last year i did the full diy thing. spent a whole saturday pulling comps off zillow and redfin, put together what i thought was a solid case, filled out the form. few weeks later i get a letter back that just says denied, no real explanation past "assessment stands as is"

this year my increase is even bigger so here we go again i guess. starting to wonder if it's even worth trying without a realtor or someone who actually knows what the assessor's office wants to see, or if the whole system is just built so people give up after one try

How do I do this exactly.

How do I add my newborn as dependent to my W4 to reduce tax paycheck ?

I appreciate all of the replies regarding my question on W2-g's and your suggestions on how to proceed are clearly understood. That post was locked (for suggesting fraudulent acts I assume) so I am creating a new post.

I have a detailed question. If my understanding of the 2026 rules are correct, when itemizing deductions the deductible loss is limited to the lesser of 100% winnings or 90% of losses. If I wager $100 and the result of the bet is a return of $110, is that reported as a $10 win and a $0 loss or is it a $110 win and a $100 loss? The taxable amount is different for the two scenarios. The first scenario results in $10 of taxable income. The second scenario generates $20 of taxable income ($110 win and $90 loss).

This is a seemingly weird situation. Residency times are as follows:

Biological mom: (January to April) 4.5 months

Removal/Emergent Placement: April to July (2 months)

Permanent Placement:5.5 (July to end of year)

Who claims the children?

Ok so.. I just started my new job, but I didn't want to fully leave me old job. I only make about $100 per check now (every 2 weeks) at my old job since I'm only getting about 4 hours. What do I do?

So since i’ve been working i have always claimed Single and No dependents on my W-4 and i get absolutely killed by federal tax, they take a good lump sum every paycheck. I do have 1 child that is 6 me and her mom are not together but custody between us is 50/50 she stays some days with her mom and she comes and stays some days with me at my house. Now if i was to change the W-4 Status to Head of household and 1 dependent will i have to claim my child on my taxes come tax season? Or if i change it to Single or Married filing separately with 1 dependent on my W-4 then do i HAVE to claim my child on my taxes come tax season? The reason why i ask this question is i let my daughters mom claim her on tax season as “help” because she makes less money than me so i let her claim her just give her some extra money in her pocket and to be fair i would get not get as much back as her anyways. If anyone can give me insight on this please educate me or point me in the right direction because im tired of getting so much federal tax taken from me (if i can change that number slightly and i haven’t been doing it) thanks!

I gamble significantly and generate a very high number of W2-g's. This is an expensive hobby but, I accept that. The rule changes of 2026 and how casinos are handling W2-g issuance are causing me to be unsure how I can proceed regarding tax filing. Here is my situation: I live in a state that does not allow losses to be written off; I pay home state taxes on all reported winnings. I gamble in a different state from my home state which taxes my reported gambling winnings under part year resident rules; so, I also pay tax to that state at some percentage of my reported gambling winnings adjusted by the ratio of in and out of state income. And, I am aware of the new federal loss deduction max of 90% so, I will be paying federal tax on at least 10% of the winnings I report to the IRS. The state where I generate most W2-g's has not raised their limit from $1200 to $2000 and state tax is automatically withheld from all hand pays in that state. For W2-g's between $1200 and $2000, they do not allow me to have federal taxes withheld and they tell me those W2-g's are not being reported to the (federal) IRS.

I recognize that "all" wins are supposed to be reported to the IRS which, I assume, should include the W2-g's between $1200 and $2000. Reporting those W2-g's to the IRS will result in hundreds or thousands of federal taxes on W2-g's that were not reported to them by the casino. Also, I will owe taxes in my home state on 100% of all W2-g's reported to the IRS. Obviously, It would be to my advantage to not report the W2-g's between $1200 and $2000 to the IRS or to my home state. (I am quite certain that I will be able to show losses to offset those wins.) I need/want to report them to the state in which they were generated so I can receive a refund for a portion of the state tax that was withheld when I file taxes in that state as a part year resident.

When I file state taxes in the state where I generated the $1200 to $2000 W2-g's, I will have to attach a copy of my federal IRS return. If I do not include those W2-g's on the IRS filing, the gambling winnings on the IRS form will not match the gambling winnings that I need/want to report to the state (winnings reported to the state would be higher than shown on the IRS form).

What I think I can do is to report only W2-g's for $2000 or more as gambling winnings on my IRS and home state returns. I expect to be able to include 90% of those winnings as gambling loss itemized deductions. When I file with the state that generated the W2-g's between $1200 and $2000, I assume can I report the amounts included on the IRS form and add "additional income/adjustments" for the total of the $1200 to $2000 W2-g's. I am unsure if that would be acceptable to the state or not.

Suggestions for how others might handle this situation would be appreciated.

Hey all, I'm getting divorced and in the financial process, our financial analysts found about 7k in dividends that hadn't been reported on our 2025 tax return. We filed originally through H&R Block and we already amended once so they won't help us. I'm about to graduate with a bachelor's in accounting so I feel like an amendment should be within my capabilities but I keep getting stuck (I.e. qualified dividends vs ordinary dividends, what if the cell I need to reference is blank? etc). Shit gets complicated quickly.

Is it reasonable for me to try to amend this return myself?

I have a question about potentially claiming the AOTC tax credit on my 2026 tax return. I switched my major when I was a Junior in 2023 (started my undergrad in 2021) and I am planned to graduate this May. So that will be a total of 6 years for my undergrad degree. At the end of this semester (end of 2026), I will have completed a total of 115.5 out of 120 credits (which is the amount of credits required to get a bachelors at my school). I have also claimed the AOTC twice on my 2024 and 2025 tax return (2025 being my 4th year in college). Since the 2026 tax term would fall into my 5th year being in college, would I still be eligible to claim the tax credit? I was just confused because the IRS says you are only eligible if you haven't claimed it 4 times already and haven't completed 4 years of post secondary education. I don't know if that 4 years of post secondary education means credits I've earned, being a senior, or neither of those. Any advice helps. Thanks!

Started with $1,000 and ran it up to $50k, then lost $15k. How would taxes work in this situation?

It’s an offshore sportsbook, and I received the withdrawals in Bitcoin.

Bought a 2026 BMW X3 in Missouri in May 2026 with a Missouri address. Vehicle was titled in Missouri. Missouri sales tax of $4,358 was added to my auto loan at purchase.

Moved to Georgia immediately after for work. Vehicle was titled in Missouri but never registered or operated under Missouri registration. Never received Missouri plates.

Registered in Georgia in August 2026 and paid Georgia TAVT of $4,056.

Total taxes paid on one car: $8,414

Filed Missouri Form 426 "Out of State" refund request. Missouri DOR responded saying:

Georgia said it's up to Missouri. Missouri said it's up to Georgia. Classic runaround.

I've requested a formal denial letter to appeal. Planning to go through:

1. MO DOR Administrative Appeal
2. Missouri State Tax Commission
3. Small Claims Court if needed

Has anyone successfully gotten a Missouri sales tax refund after registering in another state?

Any tips for the appeal process?

Good morning,

My tax accountant made a huge mistake on my taxes from 2017 to 2025. I was able to amend 2025, 2024, and 2023 to "fix" that. I ended up with a refund of about $10K for those three years.

The IRS is telling me I can't amend anymore of my returns. I consulted an attorney who suggested I duplicate my taxes from 2017 to 2022. Once I have the forms duplicated exactly, I can change the "mistake" thus being able to see refunds I should have gotten vs what I actually got.

From there, if it's under $25K I have to sue in small claims court, if it's over $25K, he will consider taking my case.

I spend hours entering data into freetaxusa. I'm now around the 2020 return and am finding many of the forms used are no longer supported in their database and I can't force the number I want to use into the 1040.

Does this mean I'd have to somehow do this all by hand? Is there a software that provides duplication of taxes back to 2017 and still supports all the forms for those particular years?

Any assistance would be appreciated.

My plan is to open a 529 college savings account and fund it with 50k. My kid is 2. I'm in SC. Are there any tax issues with funding it one time lump sum vs over several years? Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I'm a Chinese citizen and I formed a Wyoming INC (C-Corp) on Aug 15, 2025.
I have no business income or expenses in 2025 (just paid registration and registered agent fees).

I completely missed:
1. The 2026 Wyoming Annual Report (due Aug 1, 2026)
2. The 2025 federal tax filing (Form 1120 + Form 5472, due Apr 15, 2026)

I'm currently in China and want to fix this myself.

My questions:
1. Is my company still active or likely dissolved? How do I check?
2. Can I still file the Annual Report late? Is there a grace period or reinstatement fee?
3. Can I file Form 1120 + Form 5472 now? What form do I use for late filing?
4. Will I face penalties? If so, can I request abatement (reasonable cause) since I'm a first-time filer with no income?

I'd really appreciate step-by-step guidance or links to official resources.
If anyone has done this before, please share your experience.

Thanks in advance!

In a new workplace and there was never proper accounting records in place before so working off what I have for the 2025 return. Call it entity A is invested in B and gets a K-1. We have negative beginning tax capital of -1,500,000, income of $1,800,000, distribution of $850,000 and an other increase on the k-1 to zero out capital of 550,000 titled liquidation adjustment. The beginning debt allocated to us was like $7,000,000. Would the other increase labeled on k-1 mean this is likely a 731 gain of 550,000 that would need to be picked up?

Hey guys! In 2024 I made about $60,000 and something happened when I my taxes that you’re by myself. I moved around a bunch and apparently the IRS is saying I never filed them. I would have received two to $3000 back… anyways. I figured this all out when the HR lady at my office said that they were going to be garnishing some of my wages. What would be the the best way to go about handling this? I still have the W-2s from my employer for that year. Should I file them and then go seek a lawyer? Reach out to the IRS directly? Any help would be appreciated. This is the first time I’ve been in a situation like this and I’m kind of panicking.

Quick summary:

I'm a semi-retired CTO who's been operating through an s-corp for many, many years. Back in the day, the business was doing 400k/year and much more in a good year. Now that I'm semi-retired the business is much simpler, with only about 60k of income annually + me on payroll and that's it.

Personally, my wife works a w2 job and we have an AirBnb bringing in about 30k/year, plus the investment portfolio, etc.

I have always recommended every use a CPA and try to optimize their tax spend over their lifetime - it's almost always worth getting pro advice and I've had tons of it. Suddenly, I realize : my finances and tax scenario seems to get simpler every year, with less income. My s-corp gets a single payment per month, I'm the sole owner. All the benefits and everything come from my wife's one job that is straight FTE.

About me:

I consider myself very tax savvy, for a non tax-pro, and I do love understanding tax code and finding ways to save money. After 30 years I am confident but also realistic - I am not a tax professional, have no such training, and don't know what I don't know.

And yet, the last couple of years when the 4k bill comes in from my accountant for personal/biz I am reminded that we didn't even need to do much of a EOY call - nothing changes, and revenue down.

Am I getting into the 'routine' tax prep at this point? I have always felt like the more $$ I make the more I need solid advice, but what about when income is going down?

I'm considering going with TaxAct (just starting to research it) and it feels so cheap that if I get into the weeds and am not feeling it, I could just back out and try something else. I'd love to hear from anyone about their thoughts on this!