Consider requesting a paper check instead. Might be faster. Verification processes can drag on. IRS sometimes has backlogs. Paper checks avoid bank verification issues. Might be worth a call to change your refund method. Just a thought.

I went through this exact situation with Chime back in February. The verification process took 13 business days for me, and like others mentioned, the lack of updates during that time was really frustrating. One thing I learned - if you call the IRS practitioner priority line (if you have a tax pro help you), they can sometimes give you more specific information about what's causing the delay. In my case, it was a simple address mismatch between my return and Chime account that added extra review time. The funds did eventually come through, but definitely plan for it taking the full 2-3 weeks just to be safe for your quarterly payment planning.

Has anyone used TurboTax to handle these 1095-C issues? I'm in a similar situation with blank Part 3 sections and I'm wondering if the tax software helps figure this out or if I need to get additional documentation before filing.

I went through this exact nightmare last year! The key thing to understand is that the IRS doesn't actually require you to prove coverage anymore since the federal individual mandate penalty was eliminated. However, you still need to report your coverage status on your tax return. For the blank Part 3 issue - this is completely normal if your employer has a fully-insured health plan. The insurance company (not your employer) is responsible for sending you a 1095-B form that shows who was covered and when. If you haven't received these, check your insurance company's online portal first - many now provide them electronically. Don't stress too much about having perfect documentation. As long as you can honestly say you had coverage, you're fine for federal taxes. The bigger concern would be if you live in a state with its own individual mandate (CA, MA, NJ, RI, or DC) where you might need better documentation for state taxes. If you're still missing forms after checking with your insurance company, keep records of your premium payments as backup proof of coverage.

Just wanted to add that while your girlfriend doesn't qualify you for HOH, if you ever have a child together, you could potentially qualify even without being married. The child would be your qualifying person, not your girlfriend. Something to keep in mind for future tax planning if you're thinking about starting a family.

you might wanna also look into claiming your girlfriend as a dependent if she made less than $4,400 in 2024 and you provided more than half her support. won't get you HOH status but could still give you a tax break!

I switched from S-corp back to Sched C last year. For me it was a no-brainer since I only made like $35k profit and was paying almost $2k for tax prep plus that $800 CA fee. My accountant showed that I was LOSING money with the S-corp structure at my income level.

The threshold question is really key here. From what I've seen with my own consulting business, the S-corp structure typically becomes worthwhile when you're consistently hitting $40k+ in profit, but it also depends heavily on your state fees and accounting costs. At $30k profit, you're right on the borderline. The self-employment tax savings could be around $1,500-2,000 annually if you structure the salary/distribution split correctly, but that California $800 fee plus professional tax prep costs can easily eat into those savings. One thing to consider is the trend of your business - if you expect to grow beyond $40k profit in the next year or two, it might be worth keeping the S-corp structure in place. Converting back and forth between entity types can be more costly and complicated than just maintaining the structure through a lower-profit year. Have you calculated your total annual costs for maintaining the S-corp (state fees, accounting, payroll processing if applicable)? That's really the number you need to compare against your potential self-employment tax savings to make this decision.

Here's another angle to consider with your daughter's scholarship: If she's planning to go to grad school eventually, it might be worth strategically making some of the scholarship taxable during undergrad years when her income is super low. That way she preserves more scholarship money for later when the AOTC isn't available anymore. My daughter did this - we paid the first $4,000 of tuition out of pocket each year (getting the full AOTC on our return), and allocated some scholarship to room/board (making it taxable to her). Because her only income was that taxable scholarship portion, her tax rate was minimal. She ended up with extra scholarship money that carried over, which she used for a summer research program and the first semester of her master's program. Just something else to consider if grad school might be in the picture eventually.

One thing nobody's mentioned yet - if your daughter does any paid internships or has other income during college, that will affect the kiddie tax calculations too. My son had a full scholarship similar to your daughter's, but then got a paid research position in his sophomore year that pushed his income up. This complicated things because suddenly some of his scholarship income was being taxed at OUR marginal rate instead of his lower rate. We had to adjust our tax planning mid-year. Just something to keep in mind if she might work during school at all!