Been tryna check my refund for 3 months straight and NOW they do maintenance smh

Same here! I've been checking every morning for the past two weeks and of course it goes down on a Sunday when I finally have time to obsessively refresh it 😂 At least now I know it's not just me going crazy

Slightly off topic, but did you consider rebalancing your portfolio instead of closing the account? Market's been really volatile but historically rebounds long-term. Might have been better to adjust your investment mix rather than locking in the losses. Just my 2 cents.

I completely understand the frustration and stress you went through - losing that much money in a Roth IRA is really tough, especially when you can't even get the tax benefit of deducting the losses like you could with a regular investment account. Since you're planning to start over with a more conservative approach, you might want to consider target-date funds or a simple three-fund portfolio when you reopen your Roth later this year. These tend to be less volatile and automatically rebalance for you, which could help avoid the emotional stress that led to locking in your losses this time. Also, when you do start contributing again, remember you can still put in $7,000 for 2024 (assuming you're under 50) even though you closed your previous account. The contribution limits are annual, not per account. Taking time to educate yourself before jumping back in is definitely the smart move - your future self will thank you for developing a solid long-term strategy this time around.

If you find that your gambling losses plus other itemized deductions don't exceed the standard deduction, there's another approach. You could consider bunching your charitable deductions into alternating years to push yourself over the threshold for itemizing in specific years. For example, make double charitable contributions this year and none next year. This strategy might let you itemize and claim gambling losses in the "bunched" years while taking the standard deduction in other years.

Im looking at freetaxusa right now actually. If you go to Deductions > Itemized deductions, then look for "Other Itemized Deductions" section. Its listed right there as "Gambling losses" with a field to input the amount. But remebr you can only deduct up to the amount of your winnings that you reported.

Anyone know if there's a time limit on the practice tests? I keep running out of time before I can finish all the questions, which is probably affecting my score.

Great question about the 82% score! That's actually a solid starting point. I just passed the Intuit Academy Tax Level 1 exam last week, and I was scoring similarly on my first few practice tests. Here's what I learned: the practice tests are pretty representative of the actual exam content, but the real exam tends to have more complex scenario questions that combine multiple concepts. I'd suggest aiming for consistent scores in the 85-90% range before scheduling your exam. One thing that really helped me was tracking which specific topics I was missing questions on across all practice tests. The exam heavily emphasizes filing status determination, dependency rules, and the difference between above-the-line and below-the-line deductions. Also, don't underestimate the importance of understanding the "why" behind tax rules, not just memorizing them. The exam will present you with scenarios where you need to apply these concepts to situations that might not be exactly like the practice questions. Keep working through those practice tests - each one covers slightly different aspects, so you'll want that comprehensive exposure. Good luck!

Pro tip: Look at the dates on the far right of each code. If you see a future date, that usually means something is scheduled to happen then (like a refund or notice

The way I finally figured mine out was by focusing on the transaction codes (TC) and their dates. TC 150 means your return was accepted, TC 846 is your refund being sent, and TC 570/971 usually mean there's some kind of hold or review. The dates next to them are cycle dates - they follow a weekly pattern where most updates happen on Fridays. If you see TC 846 with a date that's already passed, your refund should be on its way!