I went through this exact same situation last year and it was so frustrating! My Box 10 was completely blank too, and like you, I thought it meant I had zero property taxes to claim. What I ended up doing was calling my county tax assessor's office directly - they were actually super helpful and could tell me exactly when property taxes were paid on my address and by whom. Turns out my mortgage company had paid taxes twice during the year from my escrow account, but for some reason didn't report it in Box 10. I also found out that since I bought mid-year like you did, I needed to look at my HUD settlement statement from closing. There should be a line item for "real estate taxes" that shows what you paid upfront. In my case, I had paid about $900 at closing that I would have completely missed if I just relied on the 1098. Don't stress too much about it - you're definitely not alone in dealing with incomplete 1098 forms. The key is to track down what you actually paid rather than what the mortgage company reported. Your closing documents and mortgage statements should have all the info you need!

I can relate to the anxiety around tax season! The empty Box 10 situation is actually pretty common and definitely doesn't mean you paid zero in property taxes. Since you bought in June and have been making escrow payments, you almost certainly have deductible property taxes. Here's what I'd recommend checking: Look at your year-end mortgage statement (many lenders send these in January) - it should show a breakdown of what was paid from your escrow account for taxes. Also, dig out your closing disclosure from when you purchased - there should be property tax adjustments showing what you paid at closing. The reason Box 10 is empty could be that your lender handles escrow payments to multiple tax jurisdictions, or they simply don't complete that section reliably. Some mortgage companies are notorious for leaving it blank even when they've paid thousands in taxes on your behalf. If you're still confused after checking those documents, consider calling your local tax collector's office with your property address - they can tell you exactly what was paid and when. Don't let the empty box cause you to miss out on legitimate deductions you're entitled to!

This thread has been incredibly enlightening! As someone who's been doing taxes for a few years but never encountered multiple localities before, I had no idea this was such a common situation for government and school district employees. What really stands out to me from reading everyone's experiences is how the tax software companies have actually made this pretty straightforward to handle - it's just that most of us don't know to look for the "Add another locality" feature. I've been using TurboTax for years and never noticed that button because I never needed it. The explanation about different localities treating pre-tax deductions differently makes perfect sense once you understand it, but it's definitely not intuitive for first-time filers. I think a lot of the confusion comes from expecting all the numbers to "match up" when really they're supposed to be different. For anyone still working through this - the consensus seems clear: don't try to do any math or "fix" the numbers, just enter each locality exactly as it appears in boxes 18, 19, and 20, and trust your software to handle the calculations. The system is designed to work with these multiple entries. Thanks to everyone who shared their knowledge here. This is exactly the kind of practical, real-world tax guidance that you can't easily find elsewhere!

As a newcomer to this community, I just wanted to add my voice to say how incredibly helpful this entire discussion has been! I'm also filing taxes for the first time and was completely stumped by having two different entries in my W-2 boxes 18-20. What really helped me was reading through everyone's real experiences - especially seeing that so many people initially thought there was an error on their W-2 when it's actually completely normal. The "mini-governments" explanation was a game-changer for understanding why the same deduction gets treated differently by different localities. I work for a municipal library system that apparently spans multiple tax jurisdictions, and now I understand why my Box 18 amounts differ by exactly my parking benefit deduction. One locality taxes it, the other doesn't - just like the health insurance situation described in the original post. I'm feeling much more confident about entering both localities separately in my tax software now. Thanks to everyone who took the time to share their knowledge and experiences - this thread should be pinned for other first-time filers who inevitably run into this same confusion!

I just wanted to add one more perspective as someone who went through this exact confusion last year. The thing that finally clicked for me was understanding that there are really just two buckets to think about: **Bucket 1: Employer-sponsored retirement (401k)** - Handled automatically through payroll - Pre-tax contributions already reduce your taxable income - Shows up on W-2 but no action needed on your tax return **Bucket 2: Personal retirement accounts (IRA)** - You handle these yourself - Traditional IRA = potential tax deduction (Schedule 1, Line 20) - Roth IRA = no deduction, no reporting needed The confusion comes from thinking you need to "do something" with your 401k on your tax return, but you don't! Your payroll department and the IRS already have that conversation without you. Dylan, for your specific situation: your 401k contributions are already done and dusted. Focus only on that $2,500 IRA contribution - check if your income qualifies you for the deduction, and if so, report it on Schedule 1, Line 20. That's literally it. One last tip: keep a simple file folder with your retirement account statements. When tax season rolls around, you'll have everything in one place instead of scrambling to remember what you contributed where. Future you will thank present you!

As a tax professional, I want to emphasize something that might help prevent future confusion: the reason your 401k contributions don't appear as a separate deduction on your tax return is because they're what we call "above-the-line" deductions that happen before your wages are even reported to the IRS. Think of it this way - when your employer sends your W-2 to the IRS, they're already telling them "Dylan earned X amount of taxable income after accounting for his 401k contributions." The IRS never sees your gross salary before 401k deductions, so there's nothing for you to "claim back" on your return. This is different from other deductions you might be familiar with, like charitable donations or mortgage interest, where you pay with after-tax money and then claim the deduction to get some taxes back. For your IRA situation, I'd also recommend double-checking your modified adjusted gross income calculation before claiming that deduction. Sometimes people forget about other income sources (like investment gains, side gig income, or even unemployment benefits) that could push them over the phase-out limits for IRA deductions. The good news is that even if you can't deduct your traditional IRA contribution due to income limits, you can always recharacterize it as a Roth IRA contribution (as others mentioned) or just keep it as a non-deductible traditional IRA contribution - you'd just file Form 8606 to track the basis.

I'm in almost the exact same situation! Filed mid-February with EITC, had that PATH Act message for what felt like forever, and just got the status change to "we are processing your return" a few days ago. My transcript shows the 507 code with no 971 too. This thread has been such a lifesaver - I was starting to really stress about what was going on with my return! The waiting is brutal when you're dealing with unexpected expenses and really counting on that money. But reading through everyone's experiences here, especially seeing how many people with this exact code combination got their refunds within 2-3 weeks of the status change, is giving me so much hope. It really seems like this 507 without 971 pattern is just the standard EITC verification process this year. Thanks for posting this question - it's exactly what I needed to see to calm my nerves! 🤞

I'm going through the exact same thing right now! Filed in late February with EITC and just saw my status change from PATH Act to "we are processing your return" yesterday. My transcript shows the 507 code with no 971 too. Reading through all these experiences is such a relief - I was honestly starting to panic thinking something was wrong with my return. It's incredible how many people are dealing with this exact same pattern this year. I've got some unexpected medical bills that came up and have been checking WMR like crazy hoping for movement. But seeing so many success stories where people got their refunds 2-4 weeks after the status change is really keeping me hopeful! It sounds like this 507 without 971 combo is actually good news and just means they're doing internal verification. Thanks for posting this - it's exactly what I needed to see to stop worrying so much! 🤞

I'm new to this community and just went through the exact same ADP withholding disaster! Thank you all for such incredibly detailed explanations - this thread has been a complete lifesaver. Like so many others here, I totally misunderstood how that "Multiple Jobs" checkbox functions in ADP. I assumed it would intelligently calculate my withholding needs, but learning that it applies its own aggressive IRS formula AND then stacks your additional withholding amount on top was a huge revelation. That completely explains why my withholding jumped way higher than I expected! The step-by-step approach everyone has outlined makes perfect sense: 1. Uncheck the "Multiple Jobs" box entirely to avoid unpredictable automated calculations 2. Select only "Married Filing Jointly" as your base status 3. Do the simple math: target amount minus base amount equals additional withholding needed 4. Start conservatively and adjust based on actual paycheck results For Hannah's situation: $683 (target) - $245 (base) = $438 (additional withholding) It's honestly such a relief to see this broken down with real examples and clear math. I was starting to feel completely hopeless about understanding tax withholdings, but now I realize it's just ADP's confusing interface that makes this unnecessarily complicated. Thank you to everyone who shared their experiences - knowing this is such a common problem and seeing a proven solution gives me confidence I can actually get this figured out!

I'm brand new to this community and dealing with the exact same ADP withholding confusion! This entire thread has been incredibly eye-opening - I had no idea so many people were facing this identical issue with the "Multiple Jobs" checkbox. What really clicked for me reading through everyone's experiences is understanding that ADP essentially double-hits you with extra withholding when you use that checkbox. It applies its own IRS formula calculation AND then adds your specified additional amount on top, rather than creating one integrated calculation like you'd expect. Based on all the helpful advice here, my plan is to: 1. Go back into ADP and uncheck "Multiple Jobs" completely 2. Keep it simple with just "Married Filing Jointly" 3. Calculate the additional withholding manually: $683 target - $245 base = $438 additional 4. Start with entering $438 and then fine-tune based on the next paycheck It's so frustrating that ADP makes this process unnecessarily complicated and that most HR departments can't provide guidance on the tax calculation details. But this community discussion has given me a clear path forward that actually makes sense mathematically. Thanks to everyone for sharing their real experiences and solutions - it's incredibly reassuring to know there's a proven approach that works!