Don't stress too much about this - it's actually a pretty common situation! The key thing to remember is that your W-4 withholding election and your actual tax filing status are completely separate things. Your employer uses the W-4 to estimate how much tax to take out of each paycheck, but when you file your return, you use your actual marital status. Since you've been married for 6 years, when you file your 2025 tax return you'll file as either "married filing jointly" or "married filing separately" (whichever is better for your situation). The IRS will calculate your actual tax liability based on that correct filing status, and since you've been having taxes withheld at the higher "single" rate all year, you'll likely get a nice refund. For getting HR to fix this going forward - try being more direct. Email them with something like "I need my W-4 updated to reflect my correct marital status. I've been married since [date] and my current withholding is incorrect. Please let me know what forms I need to complete and when this can be processed." Sometimes being specific about exactly what you need helps cut through the bureaucracy. You're essentially getting an interest-free loan back from the government next year, but obviously it's better to have that money in your paychecks now!

Just wanted to add some perspective as someone who's been through this exact situation! Three years ago I started a new job and somehow my W-4 got processed with "single" status even though I submitted it correctly as "married." Didn't catch it until I was doing my mid-year budget review and noticed my take-home was way lower than expected. The good news is that you're absolutely right to expect that money back when you file. I ended up getting about $2,400 more in my refund than usual because of all the extra withholding. But like others have mentioned, that's money you could have been using throughout the year instead of giving the government an interest-free loan. For dealing with HR - I had success by going directly to whoever processes payroll rather than general HR. At my company, there was a specific person who handled W-4 changes, and once I found her, it got fixed within a week. You might also try asking for the specific form number (it's Form W-4) and offering to fill it out yourself rather than waiting for them to "process" your request. One thing to keep in mind - if you do get this fixed partway through the year, your paychecks will suddenly get noticeably bigger, which is nice! But make sure you're not underpaying for the rest of the year. The IRS wants fairly even payments throughout the year, so if you've been overpaying for months and then underpay for the remaining months, you might want to adjust accordingly.

Just wanted to add that my business partner and I chose an LLC for our home renovation company, and we elected S-corp taxation after the first year when we started making decent profit. The key advantage was paying ourselves reasonable salaries and taking the rest as distributions, which saved us thousands in self-employment taxes. One mistake we made was not having a really solid operating agreement at the start. Def spend the money to have a lawyer draft one that covers what happens if one partner wants out, gets disabled, etc. We had a rough patch where my partner wanted to take on projects I thought were too risky, and without clear decision-making protocols in our agreement, it created some real tension.

Great discussion here! As someone who's been through the LLC vs LLP decision for my electrical contracting business, I'd echo what others have said about LLC being the better choice for contractors. One thing I haven't seen mentioned is worker classification issues. With construction, you'll likely work with both employees and subcontractors, and the IRS scrutinizes this heavily. LLCs give you more flexibility in how you structure these relationships compared to LLPs. Also, if you're planning to eventually bring on additional partners or investors down the road, LLCs make that much easier. We started as just two partners but brought in a third after year two when we landed some bigger commercial contracts. The LLC structure made adding him straightforward without having to restructure the entire business. For what it's worth, our accountant recommended starting simple with basic LLC partnership taxation for the first year or two, then evaluating S-corp election once you're consistently profitable and can justify the payroll overhead. That approach worked well for us - kept initial compliance costs low while we were figuring out the business.

This entire thread has been a lifesaver! I'm in week 11 with my W7 return and was starting to panic that something had gone wrong. Reading everyone's detailed experiences really shows that these extended timelines are unfortunately normal for ITIN cases. A few things I've learned from my own experience that might help others: 1. The IRS considers paper returns with W7 applications completely separate from regular returns - they go to specialized processing centers and follow different workflows entirely. 2. Even after you receive the ITIN, your return still needs to go through what they call "re-association" where they manually link the new ITIN back to your original return. This alone can take 2-4 weeks. 3. The "Where's My Refund" tool is essentially useless for W7 returns until they're completely processed, so don't panic if nothing shows up for months. For anyone still waiting, I'd highly recommend calling the ITIN-specific line at 1-800-908-9982 rather than the general IRS number. The agents there actually understand the W7 process and can give you much better information about where your return stands. Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences - it really helps to know we're not alone in this incredibly slow process!

I'm going through this exact same situation right now and this thread has been incredibly reassuring! I filed my return with a W7 for my spouse back in January, received the ITIN in early March, but I'm now at 15 weeks with no updates on the actual return processing. What's really helped me is understanding that this isn't just a "slow processing" issue - it's actually multiple separate processes that have to happen in sequence. The W7 gets handled first, then there's this manual re-association step that nobody tells you about, then it goes into yet another queue for final processing. I called the ITIN-specific line (1-800-908-9982) that everyone mentioned and the agent confirmed my return is in the "post-ITIN manual review" stage. She explained that returns with newly issued ITINs require additional verification steps to make sure all the information matches up correctly in their system. The most helpful thing she told me was to expect a total timeline of 18-22 weeks from original filing for first-time ITIN cases. That puts me at another 3-7 weeks of waiting, which is frustrating but at least I have realistic expectations now. For anyone just starting this process - definitely don't e-file a duplicate return thinking yours got lost. The paper W7 returns follow a completely different workflow and the normal IRS tools don't track them properly until they're fully completed.

This is such a helpful thread! I'm dealing with a similar situation but with an added complication - the deceased relative lived in one state, worked in another state, and I live in a third state. The plan administrator is withholding taxes for the state where the company is headquartered (a fourth state!). From what I'm reading here, it sounds like I'll need to file a nonresident return in the withholding state and then claim credits on my home state return. But I'm wondering if I also need to consider the deceased's state of residence or the state where they worked? Also, has anyone dealt with the timing issue? They're distributing this in late 2025, so I'm worried about having enough time to sort out all the state tax filings before the April deadline. Should I be making estimated payments to my home state even though they're already withholding for another state?

Great advice throughout this thread! I want to add one more consideration that caught me off guard when I inherited my dad's non-qualified plan last year - make sure to ask about any outstanding loans against the account. If the deceased had taken a loan from their retirement plan that wasn't fully repaid at death, the remaining loan balance gets treated as a taxable distribution to you as the beneficiary. This won't show up in your initial paperwork but will appear on the 1099-R, and it can significantly increase the taxable amount beyond what you're expecting. In my case, there was an outstanding $12,000 loan that I had no idea about, which bumped up my taxable distribution and threw off all my estimated tax calculations. The plan administrator should be able to tell you if there are any outstanding loans, but you have to specifically ask - they don't always volunteer this information upfront. Also, if you're concerned about the tax impact of receiving a large lump sum in one year, check if the plan offers any installment payment options. Some non-qualified plans allow beneficiaries to spread distributions over multiple years, which can help with tax bracket management.

Has anyone used TurboTax for reporting foreign property sales? Is it capable of handling these complex situations or should I just hire a CPA? Worried about missing something important.

I went through a very similar situation when my family sold property in the Philippines last year. One thing I wish someone had told me earlier is to get all your property documents organized and translated (if needed) well before you start the tax filing process. The biggest surprise was learning about the FBAR (Foreign Bank Account Report) requirements. Since the sale proceeds sat in a foreign account temporarily while we arranged the transfer, we had to file FinCEN Form 114 because the account balance exceeded $10,000 at any point during the year. This is completely separate from your tax return and has its own filing deadline. Also, make sure to keep detailed records of all transaction costs, legal fees, and transfer fees - these can often be added to your basis or deducted as selling expenses, which reduces your taxable gain. With a $200-250k sale, even small percentage savings can add up to significant dollar amounts. One last tip: if your parents are planning to become US tax residents soon, consider consulting with an Enrolled Agent who specializes in international taxation. The timing of the sale relative to their residency status could have major tax implications, and it's worth getting professional advice upfront rather than trying to fix issues later.