Great question! This confusion about Box 12 codes trips up so many people every year. Just to reinforce what others have said with a slightly different angle: Think of your W-2 as telling a complete story about your year. Box 1 (wages) is already the "final answer" after all deductions and contributions have been applied. The Box 12 codes are just showing you the details of how that final number was calculated. So Code AA (Roth 401k) = "Hey, this amount was included in your taxable wages because you chose to pay taxes now instead of later" And Code DD (health insurance) = "Here's what your employer spent on your health coverage - just FYI, no tax implications" For troubleshooting your refund calculation differences, try this: ignore all the Box 12 codes completely and just use Box 1 for your wages. If your calculations still don't match between paper and software, the issue is probably somewhere else entirely (maybe different treatment of standard deduction, tax tables, or other income sources). The fact that TaxAct and your paper calculations differ suggests you might be double-counting or missing something unrelated to these retirement codes.

Adding to all the great advice here - I just wanted to share my experience as someone who made this exact mistake a few years ago. I was manually subtracting my Code AA amount from Box 1 wages because I thought "retirement contributions should reduce taxable income," not realizing that Roth contributions work the opposite way. The IRS sent me a lovely letter explaining that I had under-reported my income and owed additional taxes plus penalties. That's when I learned that Code AA contributions are already properly included in Box 1 wages - no adjustments needed! For anyone still feeling uncertain about these codes, here's a simple rule of thumb: if you're not a tax professional and the IRS instructions don't specifically tell you to enter a Box 12 code somewhere on your return, then you probably don't need to do anything with it. The codes are mostly there for informational purposes and to help employers/the IRS track certain types of benefits. Your Box 1 wages are already the "tax-ready" number after all the proper adjustments have been made by your employer's payroll system.

anyone know if turbo tax automatically calculates the business percentage of mortgage interest once you enter your home office percentage? or do i need to do that math separately and enter it manually?

Great question! I ran into this exact same issue last year. The "excess mortgage interest" term in TurboTax is really misleading - it mainly applies to mortgages over $750,000, so you shouldn't have to worry about it with your $385,000 mortgage. What you DO want to make sure you're capturing is the business portion of your mortgage interest for the home office deduction. This is completely separate from your decision to take the standard deduction. You can take the standard deduction for your personal taxes AND still deduct the business portion of mortgage interest on Schedule C. So if your home office is, say, 15% of your home's square footage, then 15% of that $18,000 annual mortgage interest ($2,700) would be deductible as a business expense for your husband's photography business. Just make sure the office space is used exclusively for business - that's the key requirement the IRS looks for. The beauty is this reduces your business income dollar-for-dollar, which can save you more in taxes than if it were just part of itemized deductions. Don't leave money on the table!

I'm dealing with a similar situation and want to share what I learned from my tax preparer. The key thing to understand is that the IRS looks at the entire household as one unit, regardless of how you split expenses or which parent claims which child. Even though you're unmarried, if you're living together and sharing household expenses, only one person can meet the "pays more than half the cost of keeping up the home" requirement. The IRS defines this very specifically - it includes rent/mortgage, property taxes, insurance, utilities, repairs, and food consumed at home. What my preparer suggested was to actually restructure our finances so one person clearly pays more than 50% of these costs. For example, one person pays the full rent/mortgage while the other handles other expenses like groceries, childcare, or car payments. This way there's a clear paper trail showing who maintains the household. The person who doesn't qualify for HOH can still claim a child as a dependent and get the Child Tax Credit, they just have to file as Single. In some cases, this arrangement can actually work out better tax-wise than both trying to claim HOH incorrectly. Definitely worth getting professional help to figure out the optimal arrangement for your specific situation before you potentially face an audit!

I want to echo what others have said about being careful with this situation. My partner and I made the same mistake for two years before we realized the issue. We were both claiming HOH while living together and splitting expenses roughly equally. What really helped us was sitting down and calculating the exact household maintenance costs the IRS considers. This includes rent/mortgage, property taxes, homeowner's/renter's insurance, utilities (electric, gas, water, trash), home repairs and maintenance, and food consumed at home. We were surprised to find that some things we thought counted (like car payments, health insurance, clothing) actually don't count toward household maintenance. Once we had the real numbers, we restructured so I pay the rent and utilities (which put me clearly over 50% of household costs) while my partner handles groceries, childcare, and other expenses. I file HOH with our daughter, and he files Single but still claims our son as a dependent for the Child Tax Credit. The adjustment actually wasn't as painful as we expected, and we sleep better knowing we're compliant. Plus, having clear documentation of who pays what gives us confidence if we ever face questions from the IRS. Definitely recommend getting this sorted out sooner rather than later!

I know this is a bit off-topic, but make sure you're also checking if you need to file an FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) if your US financial accounts exceeded $10,000 at any point during the year. That requirement is separate from income tax filing and applies to many non-residents with US accounts regardless of whether you owe any tax.

I went through this exact situation two years ago and can confirm what others have said about the 183-day rule. Since you had zero days of US presence, your capital gains from stock sales are not subject to US taxation as a non-resident alien. However, I'd strongly recommend keeping detailed records of your physical presence (or lack thereof) in the US. I maintained a simple spreadsheet with dates, locations, and even flight records showing I never entered the US that tax year. This documentation proved invaluable when I later had questions about my filing position. One thing to consider: if you had any taxes withheld at source on dividends or other income during the year, filing a 1040NR might actually get you a refund. But for pure capital gains with no US presence, you're correct that filing isn't required. Just make sure you understand the distinction between different types of income from your brokerage account.

Is it possible you filed a different form entirely? When I first started filing taxes, I didn't even use a 1040 - I used the 1040EZ (back when that was still a thing). Maybe check if you have a different form?

Hey! I had this exact same issue last year. If Line 11 is completely blank on your 2023 1040, there are a few things to check: 1. **Double-check you're looking at the right form** - Make sure it's actually a 2023 Form 1040 and not a different year or form variant. 2. **Look for "0" vs blank** - Sometimes a zero is printed so lightly it looks blank. Try looking at it under better lighting or zooming in if it's a PDF. 3. **Check your tax transcript** - The easiest way is to go to irs.gov, create an account, and request your 2023 tax transcript. It will show your AGI clearly labeled, even if your paper copy is confusing. 4. **Contact your tax preparer** - If someone else prepared your return, they should have a copy with the AGI clearly marked. Don't use Line 12 ($27,450) - that's your taxable income after deductions, not your AGI. Using the wrong number will definitely get your return rejected. The transcript method is probably your best bet since it comes straight from the IRS and will have the exact number they have on file for you.