Just wanted to offer another perspective - I had almost the exact same situation (vacant land held for 8 years, sold at a loss) and the key thing that helped me prove investment intent was that I had listed the property with a real estate agent twice during my ownership trying to sell it for a profit. The IRS agent I spoke with said those listing agreements were perfect documentation of investment intent. Might be worth mentioning if you did anything similar during your ownership.

Great point about documentation! I'd also add that you should gather any records of property taxes you paid during ownership - the IRS views paying property taxes on unused land as another indicator of investment intent rather than personal use. If you researched comparable sales in the area or tracked market values over time, those records can also help demonstrate you were treating it as an investment. One thing to be careful about though - make sure you don't have any photos or social media posts that might suggest personal use (like family gatherings on the property, even if rare). The IRS can be pretty thorough in audits, and anything that suggests recreational use could complicate your investment property classification. Sounds like you're in good shape since you mentioned barely visiting it, but worth double-checking your digital footprint just to be safe.

I worked at H&R Block for 5 years and saw this exact situation multiple times with digital nomads. Here's the practical solution we always used: 1. Put your country of citizenship in the residence field 2. In Part I, Question L, check "Yes" for "Did you file a U.S. income tax return for any prior year?" 3. Then in the explanation line, write "Citizen of [COUNTRY] with no current tax residence in any country due to continuous travel" This approach never triggered any issues or audits for our clients. The IRS understands that some people fall into this gap of not having a tax residence anywhere.

I went through this exact same situation two years ago as a digital nomad with German citizenship but no tax residency anywhere. After a lot of research and consultation with a tax professional, here's what worked for me: I listed Germany (my citizenship country) on Schedule OI and included a brief statement in Part I explaining that while I'm a German citizen, I don't meet Germany's tax residency requirements due to spending less than 183 days there annually and maintaining no permanent address. The key is being able to demonstrate that you genuinely don't qualify as a tax resident anywhere under each country's specific rules. I kept detailed records of my travel dates and locations, plus documentation showing I didn't maintain a permanent home anywhere. My return was processed without any issues, and I never received any follow-up questions from the IRS. The important thing is to be honest and accurate - if you truly don't have tax residency anywhere, the IRS understands this is a legitimate situation for modern digital nomads.

There's actually no mechanism to "stop" an original return from processing once it's submitted, at least in most cases. The IRS systems are basically designed to handle amendments after original processing. While there might possibly be rare exceptions for certain types of major errors, the standard procedure almost always follows this sequence. I've worked with probably dozens of clients in similar situations over the years, and attempting to rush or circumvent this process typically just creates more complications.

I can confirm from personal experience that the IRS processes original returns first. I filed my original return in early February and realized I had made an error about a week later. When I called the IRS (after waiting 45 minutes on hold), the representative explicitly told me that their system won't even look at Form 1040-X until the original return completes processing. She explained that this prevents data conflicts in their computer systems. My original return finished processing about 3 weeks after e-filing, and then my amendment took another 12 weeks to process. So plan accordingly - you're looking at potentially 15+ weeks total if you need that amended refund before the next tax season.

I've been following this thread and just wanted to add another strategy that worked for me after weeks of the same frustration. I tried the callback service called Claimyr that several people mentioned here and it actually worked - had an IRS agent call me back within about an hour instead of fighting the phone system myself. The agent was able to resolve my 2023 return issue (turns out it was just a simple identity verification hold) in about 15 minutes once we were actually connected. Yes, it costs money which is annoying since we shouldn't have to pay to talk to our own government agency, but after wasting dozens of hours trying to get through myself, it was honestly worth every penny. For anyone still struggling with the phone nightmare, that 7am Wednesday strategy everyone's talking about is legit based on Oliver's success story, but if you're at your wit's end like I was, the callback services might be worth considering as a last resort. At least then you can go about your day instead of camping on the phone lines! Hope this helps and good luck to everyone still battling the system! 🤞

I've been going through this exact nightmare for over 6 weeks now with my 2023 return! That "call volume too high" message is basically my alarm clock at this point 😤 Reading through everyone's strategies here gives me so much hope though. I'm definitely going to try Oliver's proven 7am Wednesday approach - setting THREE alarms for 6:55am because I'm not missing that window! Also bookmarking that international line trick and the congressional rep option. One thing I wanted to add that helped me figure out what was actually wrong with my return: I used one of those transcript analysis tools people mentioned (taxr.ai) and it showed me there was an identity verification flag I had no idea about. At least now I know exactly what to ask about when I finally get through to a human! It's absolutely insane that we need a whole battle strategy just to talk to our own government agency, but this community support is keeping me sane. We're basically the IRS phone system survivors club at this point! 😅 Thanks everyone for sharing your war stories and tips. Will definitely report back if I break through the fortress tomorrow morning! 🤞

This is exactly the kind of analysis I've been looking for! Based on my experience as a new community member here, I've been helping friends navigate their first verification processes this season. What I've observed aligns with the data showing phone verification is significantly faster. One thing I'd add to this discussion - I've noticed that the phone verification agents often have access to real-time system updates that the online ID.me portal doesn't reflect. When my neighbor called for verification, the agent was able to see that her online attempt from the previous week was still "pending" in their system, even though ID.me showed it as "completed." The agent cleared that duplicate entry and processed the verification immediately. For anyone still deciding between methods, I'd recommend calling if you're comfortable with potentially long hold times. The time investment upfront seems to pay off with much faster processing on the backend. Has anyone tried using callback services to avoid the hold times, and if so, did that affect the verification process at all?

This comprehensive analysis is incredibly valuable! As someone new to this community, I've been trying to help family members navigate their first verification experiences this season. What strikes me most about this discussion is how consistent the data points are across different contributors - phone verification consistently shows 7-12 day processing times while online verification ranges from 2-4 weeks. The 78% success rate mentioned for online verification during peak periods is particularly concerning. I'm curious about one aspect that hasn't been fully addressed: Does the time of year when you attempt verification impact these processing differences? I've noticed some people mentioning February experiences versus more recent March timelines. Are the phone verification advantages even more pronounced during peak filing season when the online systems are under heavier load? Also, for those tracking client data like @Nalani Liu, have you noticed any geographic patterns in verification requirements or processing speeds? I'm wondering if certain IRS processing centers handle verification more efficiently than others, which could influence whether someone should prioritize phone vs. online verification based on their location. The real-time system update capability that phone agents have seems to be the key differentiator here. It eliminates the batch processing delays that plague the online system integration between ID.me and IRS databases.