As someone who went through this exact transition last year, I can confirm that most of your woodworking expenses are indeed deductible! A few additional points that helped me: For your existing tools, get them appraised or research comparable sales prices to establish fair market value when you converted them to business use. I used eBay sold listings for my older tools. One thing I wish I'd known earlier - if you're buying materials in bulk (like when lumber yards have sales), you can only deduct the cost of materials for items you actually sell in that tax year. Any remaining inventory carries over to the next year. Also consider joining a local woodworking guild or subscribing to trade magazines - these memberships and educational expenses are deductible too as they help improve your business skills. The IRS has a great publication (Pub 535 - Business Expenses) that specifically covers what you can deduct. It's dry reading but worth skimming through for a hobby-turned-business situation like yours. Keep detailed records of everything, especially the business use percentage of mixed-use items. I use a simple spreadsheet to track which projects are personal vs. business throughout the year.

Great thread here! I'm actually a tax preparer who works with a lot of small Etsy businesses, and I wanted to add a few points that might help: One thing I see people miss is the business use of your vehicle for things like picking up materials, going to craft fairs, or shipping packages. Keep a mileage log - even short trips to the post office add up over the year. For your garage workshop, make sure you're using it "exclusively" for business to qualify for the home office deduction. If you also park your car there or use it for storage of personal items, you might not qualify. But if you have a dedicated workbench area that's only used for your woodworking business, you can measure just that space. Also, don't forget about professional development costs - if you take any woodworking classes, buy instructional books/videos, or attend trade shows, those are all deductible business expenses. The fact that you received a 1099-K means you're definitely in business territory now, so take advantage of all the legitimate deductions available to you. Just keep good records in case the IRS ever asks questions!

Have you considered calling your bank first? They might have options to temporarily increase your deposit limit. Or could they accept the deposit and just hold the excess in a separate account? Worth asking before going through the IRS reissue process, which can take weeks. Also, for next year's taxes, could you split your refund using Form 8888 to avoid hitting the limit? Just thinking of alternatives that might be faster than waiting for a paper check.

This is such a frustrating situation! I actually work in banking and see this happen more often than you'd think. Most people don't realize their accounts have daily deposit limits, especially on smaller credit union accounts. The good news is that once your bank rejects the deposit, the IRS system automatically flags it and will mail you a paper check - usually takes about 3-4 weeks in my experience. One tip for the future: you can actually split your refund using Form 8888 when you file. You could put part in checking, part in savings, or even direct some to an IRA. This helps avoid hitting those pesky deposit limits. Also, if you're with a smaller bank or credit union, it's worth calling them to ask about your daily/monthly deposit limits so you know for next time. Hope your check arrives soon!

I'm dealing with this exact situation right now! Filed on February 2nd, also head of household with dependent care credit, and my transcript shows 846 code with DD date of 3/5. Still nothing showing as pending in my Chime account as of this morning. Reading through all these comments is actually really reassuring - sounds like the dependent care credits are definitely causing some processing delays this year. I'm also budgeting for some urgent expenses, so I totally understand the stress of not knowing exactly when it'll hit. Thanks for posting this question - it's helping me realize this is more common than I thought!

I'm going through the exact same thing with Chime right now! Filed on January 31st as head of household with dependent care credit, transcript shows 846 code with DD date of 2/27, but still no pending notification from Chime. It's reassuring to see I'm not alone in this - it sounds like the dependent care credits are definitely causing some processing delays this year. I've been refreshing my app way too much waiting for that pending notification! Based on what everyone's sharing here, it seems like we might need to wait an extra day or two beyond what we'd normally expect. Really hoping it shows up soon since I also have some time-sensitive expenses I'm trying to plan for. Thanks for asking this question - the responses have been super helpful!

Something similar happened to me - I kept getting a cryptic error about my birthday format even though it was entered correctly. For me, the fix was completely clearing my browser cookies/cache and then using Microsoft Edge instead of Chrome. Sometimes Free Fillable Forms gets "stuck" with bad data in the browser cache. Also make sure you don't have any browser extensions running that might be interfering with the forms. I turned off my password manager and ad blocker while doing my taxes and it seemed to help.

I've been dealing with Free Fillable Forms issues for years as a tax professional, and these XML validation errors are unfortunately very common. The root cause is usually that the system stores your data in multiple hidden fields that don't always sync properly when you make changes. Here's what I recommend trying in order: 1. **Complete browser reset**: Clear ALL browsing data (not just cache), restart your browser, and try a different browser entirely (Edge often works better than Chrome/Firefox for government sites). 2. **Manual entry only**: Don't use copy/paste, autofill, or any browser extensions. Type everything manually, especially numbers and addresses. 3. **Phone number strategy**: Enter your phone number as exactly 10 digits with no spaces, dashes, or parentheses in ALL phone fields at the same time before moving to other sections. 4. **Check hidden characters**: If you copied any information from PDFs or other documents, there might be invisible characters. Retype critical information like SSNs and phone numbers completely from scratch. If none of that works, the issue might be with your prior year AGI verification or another backend validation that's incorrectly flagging as a phone number error. At that point, you'd need to speak with the IRS directly to have them check your account status. The error messages from Free Fillable Forms are notoriously misleading - the actual problem is often completely unrelated to what the error says!

I went through this exact same situation last year and I know how terrifying it is to see your return completely vanish from the system! What you're experiencing is unfortunately totally normal after identity verification - the IRS essentially quarantines your return during the verification process. Here's what helped me get through it: First, stop checking your transcript daily (I know, easier said than done). The constant checking just adds to the anxiety and nothing will change for weeks. Second, make sure you're checking your mail religiously - sometimes they send additional requests that can delay things further if missed. The timeline really is around 8-9 weeks from when you verified, not from when you filed. I verified in late February last year and didn't see any movement until mid-April, then boom - everything updated at once and my refund hit my account within days. The hardest part is the complete lack of communication from the IRS during this process. Your return isn't lost, it's just in a completely separate processing queue that doesn't show up on normal transcripts. Hang in there - you'll get through this!

I'm so sorry you're going through this stress! I went through the exact same thing last year and it's absolutely terrifying when your return just vanishes from the system. The "RETURN NOT PRESENT FOR THIS ACCOUNT" message is like a punch to the gut when you're expecting to see your refund information. What everyone here is telling you is 100% correct - this is unfortunately the "normal" process after identity verification. The IRS completely removes your return from their main system during verification, which is why your transcript looks like you never filed. It's a security measure, but they do a terrible job of explaining this to taxpayers. The 9-week timeline is real, but here's what I learned: it's 9 weeks from when you completed verification, not from when you filed. So if you verified last week, you're looking at potentially early May before you see movement. I know that's not what you want to hear, but at least you can set realistic expectations. One thing that helped me was setting up text alerts for my bank account so I'd know immediately when the refund hit, rather than obsessively checking transcripts. Also, definitely keep an eye on your mail - they sometimes send additional requests that can reset the clock if you miss them. You're not alone in this, and your return isn't lost. It's just in IRS purgatory for a while. Hang in there!