Can't reach IRS? Claimyr connects you to a live IRS agent in minutes.
Claimyr is a pay-as-you-go service. We do not charge a recurring subscription.
Using Claimyr will:
- Connect you to a human agent at the IRS
- Skip the long phone menu
- Call the correct department
- Redial until on hold
- Forward a call to your phone with reduced hold time
- Give you free callbacks if the IRS drops your call
If I could give 10 stars I would
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!
Really made a difference
Really made a difference, save me time and energy from going to a local office for making the call.
Worth not wasting your time calling for hours.
Was a bit nervous or untrusting at first, but my calls went thru. First time the wait was a bit long but their customer chat line on their page was helpful and put me at ease that I would receive my call. Today my call dropped because of EDD and Claimyr heard my concern on the same chat and another call was made within the hour.
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!
Consistent,frustration free, quality Service.
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.
IT WORKS!! Not a scam!
I tried for weeks to get thru to EDD PFL program with no luck. I gave this a try thinking it may be a scam. OMG! It worked and They got thru within an hour and my claim is going to finally get paid!! I upgraded to the $60 call. Best $60 spent!
Ask the community...
- DO post questions about your issues.
- DO answer questions and support each other.
- DO post tips & tricks to help folks.
- DO NOT post call problems here - there is a support tab at the top for that :)
Join the conversation
Join the conversation
Wait, no one's mentioned the tax trap with refinancing! If you took cash out and didn't use that money for rental property improvements, that portion of interest isn't deductible as a rental expense! Say you owed $150k, refinanced for $200k, and used that extra $50k for personal expenses - the interest on 75% of your loan is rental expense but 25% is personal. Easy to mess this up.
Is that really true? I thought mortgage interest on rental properties was always deductible regardless of what you did with the cash out. That's different from primary residences where you have the whole mortgage interest deduction limitations.
Thanks for pointing this out! I actually didn't take any cash out in my refinance - just lowered the interest rate and reset the term. The loan amount was almost identical to what I owed before, just with a slightly better rate. So luckily I don't need to worry about this particular issue, but it's definitely good to know for future reference!
Great question about refinancing costs! I went through this exact situation last year and it's definitely confusing at first. From my research and experience, you're on the right track. The $3,100 in loan origination fees and points should be amortized over the life of your new loan - so if it's a 30-year loan, you'd deduct about $103 per year ($3,100 ÷ 30 years). The remaining $4,100 in closing costs (attorney fees, title search, recording fees, etc.) can typically be deducted as ordinary rental expenses in 2024. Just make sure to review your closing statement line by line since some fees might have specific rules. One tip: if you refinanced mid-year, remember that you can only deduct the portion of the amortized costs that corresponds to the months the loan was active in 2024. So if you closed in July, you'd only deduct 6/12 of that annual $103 amount for 2024. The fact that your tax software is handling the origination fees and points correctly is a good sign - it sounds like you're set up properly!
This is really helpful! I'm new to rental property taxes and just refinanced my duplex last month. Quick question - when you say "review your closing statement line by line," are there any specific fees that commonly get miscategorized? I'm looking at mine now and there are so many different charges, I want to make sure I don't accidentally put something in the wrong bucket.
Join the conversation
I've been lurking on this thread for a while and finally decided to jump in because the experiences shared here are so valuable! As someone who's been doing tax prep for about 2.5 years, I was really torn between EA and CPA until reading all these detailed responses. What really convinced me is the combination of factors everyone's mentioned: the specialized focus on tax work (which is what I love most about my job), the faster timeline to completion, and especially those salary progressions. Seeing multiple people go from the $50-60K range to $80-90K+ within a couple years of getting their EA is exactly the kind of career advancement I'm looking for. I'm particularly intrigued by the networking and referral opportunities that @a72b2d1c1916 mentioned. Moving beyond just return preparation to handling complex representation cases sounds like it would make the work much more engaging and rewarding. Based on everything I've read here, I'm planning to start with the free IRS study materials and aim to complete Part 1 within the next 2 months. The consistent advice to start there given my individual tax background makes perfect sense. Thanks to everyone who shared their journeys - this thread has been more helpful than any career counseling I've received! It's amazing how much real-world insight you can get from people who've actually walked this path.
Welcome to the discussion! It's great to see another tax professional considering the EA path. Your timeline of completing Part 1 within 2 months sounds very achievable given your 2.5 years of experience - that background will definitely help with the individual tax concepts. I'm actually in a similar position as you, having been in tax prep for about 3 years and trying to decide on the next career step. This thread has been incredibly enlightening! The real-world salary progressions and timeline experiences shared here are so much more valuable than the generic advice you find elsewhere. One thing that particularly resonates with me is how everyone emphasizes that the EA opens up more interesting work beyond basic return preparation. The representation and problem-solving aspects sound much more engaging than what we typically do in standard tax prep roles. Good luck with your studies! It sounds like we'll both be starting this journey around the same time. The community of people who've shared their experiences here gives me confidence that this is definitely the right path for tax-focused careers.
I've been working in tax prep for about 18 months and this entire thread has been absolutely eye-opening! As someone relatively new to the field, I was feeling overwhelmed trying to figure out the best path for career advancement, but the detailed experiences everyone has shared here have really clarified things for me. What stands out most is how consistently everyone emphasizes that the EA is perfect for tax-focused careers. The salary progressions are impressive - seeing people go from the $50-60K range to $80-90K+ within just a few years of getting their EA shows there's real financial benefit to pursuing this credential. I'm particularly motivated by the timeline discussions. Knowing that it's possible to complete all three parts in 3-6 months while working full-time makes this feel achievable rather than overwhelming. The advice to start with Part 1 (Individual) makes perfect sense given my current experience level. The point about unlimited practice rights across all states is something I hadn't considered but could be huge for future opportunities. And the networking aspects that @a72b2d1c1916 mentioned - getting referrals through EA professional networks - sounds like it could really help build a practice over time. Based on everything I've read here, I'm convinced the EA is the right first step for my career goals. Planning to start with the free IRS study materials and aim to take Part 1 within the next 3 months. Thanks to everyone for sharing such detailed, real-world experiences - this has been incredibly valuable for someone just starting to map out their career path!
Join the conversation
This whole discussion has been incredibly enlightening! I'm relatively new to filing taxes as a married couple, and I was definitely overthinking how the brackets work. What really clicked for me was the "one big pot" analogy someone mentioned - that when you're married filing jointly, you literally combine all your income first and then apply the tax brackets to that total amount. I was getting caught up in trying to figure out which dollars came from which spouse, but that's completely irrelevant to the IRS. I also had the same misconception about marginal vs effective tax rates. I was terrified that crossing into the 22% bracket meant our entire income would be taxed at 22%! Understanding that it's only the income ABOVE the threshold that gets the higher rate makes me feel so much better about potential raises or bonuses. For anyone else who might be confused like I was - the key takeaway is that when you file jointly, the IRS sees you as one household with one combined income, not two separate individuals. Your tax bracket is determined by that total household income, regardless of how much each spouse individually contributes to it. Thanks to everyone who took the time to explain this so clearly!
I'm so glad this discussion helped you too! I was in the exact same boat when my spouse and I first started filing jointly. The "one big pot" analogy really is perfect - it completely changed how I thought about our taxes. What also helped me was realizing that this system actually works in our favor most of the time. Since the tax brackets for married filing jointly are wider than for single filers, we often end up paying less in taxes together than we would if we each filed as single people. It's like getting a "marriage bonus" in most cases! The marginal vs effective rate confusion is so common - I think a lot of people have that same fear about crossing into higher brackets. Once you understand that only the extra dollars get taxed at the higher rate, it makes earning more money much less scary. You'll never take home less money just because you crossed into a higher tax bracket. Thanks for sharing your experience - it's always nice to know others have had the same learning curve with taxes!
This has been such an educational thread! I'm a tax preparer and I see this exact confusion come up with almost every married couple I work with. You're definitely not alone in wondering about this. Just to reinforce what others have said - when you file married filing jointly, your individual incomes completely disappear from the tax calculation. The IRS only cares about your combined household income of $100k, not that it's $52k + $48k. One thing I always tell my clients is to think of it this way: on tax day, you and your spouse are treated as one taxpayer with one income. Whether that $100k came from one person working or two people working doesn't matter at all to the tax calculation. Also, don't feel bad about not understanding this initially! The tax code is complex and these concepts aren't intuitive. I'd estimate that about 80% of married couples I work with have this same misconception when they first start filing jointly. Once you understand it though, it makes planning much easier since you only have to think about one set of brackets instead of trying to track two separate incomes.
Thanks for the professional perspective! It's really reassuring to hear that this confusion is so common - I was feeling pretty embarrassed about not understanding something that seemed so basic. Your point about thinking of it as "one taxpayer with one income" is really helpful. I keep trying to mentally separate our incomes, but you're right that on tax day, the IRS literally just sees one number: our combined $100k household income. Since you work with this every day, I'm curious - do you find that most couples benefit from filing jointly compared to married filing separately? I know there are some situations where separate might be better, but it sounds like joint is usually the way to go for most people in our income range?
For most couples in your income range, married filing jointly is definitely the better choice. The tax brackets are roughly double those of single filers, so you typically get a "marriage bonus" rather than a penalty. Married filing separately only makes sense in specific situations - like if one spouse has significant medical expenses, student loan debt they're on income-driven repayment for, or if there are trust issues about tax liability. For a straightforward situation like yours with $100k combined income, filing jointly will almost certainly result in lower taxes. The other big advantage of filing jointly is that you get access to more tax credits and deductions. Many credits phase out or aren't available at all when filing separately. Plus, you only have to prepare one tax return instead of two! I always run the numbers both ways for my clients just to be sure, but in probably 95% of cases, joint filing wins. The tax code is generally designed to be marriage-friendly for middle-income couples like yourselves.
Join the conversation
Has anyone considered that this might qualify as a qualified residence? IRS Publication 936 says that a qualified home includes "a house, condominium, cooperative, mobile home, house trailer, or boat that has sleeping, cooking, and toilet facilities." It doesn't specifically exclude foreign properties! You just need to live in it for at least 14 days per year OR 10% of the days it's rented out (which would be 0 in your case so the 14 days would apply).
This is incorrect information. While Pub 936 doesn't explicitly exclude foreign properties, IRS regulations clarify that for mortgage interest to be deductible, the loan must be a "qualified residence loan" which has additional requirements. Foreign properties can qualify, but there are strict usage requirements as the previous commenters mentioned. The bigger issue is that OP is only visiting "once in a while" which likely doesn't meet the 14-day requirement. Also, having parents living there complicates things because personal use generally means your own personal use, not family members using it.
Based on what you've described, unfortunately the mortgage interest won't be deductible. The key issue is that for foreign property to qualify for mortgage interest deduction, it needs to meet the same requirements as domestic property - either be your main home or a qualified second home that you use personally for at least 14 days per year. Since you're renting in the US (so this isn't your main home) and only visiting the foreign property "a few times a year," it's unlikely you're hitting that 14-day threshold. The fact that your parents might live there part-time doesn't count toward your personal use days. However, don't overlook other potential tax implications! Make sure you're properly reporting the foreign property on Form 8938 if it meets the reporting thresholds. Also, if you ever decide to rent it out in the future, that would open up different deduction possibilities (though it would also create rental income reporting requirements). Consider consulting with a tax professional who specializes in international tax matters, especially given the complexity of foreign property ownership and varying interpretations of the rules.
This is really helpful advice! I'm in a similar situation with a property in Eastern Europe that I visit maybe 10-12 days per year. It sounds like I'm right on the borderline of that 14-day requirement. Quick question though - do travel days count toward the personal use calculation? Like if I fly in on Monday and fly out on Sunday, is that 7 days or 5 days of personal use? I've seen conflicting information about whether arrival and departure days both count as full days of personal use. Also, regarding Form 8938 reporting - is there a specific value threshold that triggers this requirement, or does any foreign real estate need to be reported regardless of value?
Isaiah Sanders
This is such a comprehensive thread! As someone who just started their EIN application process for a small woodworking business, I'm relieved to learn that the initial industry classification isn't set in stone for tax purposes. I was stressing about whether to pick "manufacturing" vs "retail" since I both make custom furniture and sell pre-made items at farmers markets. One thing I'm curious about - for those of you who switched your Schedule C business classification to better reflect your actual activities, did you notice any difference in how the IRS processed your returns or triggered any additional scrutiny? I want to make sure I classify correctly from the start but don't want to overthink it if it really doesn't matter much practically speaking.
0 coins
AstroAdventurer
•I haven't noticed any additional scrutiny from switching my Schedule C classification to better match my actual business activities. The IRS seems more concerned with consistent reporting and proper documentation of expenses than the specific industry code you choose. What matters most is that your deductions align with legitimate business expenses regardless of the classification. For woodworking like yours, whether you file as manufacturing or retail, you'll still be able to deduct wood, hardware, tools, and other materials. The key is keeping good records and being able to justify your expenses if ever questioned. I'd suggest going with whichever classification most accurately describes your primary business activity - if you're making more custom furniture than selling pre-made items, manufacturing probably fits better. But honestly, as long as your expenses are legitimate and well-documented, the classification itself shouldn't cause issues.
0 coins
Giovanni Colombo
As someone who's been running a small laser engraving business for about two years now, I can confirm what others have said about the EIN industry classification being mainly for statistical purposes. I initially selected "retail" when I first got my EIN because I was primarily selling finished products, but when I started doing more custom work and buying raw materials in bulk, my accountant helped me switch to "manufacturing" on my Schedule C. The real game-changer for me was getting organized with expense tracking early on. I wish I'd known about proper inventory management from the start - it would have saved me hours during tax season trying to reconstruct my material costs. For anyone just starting out, I'd recommend setting up a simple system to track your raw material purchases and usage from day one, regardless of which industry classification you choose initially. Also, don't forget about indirect expenses like electricity for running your equipment, storage costs for materials, and even vehicle expenses if you're delivering products to customers or picking up supplies. These can add up to significant deductions that are easy to overlook!
0 coins
Luca Ferrari
•This is really helpful advice! I'm just starting my 3D printing side business and already feeling overwhelmed by all the record-keeping requirements. You mentioned setting up a simple system for tracking material purchases and usage - do you have any specific recommendations for someone who's not super tech-savvy? Also, I hadn't thought about electricity costs for running the printers! How do you calculate that? Do you use a separate meter or just estimate based on your printer's power consumption? These indirect expenses could definitely add up over time, especially with longer print jobs running overnight.
0 coins