I'm in almost the exact same boat as you! Filed in January, got my refund in February, then realized I forgot to include a 1099-INT from my savings account. My CPA also gave me the "about 4 weeks" estimate which now seems wildly optimistic based on everyone's experiences here. I ended up e-filing my 1040-X about 6 weeks ago and I'm still in the "received" status on the IRS tracker. Reading through these comments is actually making me feel a lot better - sounds like 12-16 weeks is pretty normal, and at least we'll get interest on the additional refund after 45 days. One thing I learned from my research is that simple amendments like ours (just adding forgotten income documents) typically process faster than complex ones involving multiple changes or business deductions. So hopefully we'll be on the shorter end of that timeline! Definitely don't abandon it - even if it's not a huge amount, free money is free money, plus the interest. Just try not to check the tracker obsessively like I've been doing!

I filed an amended return last year for a similar situation - forgot to include a 1099-R from a small retirement account rollover. The whole process took about 18 weeks from e-filing to getting my additional refund deposited. What really helped me was setting realistic expectations from the start. The IRS website says "up to 16 weeks" but that's really the minimum you should expect, not the maximum. Most amended returns seem to fall in the 12-20 week range based on what I've seen in various tax forums. A few tips that made the wait more bearable: 1) Screenshot your e-filing confirmation - you'll want proof you submitted it correctly, 2) Mark your calendar for when you hit the 45-day mark (that's when interest starts accruing on your refund), and 3) Try to check the tracker only on Fridays since that's typically when they batch update the system. The money will come eventually, and honestly the interest made up for some of the frustration of waiting. Hang in there!

Tell your coworker to google "IRS frivolous tax arguments" and look at the official IRS website. They literally have a whole section dedicated to debunking these exact schemes and warning about the $5,000 penalty for submitting these arguments. Also search for "tax protester cases" to see how many people have gone to PRISON for this stuff!

Your instincts are spot on - this is absolutely a scam and your coworker is playing with fire. I work in tax compliance and see the aftermath of these schemes regularly. The "Revocation of Election" is complete nonsense with no legal basis whatsoever. The scary thing is that people can get away with it for a few years, which makes them think they're safe. But the IRS has up to 6 years (or indefinitely in cases of fraud/non-filing) to come after you. When they do, it's devastating - we're talking about accumulated interest, failure-to-file penalties, failure-to-pay penalties, plus that $5,000 frivolous filing penalty for each year. I've seen cases where someone owed $15K in actual taxes but ended up owing over $60K after penalties and interest. Your coworker needs to get back into compliance immediately before this gets worse. The longer he waits, the more expensive this mistake becomes.

In my experience, Zazzle is actually pretty good about handling international seller taxes correctly! I've been selling there for years from France, and they've always applied the right tax treaty exemptions. You should check your Zazzle payment statements from last year to confirm the $19.25 wasn't withheld from your earnings. Sometimes they report the "withholding credit" amount but it was never actually deducted because of your W-8BEN.

As someone who's been dealing with international tax forms for years, I can confirm what others have said - you're in good shape! The 1042-S with exemption code 15 means you successfully qualified for treaty benefits and don't owe US taxes on this income. One thing I'd add is to make sure you keep this form organized with your other tax documents. I create a separate folder each year for all my international income forms (1042-S, 1099s from various platforms, etc.) because you'll likely get more of these as you continue selling on US platforms. Also, if you expand to other US-based print-on-demand or creative platforms, you'll probably need to submit W-8BEN forms to each of them. The good news is once you understand the process with one platform, it's basically the same everywhere. Just make sure to update your W-8BEN every 3 years or if your circumstances change!

Has anyone actually tried filing the revocation themselves? I'm worried I'll mess something up and make my situation worse.

I went through this exact same situation about 6 months ago - hired a tax attorney who did absolutely nothing for almost 2 years while my problems got worse. The revocation process is actually pretty straightforward once you know what to do. Like others mentioned, you'll need to file a new Form 2848 with the revocation box checked in Part 6. The key thing is to make sure you include ALL the same tax years and form types that were on your original power of attorney. If you're not sure what was included originally, you can call the IRS and ask them to read back what's currently on file. One thing I learned the hard way - don't wait to revoke it even if you haven't found a replacement yet. Having an inactive representative is actually worse than having no representative at all because the IRS will still try to communicate through them instead of directly with you. Once I revoked mine, I was finally able to get direct access to my account and start making progress on my own. Also, definitely send a certified letter to your current attorney letting them know you're revoking their authorization. Even though it's not legally required, it protects you if they try to take any action on your behalf after the revocation date.

Does anyone know how you're supposed to show on your tax return that a 1099-K isn't for taxable income? Like if I got a 1099-K from PayPal for $900 in cash back from Rakuten but I don't put it on my return anywhere, won't that trigger a mismatch that could get me audited?

I went through this exact same situation last year and can confirm what others have said. The key thing to understand is that the 1099-K is just a reporting mechanism - it doesn't determine what's actually taxable. For your Rakuten and TopCashback earnings, since these were cash back on personal purchases, they're considered purchase rebates/discounts, not taxable income. Think of it like getting a coupon discount - you wouldn't pay taxes on money you saved with a coupon, and cash back works the same way. I kept a simple spreadsheet showing my original purchase amounts and the corresponding cash back received to demonstrate the connection between the two. My tax preparer said this was good documentation in case of any IRS questions. The frustrating part is that PayPal has to issue these forms because they're just reporting money that flowed through their platform - they can't determine the tax nature of each transaction. So you'll get a 1099-K even for non-taxable rebates. Bottom line: Don't stress about it. Your $240 + $175 in cash back from shopping portals on personal purchases isn't taxable income, regardless of the 1099-K forms you received.