As someone new to the US tax system, I can understand how confusing this must be! Based on what everyone's shared here, it does sound like your refund amount disappearing from WMR is likely indicating an offset situation. Since you mentioned this is your first time filing in the US, you might not be aware of all potential debts that could trigger an offset - these can include federal student loans (even from before you became a US taxpayer), unpaid state taxes from any state you've lived in, child support, or other federal debts. I'd recommend calling the Treasury Offset Program at 800-304-3107 as Logan suggested - they can tell you immediately if there's an offset and which agency is claiming the debt. This will give you answers much faster than waiting for the mail notice. Don't worry too much though - as Jade mentioned, you'll likely still receive whatever portion of your refund remains after the offset is applied!

Hey Jeremiah! As a fellow community member, I wanted to chime in with some reassurance. What you're experiencing is actually pretty standard when the Treasury Offset Program kicks in. The fact that your name and filing status are still showing means your return was processed correctly - the missing refund amount is just the system's way of indicating they're applying an offset for existing debt. Since you mentioned you're new to filing in the US, you might not realize that even old debts from before you became a regular taxpayer can trigger these offsets. The good news is that if your original refund was larger than the debt, you'll still get the difference! I'd definitely call that Treasury Offset number (800-304-3107) that others mentioned - they can give you the full picture immediately rather than waiting weeks for a letter. Don't stress too much about it - this happens to tons of people and doesn't reflect poorly on your tax filing at all.

Dont forget to consider the pro-rata rule if you have both pre-tax and after-tax money in your IRA's. Thats the whole point of the reverse rollover strategy - to get the pre-tax money out of your IRA's so you can do a clean backdoor Roth contribution without triggering pro-rata calculations.

Great question about reverse rollovers! Just to add some clarity to the excellent advice already given - when you do a reverse rollover from IRA to 401(k), you're essentially moving money from one pre-tax retirement account to another, so there's no immediate tax consequence. However, reporting is still required. You'll receive Form 1099-R from your IRA custodian showing the distribution. The key is making sure Box 7 shows the correct distribution code (should be "G" for direct rollover to qualified plan). You'll report this on your Form 1040, and if you had any non-deductible contributions in your IRA, you'll also need Form 8606. The good news is that your strategy worked perfectly - by clearing out the pre-tax IRA money, you've eliminated the pro-rata rule complications for your backdoor Roth conversion. Just make sure all your tax forms reflect the transactions correctly, and you should be all set!

Anyone know if Netflix will face actual criminal charges or just financial penalties if they're found guilty? I'm curious how serious these European tax fraud cases typically get for big corporations. Seems like most of the time they just pay a fine and it's business as usual.

As someone who handles tax compliance for a mid-sized company with European operations, the Netflix situation is a wake-up call for all of us. What really concerns me is how quickly these investigations can escalate - one day you're operating normally, the next day authorities are searching your offices. From what I've seen in similar cases, the key issue is usually the mismatch between where economic value is created versus where profits are reported. Netflix likely has significant subscriber revenue and content operations in France and the Netherlands, but may have been reporting minimal profits there due to their corporate structure. For smaller companies, I'd recommend getting a basic transfer pricing study done even if you think you're too small to worry about it. The cost of the study is nothing compared to the potential penalties and legal fees if you get caught up in an investigation. Also, make sure you're properly registering for taxes in every jurisdiction where you have economic activity - having employees somewhere often creates tax obligations even if your main entity is elsewhere. The European tax authorities are getting much more aggressive about digital economy taxation, so this Netflix case probably won't be the last we hear about.

Something nobody's mentioned yet - if you're making under 12k but over 400 bucks, you probably won't owe income tax, but you WILL owe self-employment tax (which is basically Social Security and Medicare). That's about 15.3% of your net profit. So if you made $2,800 but had $800 in expenses, your net profit would be $2,000, and you'd owe about $306 in self-employment tax. Don't be caught off guard by this! A lot of new freelancers don't budget for it and get surprised at tax time.

Unfortunately, there's no way to reduce the self-employment tax rate itself - it's a flat 15.3% on your net self-employment income. However, you can reduce what you pay it on by maximizing your business deductions. The reason self-employment tax kicks in at just $400 while regular income tax has higher thresholds is that self-employment tax is specifically for Social Security and Medicare contributions. When you're an employee, your employer pays half of these taxes for you, but when you're self-employed, you pay both the employee and employer portions. The good news is that you can deduct half of your self-employment tax when calculating your income tax, and you're building credits toward your future Social Security and Medicare benefits. It might seem unfair now, but you're essentially paying into your own retirement and healthcare system. Also, if you're making quarterly estimated tax payments (which you should be if you expect to owe more than $1,000), you can spread this cost out over the year instead of getting hit with one big bill at tax time.

One thing to watch out for with Cash App - if you deposit over $10,000 in cash within a short period, your bank might file a Currency Transaction Report. This isn't a tax issue but a regulatory thing for preventing money laundering. It doesn't mean you're in trouble, but if you're regularly depositing large amounts of cash, it might trigger some questions.

I had a similar situation with my elderly grandmother who doesn't trust banks but needed digital payments for some services. What helped me was keeping detailed records of all the cash I converted to Cash App funds - like taking photos of the bills before depositing and noting the amounts and dates. Even though it's not technically required for personal transfers, having that documentation gave me peace of mind in case anyone ever questioned where the money came from. I also made sure to never mark any of these transfers as "goods and services" in the app - always kept them as personal transfers or gifts. The $2500 you mentioned is well under any concerning thresholds, but good record-keeping never hurts. I use a simple spreadsheet with dates, amounts, and notes like "converted grandmother's grocery money to Cash App." Takes 30 seconds each time but could save headaches later if you ever need to explain the transactions.