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If I could give 10 stars I would If I could give 10 stars I would Such an amazing service so needed during the times when EDD almost never picks up Claimyr gets me on the phone with EDD every time without fail faster. A much needed service without Claimyr I would have never received the payment I needed to support me during my postpartum recovery. Thank you so much Claimyr!
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An incredibly helpful service
An incredibly helpful service! Got me connected to a CA EDD agent without major hassle (outside of EDD's agents dropping calls – which Claimyr has free protection for). If you need to file a new claim and can't do it online, pay the $ to Claimyr to get the process started. Absolutely worth it!
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Used this service a couple times now. Before I'd call 200 times in less than a weak frustrated as can be. But using claimyr with a couple hours of waiting i was on the line with an representative or on hold. Dropped a couple times but each reconnected not long after and was mission accomplished, thanks to Claimyr.
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I tried doing an OIC myself first and ABSOLUTELY REGRET it!! Wasted 5 months and got rejected for "incomplete financial information" even though I sent everything they asked for. Then I hired a tax attorney who charged $4,200 flat fee for both federal and state. They refiled everything and my offer got accepted 6 months later. Settled $93k of tax debt for $11k. So worth every penny of their fee!!! My advice: don't try to save money by doing it yourself or hiring the cheapest person. This is one area where experience really matters. I probably lost more in penalties and interest during those wasted 5 months than I paid my attorney.
What made your attorney's submission different from what you submitted yourself? I'm trying to figure out if there are specific tricks or approaches that professionals use that individuals don't know about.
The main differences were in the financial documentation and presentation. When I did it myself, I just filled out the forms with basic numbers. My attorney created detailed spreadsheets showing my complete financial picture, included supporting documents for every expense claim, and wrote a compelling hardship narrative that explained WHY I couldn't pay the full amount. They also knew exactly which expenses the IRS allows vs. doesn't allow. For example, I had included some expenses that the IRS doesn't recognize, which weakened my case. My attorney restructured everything to show maximum allowable expenses while staying within IRS guidelines. The biggest difference was the negotiation aspect. When the IRS came back with questions, my attorney knew how to respond professionally and provide exactly what they wanted. When I tried to handle their questions myself, I apparently gave responses that raised red flags and led to the rejection.
The $4,200 fee you mentioned is definitely within the reasonable range for handling both federal and state OICs. I went through this process two years ago and paid $3,800 to a tax attorney who successfully settled my $78k debt for $9,500. What really matters is the attorney's specific experience with OICs. When I was shopping around, I made the mistake of initially focusing only on price. The cheapest quote I got was $2,200, but when I dug deeper, that person had only handled about 15 OIC cases total. My final choice had over 200 OIC cases under their belt with documented success rates. A few questions to ask your attorney: How many OIC cases have they handled in the past year? What's their acceptance rate? Can they provide references from recent OIC clients? Do they have experience with cases similar to your debt amount and situation? The upfront investment might seem steep, but consider that a rejected OIC can cost you months of additional penalties and interest. Plus, you'd likely have to start over with a new professional anyway. Better to invest in proven experience from the start.
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Has anyone received their Mississippi refund after filing in March? I filed on March 15th and I'm trying to figure out if I should expect it before my mortgage payment is due on May 1st. In previous years it seemed faster, but everything I'm reading here suggests I shouldn't count on it.
I filed my Mississippi return on March 22nd and just received my refund yesterday (April 15th) - so exactly 3.5 weeks for me! I was pleasantly surprised since everything I'd read suggested 4-6 weeks minimum. I did e-file with direct deposit and had a pretty straightforward return with no credits or complications. For what it's worth, I never got any email notification - the money just appeared in my account. So there's definitely hope for those March filers! 🤞
That's really encouraging to hear! I filed March 18th so we're in a similar timeframe. Did you notice any pattern with when they actually deposit - like was it on a specific day of the week? I've been obsessively checking my account every morning but maybe I should focus on Tuesdays and Thursdays like someone mentioned earlier.
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Has anyone actually used the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator? I found it super helpful for my situation (also married with non-working spouse). It asks detailed questions and at the end tells you exactly what to put on each line of the W4.
I tried using that but it wanted so much info from my past pay stubs and tax returns that I gave up halfway through. Plus it was confusing to navigate. Maybe I'm just dumb lol
I was in almost the exact same situation last year! Married filing jointly, one young kid, non-working spouse, and getting huge refunds that I wanted to reduce. Here's what worked for me on the new W4: **Step 1:** Select "Married filing jointly or Qualifying surviving spouse" **Step 2:** Leave this completely blank since your spouse doesn't work **Step 3:** Enter $2,000 for your child (this is the Child Tax Credit amount) **Step 4:** Leave (a) and (c) blank, but for (b) you might want to enter any itemized deductions you have (mortgage interest, charitable donations, etc.) to further reduce withholding The key thing is that your old "0 allowances" setting doesn't translate to the new form - it was probably causing way too much to be withheld. Just by updating to married status and claiming your child credit, you should see a significant reduction in withholding. I went from getting $8,000+ refunds to around $1,500, which put about $250 more in each paycheck. Submit a new W4 to HR and you should see the change in your next pay period!
This is super helpful! I'm in a really similar boat - married with a toddler and stay-at-home spouse, and I've been way overwithholding for years. Quick question though - when you say you went from $8,000+ refunds to $1,500, did you make any other changes besides updating the W4? I'm worried about underpaying and owing money at tax time. Also, did your HR department give you any trouble about updating your withholding mid-year?
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Adding to the discussion on zeroed-out GRATs - I actually implemented this strategy for my SaaS startup about 6 months before we got acquired. The key insight my estate planner shared was that with pre-IPO shares, you're essentially betting that your company will outperform the IRS Section 7520 rate (which was around 4.4% when I set mine up). Since most successful startups see much higher returns than that hurdle rate, zeroed-out GRATs can be incredibly effective. In my case, we were acquired at about 15x the valuation used when I created the GRAT, so everything above that 4.4% annual growth transferred to my kids' trusts completely tax-free. One practical tip: consider creating multiple short-term GRATs (like 2-year terms) instead of one longer-term GRAT. This gives you more flexibility if your IPO timeline changes, and you can "roll" unsuccessful GRATs into new ones if needed. My attorney called this a "GRAT ladder" strategy. The voting rights piece worked smoothly - I retained full voting control throughout the GRAT term, which was important since I was still actively involved in strategic decisions leading up to our exit.
This is really helpful to hear from someone who actually executed this strategy! The "GRAT ladder" approach sounds smart - I hadn't considered doing multiple shorter-term GRATs instead of one long one. Given that our IPO timeline could shift (18 months is optimistic according to our CFO), having that flexibility seems valuable. Quick follow-up question - when you say you retained "full voting control," did your attorney structure this as you personally retaining the voting rights, or did the GRAT itself hold the voting rights but you controlled them as trustee? I'm trying to understand the cleanest way to document this to avoid any IRS scrutiny down the road.
Great question about the voting rights structure! In my case, the GRAT document specifically granted me, as the grantor, the right to vote the shares held in the trust. This was structured as a retained power rather than acting as trustee - I wasn't the trustee of my own GRAT (that was a corporate trustee). The key language our attorney used was something like "the Grantor retains the right to vote all shares held by the trust during the GRAT term." This approach kept it clean from an IRS perspective because the economic interest was fully transferred to the GRAT, but the voting control remained with me personally. Your attorney will want to be careful about how this is documented - retaining too many powers can cause gift tax issues, but voting rights are generally considered acceptable to retain. The important thing is that you're not retaining economic benefits beyond what's specified in the GRAT structure. I'd definitely recommend the GRAT ladder approach given your IPO uncertainty. We actually did three 2-year GRATs staggered by 6 months each, which gave us great flexibility as our timeline shifted during the process.
This is such a timely discussion for me! I'm in a similar situation with my biotech startup - we're targeting an IPO in the next 12-18 months and I've been wrestling with the same GRAT questions. One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is the impact of potential volatility in pre-IPO valuations on GRAT effectiveness. My company's valuation has been all over the place with market conditions, and I'm wondering if there's an optimal timing strategy for when to actually fund the GRAT relative to our most recent 409A valuation. Also, has anyone dealt with the scenario where your startup pivots or the IPO gets delayed significantly? I'm curious how that affects the GRAT performance, especially if you've structured it as a zeroed-out GRAT betting on that IPO appreciation. The voting rights discussion has been really helpful - definitely planning to retain those given how active I still am in company decisions. Thanks everyone for sharing your real-world experiences!
Sadie Benitez
After an entire MONTH of constantly refreshing my transcript and getting nowhere, I finally just called the IRS using claimyr.com and got right through to an agent. Turns out there was a simple verification issue they needed to clear up, and my refund was processed right away. Talking to an actual human solved in 10 minutes what I spent weeks stressing about. Worth every penny to finally get my $4,700 refund!
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Sadie Benitez
•Have you tried calling the IRS lately? It's nearly impossible to get through - busy signals, disconnects after waiting an hour, etc. This service actually navigates all that for you and gets you a callback without the hassle. I was skeptical too but was desperate after weeks of trying.
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Laila Prince
•For real tho! I tried calling over 30 times myself and never got through. Used this last week and had an agent on the phone within an hour. They fixed my issue in minutes.
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Diego Vargas
Based on my experience dealing with the IRS for years, transcripts definitely update overnight during batch processing cycles, not throughout the day. The main update cycle is Thursday night/Friday morning, but there can also be smaller updates other weekdays depending on your processing cycle. Since you filed in April and it's been this long, there might be an issue with your return that's causing the delay. The transcript will usually show error codes or holds if there's a problem. I'd recommend checking your cycle code (the 8-digit number on your transcript) - if it ends in 05, you're on the weekly cycle and only need to check Friday mornings. If you really need answers about the delay, calling the IRS is your best bet, though I know it's frustrating getting through. But obsessively checking multiple times a day will just drive you crazy without giving you any new info!
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