Great thread with solid advice! I went through this exact situation with my daughter two years ago. She made $18k from her summer internship plus some part-time work during the school year, and I was panicking thinking I couldn't claim her anymore. The key insight that helped me was realizing that "support" includes everything - not just cash. When I actually added up her tuition ($35k), room and board ($12k), health insurance ($3k), car insurance ($1.2k), phone bill ($1k), and other expenses I covered, it came to over $52k total. Her $18k contribution was less than half, so I could still claim her. One tip: keep good records of what you pay for throughout the year. If you ever get audited on this, you'll want documentation showing you provided more than half the support. I started tracking everything in a simple spreadsheet after that experience - makes tax time much less stressful!

This is such a helpful thread! I'm dealing with a similar situation with my 21-year-old who's a junior in college. He made about $15k from a co-op program last semester, and I was worried we'd lose the dependency exemption. Reading through all these responses really clarifies the difference between qualifying child vs qualifying relative rules. It sounds like as long as we're covering his tuition, housing, and other major expenses (which we definitely are), his income doesn't disqualify him from being our dependent. One question though - does anyone know if there are any other tax benefits we might lose or gain by claiming him? I know someone mentioned education credits earlier. Should we be thinking about whether it's actually better tax-wise for him to claim himself, or are we generally better off claiming him as our dependent?

This has been an incredibly helpful discussion! As someone who's been hesitant about these R&D credit services, reading everyone's real experiences has been eye-opening. What really stands out to me is how many qualifying activities manufacturing companies are missing. We've done prototype development, process improvements, and custom tooling work over the past few years but never considered it "research." The examples shared here - like failed experiments still qualifying and equipment integration challenges counting as R&D - show there's probably money we've left on the table. The fee structures (20-35%) and success stories ($80k-$115k recoveries) give me a much better sense of what to expect. I appreciate the practical advice about getting multiple quotes, asking about audit support, and not being discouraged by informal documentation. For ABGi specifically, it sounds like they're one of several legitimate providers in this space, but the consensus seems to be to shop around and compare approaches. The "no upfront fee" model appears standard, which reduces the risk of trying. I'm convinced enough by the experiences shared here to at least get a preliminary assessment. Even if we only recover a fraction of what others have found, it would be worth the time investment. Thanks to everyone for sharing their real-world experiences - this is exactly the kind of insight I was hoping to find when researching these services.

This thread has been incredibly valuable! I'm the operations manager at a small manufacturing company (about 30 employees) and we've also been getting calls from R&D credit firms, though not ABGi specifically. What's really encouraging is seeing the range of activities that actually qualify - we've been doing custom fixture development, modifying our assembly processes to handle new product variants, and spent months last year troubleshooting issues with a new coating system that required extensive testing and adjustments. Reading through these examples, it sounds like a lot of this problem-solving work could qualify as R&D. The documentation concern resonates with me too. We're pretty informal - most of our engineering discussions happen on the shop floor or in quick emails. But based on what others have shared, it sounds like even basic records showing we were solving technical problems rather than just following instructions could support a claim. I'm definitely going to pursue preliminary assessments from multiple providers now. The potential recoveries mentioned here ($80k+) would be significant for a company our size. Even if we only recover half that amount, it would more than justify the time investment and fees. Thanks everyone for sharing your real experiences - this is exactly the kind of practical insight you can't find in generic online reviews!

One thing to keep in mind about filing multiple years at once - make sure you're using the correct tax forms and rates for each specific year. The standard deduction amounts, tax brackets, and even some forms change from year to year. For example, the standard deduction for 2022 was different from 2024. I made the mistake of using current year forms for an old return and had to refile it correctly. The IRS has all the prior year forms available on their website, so download the specific forms for 2022 when you file that return. This will help ensure everything processes smoothly and you don't get any correction notices that could delay things further.

I was in a very similar situation last year - filed my 2023 return and then realized I had completely missed filing 2021. Like others have said, you can absolutely file your 2022 return now without any issues. The IRS actually prefers when people catch up on unfiled returns rather than continuing to ignore them. One thing I learned the hard way is to keep really good records of what you file and when. I created a simple spreadsheet tracking each return - the year, date filed, method (e-file vs mail), and confirmation numbers. This helped me stay organized when dealing with multiple years and made it easier when I had to call the IRS later. Also, don't be surprised if processing takes longer for older returns. My 2021 return took about 12 weeks to process compared to my current year return which was processed in 3 weeks. The IRS systems seem to handle older returns differently, but they do get processed eventually. Good luck with everything!

Just a heads up - if you file and pay your back taxes, make sure you also remember to CHARGE AND COLLECT the correct sales tax going forward!!! Seems obvious but I made this mistake. I was so focused on fixing the past problem that I didn't immediately update my online shop to start collecting sales tax, and it caused me a whole second headache. Most e-commerce platforms (Shopify, Etsy, etc.) have built-in tools to automatically calculate and collect the right sales tax rates. Turn those on ASAP so you don't dig yourself a deeper hole while trying to fix the original problem.

I work for a state revenue department and wanted to clarify something important about marketplace facilitator laws. As of 2019-2021, most states (including yours likely) passed laws requiring large online marketplaces like Etsy, Amazon, eBay, etc. to collect and remit sales tax on behalf of sellers. HOWEVER - this only applies to sales made THROUGH those platforms. If you're selling directly through your own website, at craft fairs, or through other channels, you're still responsible for collecting and remitting the tax yourself. The good news for your situation is that if some of your sales were through marketplaces during the period in question, you can subtract those amounts from your total liability since the platforms should have already handled the tax collection and remittance for those transactions. When you respond to the revenue department, make sure to break down your sales by channel - marketplace sales vs. direct sales. This could significantly reduce what you actually owe. Also, don't forget that many states have small seller exemptions (usually around $100K in sales or 200 transactions annually), so double-check if you even exceeded the threshold that would require registration.

Former Walmart employee here (not in accounting). Our tax department was huge - like a whole floor of people. They worked crazy hours but made serious bank. I remember during tax season they'd bring in catered meals every night because everyone was working 80+ hour weeks. The head tax guy drove a Maserati... just saying.

This is such a fascinating topic! As someone who works in corporate finance, I can add that the coordination between different departments is incredible. Beyond just the tax teams, you have treasury, accounting, legal, and international subsidiaries all feeding information into the process. One thing that hasn't been mentioned is the quarterly estimated tax payments - companies like Walmart are making payments to the IRS throughout the year based on projections, so there's constant reconciliation happening. They can't just wait until year-end to figure everything out. The technology aspect is really evolving too. I've heard that some of the largest corporations are starting to use AI-powered systems to help with data validation and flagging unusual transactions across their hundreds of entities. It's not replacing the human expertise, but it's definitely changing how the work gets done. The days of armies of junior accountants manually entering data are numbered.