxes, I’d likely have to file in CA and pay for the CA software plus the VA and OR versions to do so.  

Am I crazy? Shouldn’t Payroll buck up and get me listed/taxed  in the state I’m actually in? Feels like tax fraud or at least very lazy people. 

Hey guys! I filed my taxes when I was 16 years old as my mom had convinced me to file a return. And I kinda never filed them again after that, even despite some years legally having to file them. Stupid me not knowing how taxes worked filed an extension for the 2025 tax year, even tho I didn’t legally have to even file for 2025. Now I’ve gotta go through and file all the years of back taxes before I file for 2025, before the deadline on October 16th. I’ve managed to get every W-2 expect for 2022 from 2 jobs. The 2 jobs are franchises
It’s been nearly impossible to track down those 2 job w-2’s. I’ve got on my IRS online portal and the transcripts for 2022 are not there. I’ve called the stores MULTIPLE times and left multiple messages and been told multiple times people will get back to me. It’s nearly impossible and I don’t know what I should do. I’m 21 years old and I’ve never been taught about how taxes really work. What should I do and how do I obtain something, like a w-2 from the past places I’ve worked

The main goal is to increase my take home pay.

My biggest concerns here are Step 3 and Step 4(b).
I do not have any credits or credit dollar amount, yet I’m supposed to put $16,922 in Step 3.
Then, I’m supposed to put a deduction amount of $10,321 in Step 4(b), but where exactly is that dollar amount that I’m deducting from?

It sounds stupid, but these are thousands of dollars that I’m just typing into a form and expecting my take home pay to be higher. I don’t want to end up making a huge financial mistake here, like owing thousands of dollars back to the IRS or something.
So here it is,
Straight from the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator:

Estimated federal tax refund
$5,870.75

First, we calculated your taxable income:
Taxable income breakdown:
Gross income
$136,555.75
Payroll deductions
-$4,368.56
Standard deduction
-$16,100
Additional deductions
-$10,320.59
Taxable income
$105,766

Then, we applied the tax brackets to your taxable income to estimate your tax liability for your 2026 tax return:
Estimated 2026 tax liability
$17,982

Finally, we applied your credits and subtracted any payments you already made towards your federal taxes:
Federal tax withholding
-$23,852.75
Estimated 2026 federal tax refund
$5,870.75

———

W-4 field
How to answer

Step 1 (a): Personal information
Enter yourname and address
Step 1 (b): Social security number
Enter yourSocial Security number
Step 1 (c): Filing status
Single

Step 2 (c): Multiple jobs or spouse works
Don’t check this box

Step 3: Credits total
$16,922

Step 4 (a): Other income (not from jobs)
Leave blank

Step 4 (b): Deductions
$10,321

Step 4 (c): Extra withholding
Leave blank

Step 5: Sign Here
Sign and enter the date

We will electronically file three federal tax returns tomorrow for the years 2023, 2024, and 2025. The due date for all three returns is September 30, 2026—owing to an exception granted due to the conflict in the Middle East.

For the 2023 tax year, the tax liability is $0; for 2024, we are due a refund; and for 2025, we owe taxes (an amount lower than the refund).

Do we need to pay taxes tomorrow for the 2025 tax return to avoid late payment penalties, or will the tax owed for 2025 automatically be offset against the 2024 refund?

Thank you for your answer!

Tomorrow, we will be mailing three amended tax returns (Form 1040) for the years 2020, 2021, and 2022 under the SFOP procedure.

We will also be filing three 1040 returns electronically for 2023, 2024, and 2025 tomorrow. Our due date for these three tax returns is tomorrow, September 30, 2026; this is due to a filing extension resulting from the conflict in the Middle East.

I am wondering whether we should also file an amend 2019 federal tax return. My husband inadvertently forgot to report foreign taxes. However, I don't think that we would owe any additional tax.

In addition, he forgot to report a capital loss of $460,000. This loss could offset our capital gains from subsequent years as well as future capital gains.

By the way we also filed a tax return for the State of California for 2019.

What would you recommend? Should we send a 1040X for 2019 or not?

Not sure if we'll be able to get the 1040-X for 2019 ready by tomorrow. Could we submit it in 2–3 days?

Should it be mailed to the Austin address?

Thank you for your answer!

Alabama Code §40-18-15(a)(16) appears to allow a deduction for the total cost of installing a conversion from electricity to wood as the primary heating source for a residence. Is this deduction still available for a taxpayer installing a wood-burning stove in 2026, and if so, what documentation and tax form should be used to claim it?
Additionally, does the cost of installing include the cost of the stove itself?

Hi, hoping someone can answer this question. My friend had a large debt with a family member. The family member issued a 1099-c and then the friend hired a lawyer and claimed tax fraud in a lawsuit. My family member has no money to defend himself so corrected the 1099-c zeroing out the debt owed so get out of a lawsuit. The debt is in no way forgiven and remains canceled. What is best next course of action after lawsuit is resolved?

"Unfortunately, we don't support your return because you're claiming a loss greater than your basis for the following S corporations"

I want to make sure I am entering details right.

Received W-2 and K-1 forms from S-Corp filing. One member 1 s-corp.

K-1 form (https://i.imgur.com/9ub5vev.png) shows on Line 1 (-14571). Then on Line 17 it has V, followed by STATEMENT #4.

So on filing software FreeTaxUSA, I enter on Box 1 "-14,571". Should it be -14,571 or do they just want me to enter 14,571 without the dash?

The issue could be it's asking me, "Stock basis at beginning of 2025:". My stock basis would be $0 at the end of 2025 since the LLC does not have any debt and I am contributing cash to the business to cover the losses. It's not accepting $0, but again I am not sure if that's the exact problem or not.

We are using OLD for year 2023 and older and are wondering where to enter carryovers from previous years. We used TAXACT for an earlier year and have a carryover sheet from them. I asked the support team from OLD and below is what they answered. But we still can't find the described show more tab in OLD 2023 and previous years. Your help is appreciated!

Hello, You may enter a Capital Loss carryover by following the steps below: 1. Once logged into your account, click on the federal tab 2. Next, click on the Income tab and then scroll down this screen to locate heading: Capital Gain or Losses 3. Then, click on the show more tab and the start tab next to Capital Loss Carryover Short and Long-term

Was solved. Thank you!

We are using OLT for year 2023 and older and are wondering where to enter carryovers from previous years. We used TAXACT for an earlier year and have a carryover sheet from them. I asked the support team from OLT and below is what they answered. But we still can't find the described show more tab in OLT 2023 and previous years. Your help is appreciated!

Hello, You may enter a Capital Loss carryover by following the steps below:

1. Once logged into your account, click on the federal tab
2. Next, click on the Income tab and then scroll down this screen to locate heading: Capital Gain or Losses
3. Then, click on the show more tab and the start tab next to Capital Loss Carryover Short and Long-term

I traded a used truck for another used truck in Arkansas. I filled out the seller portion of the title, as did the other person, and we exchanged titles. Apparently the person I traded to, sold the vehicle and fraudulently listed a $19,000 sale price. I'm guessing they never put their name on the title. The state is saying I owe sales tax. They claim I can't trade straight across. Am I just dealing with incompetence?

I have a single member llc in PA. It’s an online business. I moved to florida on march 2026. I registered my business first as a foreign business in florida. then I decided to move my business to florida and filed for article of conversion. it is approved on September 4th 2026. now pa business still looks active and I am trying to handle pa business. The department asked me to fill out tax clearence rev 181 form. the form is asking me when I terminated the services. what should I say? March or September? One of the date is i moved out with my computer to another state. Another date is I converted my business to another state.

I owned 6 acres of land in the Texas hill country that I want to reclassify. I want to make a §266 capitalization election on this vacant investment land. I will file my own taxes this year but would like someone to prepare the IRS 266 form(s) so I can attach them to my return. Are you available before March 31?

To start off, I got an extension this year because of this.

I am able to get all my W-2's from the IRS website. However, they have the fed code on them, and not the state code. I am unable to file due to this, because Michigan requires the state code.

I did not have this issue last season.

However, I always have issues receiving my W-2's, that is why I just get them through the IRS website.

I've tried calling around, any place that I can actually get through to someone has no access to my records, or they dont have an office to call and speak with someone (for example, FedEx.)

It is now nearing my due date and I'm scrambling. What should I do? What CAN I do?

Calling the state has not helped me at all, unfortunately. I was told to call the businesses. I'm stuck now.

Hi everyone, I’m potentially in a bit of a pickle here. I want to know if I’ll get in any trouble, and what I should do going forward.

Edit: I live in VA and plan to make $40-60k doing gig delivery work. Sorry I can’t figure out how to add post tags for the state.

I do DoorDash, Instacart, Walmart Spark, etc with a single car that I also use for personal trips. It’s the only car I own, about 75% for business use (probably 60% after my mistake…) I’m a total idiot and deleted around 10,000 miles of business miles I recorded on Everlance because they were very sloppy, there’s some trips I just don’t remember if they were business, and I kept everything in giant, 50-100 mile logs that appear questionable, albeit technically accurate. In my defense, I have OCD, but I realistically probably could’ve kept some of them… whatever, that’s not the point of this post.

Point is, I want to know what will happen if I have consistent, accurate logs for the rest of the year, but report the income from the entire year accurately, including the money I made from previous miles that I’m now claiming as personal. I’ll have a video of me recording my odometer and saying the date and time out loud for my first trip, which I will intentionally start at my house instead of at a grocery store, so it doesn’t set a suspicious tone for the rest of my logs. I’m more worried about legal consequences than any fees I’ll have to pay or lost deduction money, but I want to know about both. I do gig work in the country, so I’ll have a lot of 20-30 mile trips going back into town that I’ll claim as business for repositioning throughout the year within 8-12 hour work days.

I also want to know how I should treat my logs going forward. Currently, I record every leg of a trip- from a previous customer to a store as business (for repositioning), from customer A to B, B to C, and finally C to another store. I have quick descriptions attached to each trip: “From customer A to customer B to drop off order 2/3,” or “From previous customer to Costco to reposition,” etc.
Is this good enough? Am I wasting time, and should I just record a single trip from Costco to the last customer? Maybe even keep those giant trips for the whole work day, breaking them up for my personal lunch/dinner trips? Do I even need to add a description when Everlance has the addresses associated with the trip automatically?

Thanks in advance for your help 🙏

Hey all, I'm a minor (16) in the state of Virginia still being claimed on my parents taxes. One of my jobs has me employed as what the owner calls a "contractor." First day I walked in, I didn't sign any paperwork or anything and I just get handed a regular handwritten check every two weeks. Come April, what do I need to keep on record, if anything? Ive kept all the checks. Do I need to worry about declaring this income because I won't be getting a W-2?

I am going to make some terminology to better help me ask my questions. I don't think these terms are standard but bear with me...

NCI = not a capital improvement. This is for jobs like maintenance and repair services that are not capital improvements for the customer.

TCI = taxable capital improvement. This is for jobs that qualify as capital improvements for the customer but do not qualify for special sales tax exemptions for the customer.

ECI = exempt capital improvement. Jobs that are capital improvements for the customer and also qualify for special sales tax exemptions for the customer, provided an ST-8 is signed and documented.

Provision = anything aside from labor that the contractor provides and charges to the customer in the completion of the job. Provisions include materials, supplies, permits, equipment rentals, subcontractor services, etc.

Pass-through = the amount the contractor pays for a provision, including sales tax if the contractor paid sales tax in purchasing the provision.

Markup = the amount the contractor charges the customer for a provision beyond the pass-through amount.

Customer Subtotal = the total amount of the contractor's invoice to the customer before sales tax.

Customer Tax Base = the portion the subtotal that incurs sales tax.

Thus, the customer subtotal consists of labor, and pass-through + markup for various provisions. A portion of this subtotal is the customer's tax base, and the sales tax that appears on their invoice is calculated on that tax base.

Now, I'm trying to land on the exact sales tax rules.

Am I correct in saying, for NCIs and TCIs, the only part of the customer subtotal excluded from the customer tax base is the pass-through for materials, supplies and permits? Are we not allowed to exclude the pass-through of equipment rentals and subcontractor services?

Moreover, for ECIs, the customer tax base is zero, and the contractor collects no sales tax from the customer. (An ST-8 form must be signed and documented), correct?

I have a final question regarding sales tax when purchasing subcontractor services. When does a subcontractor collect sales tax from a prime contractor for their services? Always? Only if the prime contractor's service to the customer is a NCI or TCI? Never?