Great thread! I've been doing garden donations for the past two years and wanted to share a couple of practical tips that have made the process smoother for me. First, consider creating a simple donation calendar early in the season. I coordinate with my local food pantry to let them know roughly when different crops will be ready - like "expect tomatoes starting mid-July through September, zucchini starting early August," etc. This helps them plan storage space and lets their clients know what fresh produce might be available. Second, I've found it helpful to keep a small waterproof notebook right in my garden shed. When I harvest for donation, I weigh and record everything immediately rather than trying to remember later. My system is super simple: date, veggie type, weight, and which organization received it. One thing I learned the hard way - if you're growing specialty or heirloom varieties, take photos of your actual produce alongside regular varieties for valuation purposes. I grow purple Cherokee tomatoes that sell for $7/lb at our farmers market vs $3/lb for regular tomatoes, and having comparison photos helped justify the higher valuation when I organized my tax records. The food banks absolutely love getting fresh, homegrown produce, and knowing you're helping families while potentially getting a tax benefit makes the extra garden work even more worthwhile!

This thread has been absolutely invaluable! As someone who's been thinking about expanding my garden to include donation crops, you've all answered questions I didn't even know I should be asking. I'm particularly grateful for the practical tips about record-keeping systems and the reminder to coordinate with food banks ahead of time. The suggestion about photographing specialty varieties alongside regular ones for valuation purposes is genius - I grow several heirloom tomato varieties that definitely command premium prices at our farmers market. One thing I'm curious about that I haven't seen addressed yet - has anyone dealt with situations where you have a really exceptional harvest year? Like if weather conditions are perfect and you end up with double or triple your normal yield, does that affect how you should approach valuation or documentation? I'm wondering if consistently high donation amounts might look suspicious or if there's anything special to consider when donation values fluctuate significantly year to year. Also, for those using apps or digital tools, do any of them integrate with tax software to make the filing process easier? The idea of having all my donation records automatically formatted for Schedule A sounds amazing if it exists. Thanks to everyone for creating such a helpful resource - I'm definitely moving forward with donation gardening this season with much more confidence about handling the tax aspects properly!

This is such a helpful thread! I'm in a similar position - been doing individual returns through VITA but want to expand to business taxes. One thing I'm wondering about is the time commitment for each program. Nina, with your corporate accounting background, you're probably already familiar with a lot of the underlying concepts that trip up people without that experience. I'd be curious to hear from others who made this transition - did having corporate accounting experience make the business tax courses easier to get through? Also, for those who've taken either program, what's the typical timeline from starting the course to feeling confident enough to prepare your first real business return? I'm trying to plan this around my current work schedule and want to set realistic expectations.

I went through both programs and can speak to the time commitment question. Intuit Academy's business tax courses are completely self-paced, which was perfect for my schedule. I was able to knock out most modules in about 6-8 weeks dedicating roughly 12 hours per week. The courses are broken into bite-sized segments so you can easily fit them around work. H&R Block has more structure - some of their business tax modules have scheduled webinars and group sessions, though they do offer recorded versions. It took me closer to 10-12 weeks to complete their program at a similar time commitment. For someone with corporate accounting experience like Nina, I'd estimate you could probably move through either program faster than average. The concepts around depreciation, basis calculations, and financial statement integration will already be familiar to you. My background was purely individual tax prep, so I had to learn a lot of the underlying accounting concepts from scratch. One tip: whichever program you choose, try to schedule your completion so you finish right before tax season starts. That way the knowledge is fresh and you can immediately start applying it in a real environment, whether through part-time work or volunteer opportunities with small business clients.

18 As someone who works in mortgage processing, I can confirm that transcript timing is crucial for self-employed borrowers. Here's what I tell my clients: If you e-file and pay electronically, your transcript typically becomes available within 7-10 business days after the IRS accepts your return. However, during peak tax season (January-April), it can take up to 2-3 weeks. Pro tip: File your taxes as early as possible in late January. The IRS usually starts accepting returns around January 27th. If you file within the first week, processing tends to be faster since the system isn't overloaded yet. For your mortgage timeline, request both the Tax Return Transcript AND Account Transcript as others mentioned. The Account Transcript is what proves you actually paid your taxes, not just filed them. Many lenders require both documents before they'll approve self-employed borrowers. Given your 8-week timeline, you should have plenty of buffer if you file early and pay immediately. Just make sure your lender knows you're waiting on the 2024 transcript so they can prepare the rest of your file in advance.

I work as a mortgage underwriter and deal with self-employed borrowers daily, so I can offer some additional insights that might help with your timeline. First, the 2-3 week timeframe others mentioned is accurate, but I've noticed that returns filed in the very first week of tax season (late January) often process faster - sometimes within 5-7 business days. The IRS systems are less congested before the February rush hits. One critical point: make sure you're prepared for the identity verification process on IRS.gov BEFORE you need to access your transcripts. The verification questions can be tricky, and if you fail them, you'll be locked out for 24 hours and may need to verify by phone (which adds significant delays). Practice with last year's return information to make sure you can answer questions about previous filings, addresses, and financial accounts accurately. Also, since you mentioned you're a freelance contractor, double-check that all your 1099s are accurate before filing. If there's a discrepancy between what you report and what your clients reported to the IRS, it can flag your return for manual review, which adds weeks to processing time. Your 8-week buffer should be plenty, but having these details sorted out in advance will help ensure everything goes smoothly when you need those transcripts for your lender.

Tax pro here. This is absolutely a systemic change in IRS processing this year. The 570/971 combo is their standard procedure when a return gets flagged for verification. What's different in 2024 is the volume and the targeting criteria. They're focusing heavily on returns with credits, income disparities from previous years, and self-employment income. Most will clear automatically. Don't call unless your 570 has been there more than 45 days. And definitely don't file an amended return while these codes are active - that will only delay things further.

This is incredibly helpful - thank you everyone for sharing your experiences! I just checked my transcript this morning and sure enough, there's a 570 code dated yesterday. I was about to panic until I found this thread. Based on what I'm reading here, it sounds like this is just part of their new verification process this year. I do have both W-2 and 1099 income like @Tasia mentioned, so that might be what triggered it. Going to follow @Ellie's advice and wait it out rather than calling immediately. Will keep an eye on the mail for any notices. It's such a relief to know this is happening to so many people and most are getting resolved within a few weeks. I'll update this thread if anything changes with my situation!

I went through this exact process about 6 months ago and ended up using the income route since it was much simpler than dealing with property appraisals. Here's what I learned: For CPAs, make sure they're familiar with the SEC's Rule 506(c) verification requirements. Not all CPAs are comfortable with this type of verification, so ask upfront about their experience with accredited investor letters. If you're close on income but not quite there, consider timing - if you're expecting a bonus or have irregular income, the CPA can sometimes work with projected income if it's well-documented (like a signed employment contract showing guaranteed compensation). One thing nobody mentioned is that some investment platforms have preferred verification providers they work with regularly. It's worth asking the investment opportunity if they have recommendations - sometimes they have relationships that can streamline the process and reduce costs. Also, keep your verification letter - many are valid for 6 months, so if you're looking at multiple investment opportunities, you won't need to repeat the process each time.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is the importance of organizing all your financial documents before reaching out to any CPA or verification service. This can significantly speed up the process and potentially reduce costs. Create a comprehensive folder with: recent tax returns (last 2 years), all investment account statements (as of the most recent quarter), bank statements showing liquid assets, any recent property valuations or refinance documents, and documentation of other assets like business ownership interests. Having everything organized upfront allows the CPA to quickly assess your best qualification path rather than going back and forth requesting additional documents. In my experience, CPAs often charge less when they can complete the verification efficiently in one session rather than having to revisit your case multiple times. Also, if you're working with any of the services mentioned like taxr.ai, having your documents ready for upload will get you results much faster. The more complete your financial picture is from the start, the better they can analyze your optimal qualification strategy. One last tip: take photos or scans of everything even if you think you won't need it. Sometimes CPAs spot opportunities in documents you didn't think were relevant - like that old stock option exercise or investment property purchase that pushes you over the threshold.