Beware that the rules for qualifying relatives are different from qualifying children! I messed this up last year. For a qualifying relative (which is what your adult son would be), they cannot be your qualifying child or anyone else's qualifying child. The gross income test ($4,700 for 2025) is also critical - though VA benefits don't count toward this, any other income does. If he has even a part-time job that pays more than the threshold, he won't qualify regardless of how much support you provide.

This is a great question that many families with disabled veterans face. Based on what you've described, your son would likely qualify as a qualifying relative dependent if you meet the support test. Since your son is 30 and living with you due to his 100% permanent and total VA disability, you'll need to calculate whether you provide more than half of his total support. This includes not just obvious expenses like food and clothing, but also the fair market rental value of his housing, utilities, medical expenses, transportation, and any other costs you cover. The good news is that VA disability benefits are not counted toward the gross income test (which has a $4,700 limit for 2025), so that shouldn't be an issue. However, those benefits do count when determining how much he contributes to his own support versus what you provide. One important thing to consider: since your son has a permanent and total disability from the VA, you might want to check if he qualifies for the disabled adult child exception under the qualifying child rules instead. This could be more beneficial since qualifying children don't have the gross income limitation. The IRS definition of "permanently and totally disabled" might align with his VA rating. I'd recommend keeping detailed records of all expenses you pay for his support throughout the year - housing costs, food, medical expenses, utilities, transportation, etc. This documentation will be crucial for calculating the support test accurately and defending your claim if questioned.

I'm in a similar boat this year! I've been using FreeTaxUSA to create my forms but ran into the same roadblock when trying to eFile. After reading through all these suggestions, I think I'm going to try the taxr.ai route that @Luca Marino recommended. The idea of not having to re-enter all my data is really appealing, especially since I spent so much time getting everything perfect in my PDFs. One question though - for those who have used these AI-powered tax services, do they handle amended returns if something gets messed up during the conversion process? That's my biggest concern about letting software interpret my documents rather than doing direct data entry myself. @Sean Murphy - let us know which option you end up going with! I'd be curious to hear how it works out since we're in basically the same situation.

I've been following this thread closely since I'm dealing with a similar situation. Based on all the discussion here, it seems like there are really three viable paths forward: 1. **AI-powered conversion services** (like taxr.ai) - Seems to be the most popular option here with good success stories from @Luca Marino and @Nia Davis. The ability to preserve your existing work is definitely appealing. 2. **Manual transcription** to IRS Free Fillable Forms or similar - More tedious but gives you complete control over the data entry process. @Ruby Blake's tip about keeping PDFs open in separate tabs is solid advice. 3. **Professional help via IRS contact** - @Aisha Rahman and @Ethan Brown's experience with Claimyr shows that sometimes talking to an actual IRS agent can reveal options that aren't well-documented online. For what it's worth, I'm probably going to start with the AI route since the time savings seem significant. But I'm planning to do a very thorough review of the extracted data before submitting - maybe even comparing line-by-line with my original PDFs to catch any potential errors. The amended return question that @CosmicCowboy raised is really important though. Has anyone here actually had to file an amendment after using one of these AI services? I'd love to hear about that experience before committing to this approach.

I'm in the exact same boat! Got my approval today and have been refreshing my Chime app way too much already 😅 From reading everyone's experiences here, it sounds like the timing really is all over the place but at least Chime is consistently faster than traditional banks. I'm going to take the advice about setting up notifications and try to distract myself with something else today. The anticipation is killing me but sounds like it should hit within the next day or two. Thanks everyone for sharing your timelines - really helps to know what to expect!

Been using Chime for tax refunds for 5+ years now and here's what I've learned: the timing is completely random but they're definitely the fastest option out there. I've gotten deposits at 6am, 3pm, 9pm, even 2am - there's literally no pattern. The IRS sends batches to banks throughout the day and Chime releases them instantly unlike big banks that hold them. My advice? Turn on notifications, put your phone down, and go live your life. It'll hit when it hits but it WILL be faster than anywhere else. The obsessive checking just makes it worse trust me! 😊

Great question! I went through something very similar when I converted my home computer to business use for my consulting work. Here's what I learned: Since you started using the laptop for business in February 2022, that's when you "placed it in service" for business purposes. You're correct that you need to use the fair market value at that time (early 2022), not the original 2017 purchase price. A few key points for your situation: - Document the 25-35% business use percentage with a usage log - Save those eBay listings showing ~$625 value in early 2022 as proof of FMV - Your business basis would be the lower of FMV ($625) or original cost ($650), so $625 - You can only deduct the business portion, so roughly 30% of $625 = ~$188 For 2024 taxes, you'd depreciate based on when you started business use (2022), so you're already a couple years into the depreciation schedule. Make sure you're consistent with whatever method you chose in 2022 - you can't switch between regular depreciation and Section 179 after the fact. Keep good records of your business vs personal usage going forward, as this split needs to be supportable if audited.

Just wanted to add a practical tip for tracking business vs personal use going forward - I use a simple spreadsheet where I log my computer usage weekly. Nothing fancy, just date ranges and rough percentages of business vs personal time. The IRS doesn't expect you to track every minute, but having a consistent method shows you're making a good faith effort to be accurate. I've found that reviewing my calendar and noting client work vs personal activities gives me a pretty reliable pattern. Also, since you're new to self-employment, consider setting up a separate user account on your laptop just for business activities if possible. It makes tracking easier and creates a cleaner separation between personal and business use, which can be helpful if you ever need to justify your percentage split. One more thing - keep receipts for any software licenses, accessories, or repairs related to business use of the laptop. Those can often be deducted separately from the laptop depreciation itself.

I just went through this exact situation when I sold my rental property last year! Had about $15K in suspended passive losses accumulated over 4 years of ownership. The good news is that when you sell the property, you can indeed claim ALL of your accumulated passive losses in that year, regardless of whether you had a gain or loss on the sale itself. This is because selling the property constitutes a "complete disposition" of the passive activity under IRC Section 469(g). Regarding line 1c being empty - this is totally normal and doesn't mean your losses weren't being tracked. Different tax software handles the carryforward differently. Some show it on line 1c, others track it internally and pull it forward automatically when needed. What matters is that the losses were properly calculated and carried forward each year. My recommendation: Pull your actual filed tax returns from each year (not just what your software shows) and manually verify your suspended loss amounts. Look at Form 8582 line 16 from each year to see what was carried forward. When you sell, make sure your tax preparer or software properly accounts for the complete disposition so you don't miss out on claiming those losses. The fact that both TurboTax and your friend are giving you different advice shows how confusing these rules can be, but the law is clear - complete disposition allows full recognition of suspended losses.

I went through a very similar situation last year and can confirm what others have said - you absolutely can claim ALL your accumulated passive losses when you sell the rental property, regardless of gain or loss on the sale. The key insight that helped me was understanding that selling the property is a "complete disposition" of the passive activity. This triggers IRC Section 469(g), which allows previously suspended passive losses to become fully deductible against any type of income - not just passive income. Regarding your line 1c being empty - don't worry about this! I had the same concern. Different tax software handles suspended loss tracking differently. Some populate line 1c explicitly, others track the losses internally and carry them forward automatically. What matters is that the losses were properly calculated each year. My advice: Go through your actual filed returns (not just software displays) and manually track your suspended losses from Form 8582 line 16 each year. This gives you the true picture of what you can claim. When I did this, I discovered I had about $2K more in suspended losses than I initially thought due to some tracking discrepancies in my software. Also, make sure whoever prepares your tax return for the sale year understands passive activity rules. The complete disposition aspect is crucial - without it being properly handled, you might not get credit for all your accumulated losses. The conflicting advice you're getting is unfortunately common with these rules, but the tax code is clear on complete dispositions allowing full loss recognition.