This question comes up a lot! I recommend using the IRS Interactive Tax Assistant tool. Just google "IRS filing status tool" and it walks you through a series of questions to determine if you qualify for HOH. Much better than guessing or getting random advice online.

I work as a tax preparer and see this situation frequently. Yes, multiple people in the same physical address can absolutely claim Head of Household status as long as they each meet the requirements independently. The key is understanding that "household" for tax purposes doesn't mean the physical building - it refers to your financial responsibility for maintaining a home where you and your qualifying person live. Each parent supporting their own children can constitute a separate "household" even under one roof. For your cousin's situation, they should both be able to claim HOH if they each: - Are unmarried at year-end - Have qualifying children living with them more than half the year - Pay more than half the cost of keeping up their respective households The 50/50 split of shared expenses (utilities, rent/mortgage) is fine. They just need to track that each person's total contribution (their share of common expenses PLUS their children's individual expenses) exceeds half of what it costs to maintain their living situation. Keep good records and consider consulting a tax professional if the numbers are close, but this is definitely allowed by the IRS.

Has anyone used TurboTax Self-Employed for their doordash stuff? I'm trying to decide which tax software to use this year.

One more important tip for DoorDash taxes - don't forget about your phone expenses! Since you're using your phone for GPS, the DoorDash app, and communicating with customers, you can deduct the business portion of your monthly phone bill. Keep detailed records of how much you use your phone for DoorDash versus personal use. If you're dashing 20 hours a week and using your phone 60 hours total per week, that's about 33% business use. So you could deduct 33% of your monthly phone bill on Schedule C. Also, if you buy a car phone mount, car charger, or even upgrade your phone plan for more data because of DoorDash, those are legitimate business expenses too. Every little deduction adds up when you're trying to offset that self-employment tax!

One thing that helped me with my rental property sale was using the Rental Income Worksheet from IRS Publication 527. It walks you through calculating your basis, depreciation, and adjusted basis. Also, keep in mind that land isn't depreciable, so you need to determine what portion of your purchase price was for the building versus the land (usually from property tax records).

Just wanted to add one more consideration that hasn't been mentioned yet - make sure you're calculating depreciation based on the correct depreciable basis when you converted to rental use. Since you lived in the property first, your depreciable basis for the rental period would be the LESSER of: 1) your adjusted basis at the time of conversion (original cost plus improvements minus any casualty losses), or 2) the fair market value of the property when you converted it to rental use in May 2019. This matters because if your property appreciated significantly during those first 2 years of personal use, you can't depreciate based on the higher fair market value - you're limited to your original adjusted basis. You'll need to determine what the FMV was in May 2019 (maybe get a comparative market analysis from a realtor for that time period) and use whichever number is lower as your starting point for calculating the 4 years of depreciation.

Just wanted to add another perspective since I went through this last year. If your LLC didn't make any money, you should consider whether it's actually a hobby and not a business. The IRS looks at your "profit motive" and if you're not trying to make money, those expenses might not be deductible. I tried to deduct losses for my "craft business" LLC for 3 years and got audited. They disallowed everything because I couldn't prove I was really trying to make a profit vs just doing it for fun. Just something to consider!

DEFINITELY file a Schedule C!! I made this mistake a few years ago thinking I didn't need to because my LLC had almost no income, and I missed out on thousands in potential deductions. The expenses from your LLC can offset income from other sources (W2 jobs, investments, etc). One thing - make sure you keep your business and personal expenses 100% separate. The IRS scrutinizes single-member LLCs because people often try to write off personal stuff as business expenses.

For anyone dealing with this issue, here's what the community has learned over time: • Paper checks typically arrive 2-3 weeks after the status change • The IRS won't tell you specifically why your direct deposit failed • Green Dot (and similar banks) have higher rejection rates • This doesn't affect your actual refund amount, just the delivery method • You can cash government checks at many places without fees • Next year, consider using a different bank for your refund This happens every tax season to thousands of people. Frustrating, but your money is still coming!

I experienced this exact same issue with Green Dot about two weeks ago! My refund was supposed to be direct deposited but got switched to paper check at the last minute. After doing some research, I found out that Green Dot has had some compliance issues with the IRS in recent years, which is why they're flagging more deposits from that bank. The good news is that my paper check arrived exactly 12 days after the status changed in the "Where's My Refund" tool. I was stressed about it initially, but the timeline was actually pretty predictable once I knew what to expect. One thing I learned is that you can actually deposit the Treasury check through your Green Dot mobile app once you receive it, so you don't have to find a physical location to cash it. That saved me a trip and got the funds available faster than I expected. For future reference, I'm planning to use a traditional bank account for next year's refund to avoid this hassle altogether.