One thing nobody's mentioned - if you receive a gift over $17,000 from any single person in 2023, the GIVER might need to file a gift tax return (though they probably won't owe taxes). This doesn't affect you as recipient, but worth knowing if any of your cash deposits are from large gifts.

As someone who's dealt with similar concerns, I'd recommend keeping it simple but organized. Create a basic spreadsheet with columns for date, amount, source, and purpose. For example: "3/15/2024, $800, Mom & Dad, Birthday gift" or "4/2/2024, $1,200, Sarah + Mike, Trip to Vegas repayment." The key is consistency - if you start tracking now, keep doing it. Banks and the IRS look for patterns that don't make sense with your lifestyle and income. Your deposits sound completely normal for someone with an active social life and family relationships. One practical tip: if you're selling items online, take screenshots of the listings and any messages about payment method. This creates a paper trail that shows legitimate personal transactions, not hidden business income. Same goes for Venmo/Zelle requests from friends - those digital records are gold if you ever need to explain the source of cash deposits. The fact that you're being proactive about documentation actually works in your favor. It shows you're not trying to hide anything, just being responsible about record-keeping.

This is such a timely post for me! I just had my first big casino win last month ($7,500 on a progressive slot) and was totally unprepared for the tax implications. The casino did withhold the 24% federal tax, but I had no idea that wasn't the end of it. What really caught me off guard was learning that ALL my gambling winnings for the year need to be reported, not just the ones where taxes were withheld. I had several smaller wins throughout the year that I completely forgot about until I started reading up on this stuff. Now I'm scrambling to piece together all my casino visits and trying to figure out what I actually won vs lost. The good news is that since my regular income is pretty modest, the additional gambling income won't push me into a higher bracket where I'd owe significantly more than what was already withheld. But lesson learned - next time I'm keeping much better records from day one!

Great breakdown from everyone here! As someone who learned this the hard way, I want to emphasize one crucial point that often gets overlooked: estimated quarterly payments. If your gambling winnings are substantial enough that the 24% withholding won't cover your total tax liability, you may need to make estimated tax payments to avoid underpayment penalties. This is especially important if gambling isn't your main source of income and you don't have other withholdings to cover the gap. The IRS expects you to pay taxes as you earn income throughout the year, not just when you file. So if you hit a big jackpot early in the year and know you'll owe more than what was withheld, consider making quarterly payments. The safe harbor rule is generally to pay 100% of last year's tax liability (or 110% if your prior year AGI was over $150k) to avoid penalties, but with gambling winnings throwing off your usual income, it's worth calculating what you actually owe. I learned this after winning big in February and then getting hit with underpayment penalties despite having taxes withheld at the casino. Now I always set aside extra money from any big wins to cover the additional tax liability and make quarterly payments if needed.

Something nobody's mentioned yet - don't forget about education credits! Whoever claims your daughter as a dependent is the only one who can claim education credits like the American Opportunity Credit (worth up to $2,500) or the Lifetime Learning Credit. These can be really valuable, so factor that into your decision if you and your ex are able to work together on this.

One important detail that could help clarify your situation - you mentioned your daughter "splits her time between our homes based on her preference" during breaks. You should keep detailed records of exactly which nights she stays where during school breaks this year, as the IRS counts actual nights spent, not just general time. Also, since you're providing 100% financial support from May forward, make sure you're documenting everything - tuition payments, housing costs, meal plans, books, personal expenses, etc. The IRS support test requires you to provide more than half of the child's total support for the entire year, not just part of it. Given that your ex provided support for the first 4 months and you're covering May-December, you'll need to calculate the actual dollar amounts to see who provided more than half the total yearly support. This calculation, combined with the residency determination, will determine who can rightfully claim her as a dependent.

I'm at week 13 of waiting for my injured spouse refund and wanted to add my experience to this incredibly helpful thread! Filed Form 8379 with my joint return in mid-February, and like so many others here, my state refund (North Carolina) processed in about 3 weeks while federal remains stuck in processing limbo. Following the excellent advice shared here, I pulled my account transcript around week 10 and found TC 570 and TC 971 codes that actually showed progress was being made - something the useless "Where's My Refund" tool never indicated. When I called the IRS armed with these specific codes and cycle dates, I finally got a helpful agent who confirmed my injured spouse allocation had been calculated and my case was in the final review stage. What's been most valuable about this discussion is learning that 11-14+ weeks is genuinely normal for these claims, not a sign that something went wrong. The IRS really needs to be upfront about these realistic timelines instead of letting people panic when they hit week 6-8 with no updates. The manual review process for injured spouse allocations is just inherently slow, especially during busy season. For anyone just starting this journey - file electronically, check your transcript around week 8-10 for actual processing details, and don't let the generic "still processing" messages drive you crazy. This community has provided more practical guidance than any official resource, and it's reassuring to know we're all navigating the same frustrating but ultimately successful process!

I'm just getting started with the injured spouse process myself - filed Form 8379 with my joint return about 3 weeks ago and already feeling anxious about the timeline! Reading through everyone's experiences here has been incredibly eye-opening and honestly a huge relief. I had no idea that 11-14+ weeks was normal for these claims - I was expecting the typical 21-day refund timeline and would have been in full panic mode by week 6 without finding this discussion. The tip about checking account transcripts for TC codes around week 8-10 is brilliant advice that I never would have known about otherwise. It's so frustrating that the IRS doesn't clearly communicate these realistic timelines upfront. The "Where's My Refund" tool apparently gives you nothing useful, but at least I know now that doesn't mean something's wrong. My state return is still processing too, so I don't even have that small win yet, but it sounds like state and federal move on completely different timelines anyway. Thank you to everyone who's shared their real experiences and timelines - this community discussion has been more helpful than hours of searching official IRS resources. I'll definitely be checking back to share updates as I progress through this lengthy but apparently normal process!

Has anyone found a way to get the Excel formulas for Box 12 to properly link to the right forms? My template has fields for the codes but doesnt seem to do anything with them lol.

I've been using Excel templates for my taxes for about 3 years now and have learned a few things about handling Box 12 codes the hard way! The key is understanding that Box 12 codes fall into different categories: some reduce your current taxable income (like Code D for 401k), some require additional forms (Code W needs Form 8889 for HSA), and some are just informational (like Code AA for Roth contributions). For your specific situation with codes D, W, and AA - Code D doesn't need any action since it's already excluded from your Box 1 wages. Code W will need Form 8889 if you want to deduct HSA contributions. Code AA is just tracking info for your Roth contributions. Most basic Excel templates don't handle the complexity of linking these codes to the right forms automatically. You might want to create a simple reference sheet in your workbook that lists each code, its purpose, and which form it affects. This has saved me from making costly mistakes in previous years. If your template doesn't have built-in logic for these codes, you're essentially doing manual tax prep with Excel as a calculator - which can work but requires you to really understand the tax rules.