Does anyone know if there's an income limit for the Lifetime Learning Credit? I think I might be getting close to the phaseout and I'm worried I won't qualify even though I have the expenses.

Great question Sofia! I was in a similar situation a few years back. Yes, you can absolutely claim the Lifetime Learning Credit after using up your 4 years of AOTC - that's exactly what it's designed for! The LLC allows you to claim 20% of up to $10,000 in qualified education expenses (so max $2,000 credit). Those monthly $350 payments you made should definitely qualify as long as they were for tuition and required fees. The fact that FAFSA covered most expenses doesn't disqualify you - you can claim the LLC on the portion you paid out of pocket. Just make sure you keep good records of what those payments covered. Download official receipts from your student portal showing the breakdown of fees - this will be important if you ever get audited. The IRS wants to see exactly what the payments were for, not just bank statements. Also double-check your income limits - the LLC phases out starting at $80k for single filers, so you should be fine unless you're in a higher income bracket.

Has anyone here dealt with receiving an inherited non-qualified plan distribution from a company that's been acquired by another company? I'm in a similar situation and the acquiring company is withholding state tax for their headquarters state even though the original company and I are both in different states. It's a mess!

This is such a helpful thread! I'm dealing with a similar situation but with an added complication - the deceased relative lived in one state, worked in another state, and I live in a third state. The plan administrator is withholding taxes for the state where the company is headquartered (a fourth state!). From what I'm reading here, it sounds like I'll need to file a nonresident return in the withholding state and then claim credits on my home state return. But I'm wondering if I also need to consider the deceased's state of residence or the state where they worked? Also, has anyone dealt with the timing issue? They're distributing this in late 2025, so I'm worried about having enough time to sort out all the state tax filings before the April deadline. Should I be making estimated payments to my home state even though they're already withholding for another state?

One thing nobody has mentioned yet - if your parents are charging you LESS than the minimum interest rate set by the IRS (the Applicable Federal Rate or AFR), there could be tax implications. The IRS might consider the "forgone interest" as a gift from your parents to you. Make sure your loan document specifies an interest rate at least equal to the AFR for the month the loan was made. You can find historical AFR rates on the IRS website.

Just making sure everyone understands - the reason that loans from family members aren't considered income is because you have an obligation to repay them. That's why documentation is so important. If the IRS ever reclassifies your "loan" as a gift (because of poor documentation, below-market interest rates, or lack of repayment), then gift tax rules would apply. And while the recipient doesn't pay tax on gifts, the giver might have to file a gift tax return if it exceeds the annual gift exclusion amount.

Code 571 is actually a relief to see! It means the IRS is releasing a previous hold on your return - basically undoing whatever caused the delay in the first place. You'll typically see this after there was a 570 code that put things on pause. Most people get their refund date (846 code) within the next weekly update or two after seeing 571. You're in the home stretch now! 🎉

571 is actually one of the best codes you can see! It means they're releasing whatever hold was on your account. I went through this exact same thing last year - had a 570 code for weeks that stressed me out, then boom, 571 appeared and I got my refund within 10 days. The IRS moves pretty quick once they release the hold. You should definitely see that sweet 846 code (direct deposit date) on your next transcript update! 🤞

As someone who's dealt with this exact issue multiple times, I can confirm that a $140+ fraction of cents adjustment is definitely not normal and indicates a systematic error somewhere in your calculations. The good news is that you've already identified the root cause by finding the discrepancy in your February deposit ($58,435 vs $58,294.81). Here's what I'd recommend as your next steps: First, go through every single deposit on Schedule B and compare it to your actual EFTPS payment history - don't just spot check. Second, verify that your Schedule B is reporting tax LIABILITY by pay date, not deposit amounts or deposit dates. These are often confused. Third, if you have employees hitting the Social Security wage base ($160,200 for 2023), double-check that withholding stopped at exactly the right amount mid-quarter. The fraction of cents line should only account for rounding differences when you calculate tax liability per employee vs. the aggregate. Once you fix the Schedule B errors, that $140 should disappear almost entirely. Don't submit until you've tracked down every significant discrepancy - the IRS computers will flag unusual adjustments and it's much easier to fix now than deal with correspondence later.

I've been following this thread and wanted to add another potential cause I've encountered - check if your payroll system is handling state unemployment insurance (SUI) wage bases correctly. Some payroll systems incorrectly include SUI adjustments in federal tax calculations, especially when employees hit state-specific wage base limits that differ from federal limits. Also, if you're using a third-party payroll processor, they sometimes make "correcting" entries that don't get properly reflected in your 941 calculations. I'd recommend requesting a detailed payroll tax reconciliation report from them that shows exactly how they calculated each tax component for the quarter. One more thing - make sure you're not double-counting any year-end adjustments or corrections that might have carried over from Q4 of last year. Sometimes accounting departments make manual adjustments that create phantom discrepancies in subsequent quarters.