This is such a frustrating situation that so many gamblers face! You're absolutely right that the tax system seems backwards - you can literally lose money overall but still owe taxes on your wins. Here's what I've learned from dealing with this myself: Yes, casinos report the full amount of your winnings (not just profit) on W-2G forms. So your $1200 slot win gets reported as $1200 in income, even though you only profited $1100. The good news is you CAN deduct your gambling losses, but only if you itemize deductions and only up to the amount of your winnings. So in your example, if you lost $1500 total but won $1200, you could deduct $1200 in losses (not the full $1500) to completely offset your reported winnings. The tricky part is that you need to keep meticulous records of ALL your gambling activity - not just the wins that generated W-2Gs. I use a simple phone app to log every casino visit with start/end amounts, dates, and locations. Also save your player's card statements and any betting tickets. Since you mentioned you've probably lost more than you've won this year, you should be able to offset those W-2G winnings completely if you have proper documentation. Just make sure to work with a tax professional who understands gambling taxes - it's worth the investment to avoid overpaying!

I went through this exact same nightmare last year! Had a $2,500 jackpot on a slot machine in February (got the W-2G) but ended up losing about $3,200 total for the year. I was panicking thinking I'd owe taxes on money I didn't actually keep. The key thing that saved me was keeping detailed records of every casino visit. I started using a simple spreadsheet with columns for date, casino, money in, money out, and net result. Even tracked the smaller sessions where I might have won $50 or lost $100 - it all adds up. When I filed my taxes, I was able to itemize and deduct $2,500 in gambling losses (up to my winnings amount) which completely offset that W-2G. Ended up owing $0 in taxes on gambling despite that big reported win. My advice: Start tracking everything NOW if you haven't already. Get win/loss statements from every casino where you have a player's card. Keep all your betting slips, cash-out tickets, ATM receipts from casinos, everything. The IRS can be really picky about gambling loss documentation, so over-document rather than under-document. Also, don't forget to factor in whether itemizing vs. standard deduction makes sense for your overall tax situation. Sometimes even with gambling losses, the standard deduction might still be better depending on your other deductions.

Your YTD fed withholding is probably accurate, but I noticed last year my December paystub showed $6,842 withheld and my W2 had $6,897. My company said they made a small adjustment for some benefit thing that happened at year-end. So expect it to be close but maybe not exact!!!

Just want to add one more thing that might help with your estimation - don't forget about any pre-tax deductions that reduce your taxable income! Things like 401k contributions, health insurance premiums, HSA contributions, etc. These show up on your paystub but reduce the amount of income that's actually subject to federal tax. So even if your gross pay is $58,450, your taxable income for federal taxes might be lower if you have these deductions. This could mean you had the right amount withheld even if it seems low compared to your gross income. The tax estimators mentioned above should account for this, but it's good to understand why the math might not seem to add up at first glance!

Congrats on finally seeing movement! I'm in a similar situation - filed my Michigan return in late January and been stuck on "no match found" for weeks. This gives me hope that mine might update soon too. Question though - when you say it shows "Return is completed" as of Feb 4th, have you actually received the refund yet or is it still just showing that status? Trying to figure out if there's another waiting period after the completed status.

Thanks for sharing this update! I've been stuck on "no match found" for my Michigan return too and was starting to worry something was wrong. Seeing that yours went from no match to processing to completed gives me hope that they're just working through a backlog. Did you have to do anything special or did it just update on its own? I've been checking the eServices portal daily like a crazy person lol

Another thing to consider is the de minimis safe harbor election which lets u deduct items that cost less than $2,500 per invoice/item instead of depreciating them. So like if ur buying several fixtures and each one is under that amount, u might be able to deduct them immediately even if technically they're "improvements." You make this election every year with ur tax return.

Great question about rental property improvements during vacancy! I went through something similar last year. The key thing to remember is that as long as you're holding the property with the intent to generate rental income, you can start depreciating improvements even during vacant periods. Your timeline looks reasonable - 4 months of improvements followed by finding new tenants shows clear rental intent. However, if your mother-in-law moves in rent-free, that changes everything for 2025. The IRS considers rent-free family use as personal use, not rental use. This means you'd need to stop claiming rental deductions (including depreciation) for the time she's living there. The improvements you made in 2024 during the legitimate vacancy period would still be valid for depreciation, but you'd have to suspend that depreciation during any personal use periods. My advice: keep detailed records of your improvement timeline and costs, and if you do decide to let family live there rent-free, make sure to properly adjust your tax treatment for that period. You might want to consider charging at least fair market rent to keep it as a legitimate rental property for tax purposes.

I'm currently going through this EXACT situation with my husband's employer in Cincinnati. His boss "forgot" to withhold federal taxes for SIX MONTHS!!! We're looking at owing like $7k we don't have. 😭 We consulted with a tax attorney who said we should: 1. Send a certified letter to the employer formally requesting they start withholding correctly 2. If they don't fix it in 2 pay periods, file Form 3949-A with the IRS to report them 3. Start making estimated tax payments NOW to reduce penalties later Has anyone actually gone through with filing Form 3949-A? Did the IRS actually do anything?

I'm really sorry you're dealing with this stressful situation! Based on what others have shared here, it sounds like you have several solid options to protect yourself. First, your employer is 100% legally required to withhold federal income tax and FICA taxes from W-2 employees - there's no debate about that. The fact that they're brushing this off as "your responsibility" shows they either don't understand basic payroll law or are trying to avoid accountability. Here's what I'd recommend doing immediately: 1. **Document everything** - Save all paystubs, your original W-4, and any communications with your employer about this issue 2. **Calculate what you'll owe** - Use the IRS withholding calculator to estimate your tax liability and start setting money aside if possible 3. **Put your employer on notice** - Send an email (so you have it in writing) explaining the issue and requesting they fix it immediately Don't quit your job over this! You have rights, and there are protections against retaliation for reporting tax violations. If they don't fix it within a couple pay periods, definitely consider filing Form 3949-A with the IRS as others have mentioned. The good news is that while you'll still owe the taxes, you won't face criminal penalties since this was your employer's error, not intentional tax evasion on your part. The IRS has payment plans available if you can't pay everything at once. Stay strong - you've got this! 💪