I had the exact same problem yesterday! FreeTaxUSA was completely inaccessible for me from about 2pm to 8pm. I ended up checking their Twitter account and they had posted about experiencing technical difficulties due to high traffic volume. What worked for me was trying again around 9pm when traffic died down. The site loaded immediately and I was able to complete my entire return without any issues. I'd definitely recommend sticking with FreeTaxUSA rather than switching back to TurboTax - the savings are worth waiting a day or two for their servers to stabilize. You might also want to try accessing the site through an incognito/private browsing window. Sometimes cached data can cause loading issues during site outages.

I'm experiencing the exact same issues with FreeTaxUSA today! Started trying around 10am and it's been completely unreliable - sometimes it loads partially, other times I get timeout errors. Really frustrating since I also planned today specifically for tax filing. Based on what others are saying here, it sounds like this is pretty normal for tax season and the site should work better during off-peak hours. I'm going to try again tonight around 10pm or early tomorrow morning. For what it's worth, I used FreeTaxUSA last year and had a great experience once I actually got on the site - their interface is clean and the price can't be beat. I think it's worth being patient rather than switching to something more expensive like TurboTax just because of temporary server issues. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences and workarounds! This community is really helpful during stressful tax season.

This is a really complex situation that highlights why estate planning can be so tricky! Based on what others have shared here, it sounds like the joint account structure might indeed create gift tax complications when your sister transfers half to you after your mom passes. I went through something similar with my grandmother's accounts a couple years ago. What we learned (the hard way) is that joint accounts with rights of survivorship really do become 100% the property of the surviving owner, regardless of what anyone's intentions were. The IRS doesn't care about family understandings - they look at legal ownership. A few thoughts based on our experience: 1. The POD/TOD beneficiary approach that others mentioned is definitely cleaner. Your sister stays in control during your mom's lifetime, but the account automatically splits according to the beneficiary percentages when she passes. 2. If you do stick with the current joint account setup, definitely document your mom's intentions in writing. Have her write a letter stating she wants the account split equally between you and your sister. It won't eliminate the potential gift tax issue, but it might help if questions arise. 3. Consider the annual gift exclusion timing. If your sister needs to give you more than $18k, she could potentially split it across tax years to minimize the gift tax return requirements. 4. Don't forget about the lifetime gift tax exemption. Even if your sister has to file Form 709, she likely won't owe actual gift tax unless she's already used up her $13+ million lifetime exemption. The Medicaid lookback period concern someone raised is also really important if that's a possibility for your mom's future care needs.

This thread has been incredibly helpful! I'm dealing with a similar situation with my father's accounts and the gift tax implications have been keeping me up at night. One thing I wanted to add based on my recent research - the IRS Publication 950 (Introduction to Estate and Gift Taxes) has some specific guidance on joint accounts that might be relevant here. It mentions that when joint account holders contribute different amounts to the account, the tax treatment can get complicated. In your case, since your mom funded the entire account and your sister never contributed her own money, there might be an argument that your sister's "ownership" is really just administrative. However, as others have pointed out, the legal right of survivorship still applies regardless of who contributed what. I'm curious - has anyone here actually been audited on a joint account transfer like this? I keep reading about the theoretical tax implications, but I wonder how often the IRS actually pursues these cases in practice, especially for amounts under $100k. Also, @Mohammed Khan, you mentioned your mom has most assets in the trust already. Have you considered just moving this checking account into the trust as well? I know you wanted to keep it separate for bill-paying convenience, but many banks now offer online trust account management that makes it almost as easy as a regular checking account. That would completely eliminate the gift tax question since distributions would be governed by the trust terms rather than joint ownership rules.

I recommend getting tax software like FreeTaxUSA or Credit Karma Tax (now Cash App Taxes) which are both free for federal filing and guide you through the process for both W-2 and 1099 income. They'll prompt you to enter your doordashing income and expenses on Schedule C and automatically calculate your self-employment tax. Even with income under the standard deduction, definitely still file a return! You might qualify for refundable credits like the Earned Income Credit depending on your situation, which could get you money back even if you don't owe income tax.

As someone who went through this exact situation last year, I can confirm what others have said - you can definitely use the standard deduction against your combined income from both sources. However, the self-employment tax part caught me off guard too! One thing I'd add is to make sure you keep track of ALL your doordashing expenses going forward, not just mileage. Things like phone accessories (car mounts, chargers), insulated bags, even a portion of your phone bill can be deductible. I wish I had known this during my first year of gig work. Also, since you're young and this might be your first time dealing with self-employment income, consider setting aside about 15-20% of your 1099 earnings for taxes throughout the year if you continue doordashing. The self-employment tax plus any income tax can add up, and you don't want to be surprised next filing season. Good luck with everything - you've got this!

Just experienced this same situation! My incorporation service (LegalZoom) apparently never properly submitted my 2553 even though I paid them to handle it. What a disaster. I ended up hiring a CPA who specialized in business closures. Cost me $650 but they handled everything including dealing with the IRS directly. Sometimes paying a professional is worth avoiding the headache, especially since you can deduct the fee on your personal taxes as an "investment expense" related to closing your business.

I'm dealing with a very similar situation right now! My business formation service also apparently never properly filed my Form 2553, and the IRS is now treating my intended S-Corp as a C-Corp. Based on what I'm reading here, it sounds like the path of least resistance might be to just file the 1120-X and Schedule L they're requesting, especially since there was no business activity. One question though - if I go the route of filing as a C-Corp for the final return, do I need to worry about any state-level complications? My state dissolution was already approved, but I'm wondering if filing a different type of federal return could create issues with the state tax authority or require additional state filings. Also, has anyone had success getting reimbursement from these business formation services when they mess up the S-Corp election? I'm pretty frustrated that I paid extra for them to handle the paperwork correctly and now I'm stuck dealing with this mess.

Has anyone else noticed that the IRS website is just terrible compared to other government sites? Why does their payment system have these weird authorization issues when literally every other online payment system has figured this out? I had the same problem last year and panicked because it was a lot of money for me. Called my bank and they said it happens all the time with IRS payments specifically. They told me to wait 5 days before doing anything. Sure enough, the second charge disappeared. But the stress for those 5 days was unnecessary. Get it together, IRS!

This is super common with IRS Direct Pay - you're definitely not alone! I've had this happen twice now with my quarterly payments. The second charge you're seeing is almost certainly just a pre-authorization hold that will drop off in a few business days. What happens is the IRS payment system does an initial authorization to verify your account has sufficient funds, then processes the actual payment. Some banks display both the authorization and the actual charge as separate pending transactions, which makes it look like you've been charged twice. I'd recommend checking your actual IRS account online if you have one set up - you should only see one payment recorded there. The duplicate charge should disappear from your bank account within 3-5 business days. If it's still there after a full week, then definitely contact the IRS with your confirmation number. Don't dispute it with your bank just yet though - that could potentially complicate your actual tax payment and you'd have to deal with getting that sorted out too. Just keep an eye on it for now!