I filed through TurboTax on January 29th this year and had a DD date of February 8th. My refund appeared in my account on February 8th at exactly 3:17am. I did NOT pay my TurboTax fees from my refund - I paid upfront with a credit card. This is important because when you pay fees from your refund, your money goes through Santa Barbara TPG first, adding 1-3 business days. I've found that paying the fees upfront always results in getting the money exactly on the IRS date.

As someone who's been through this exact situation, I can confirm what others are saying. The key factor is HOW you paid your TurboTax fees. I switched from a local tax service to TurboTax two years ago and was initially confused by the process too. If you paid the TurboTax fees upfront (credit card, bank transfer, etc.), your refund goes directly from the IRS to your bank account on or around 2/25 - just like it would with your local tax service. However, if you chose to pay TurboTax fees from your refund, the IRS sends your money to Santa Barbara Tax Products Group first. They take out the fees, then forward the remainder to your account. This typically adds 1-3 business days to your timeline. The biggest difference from your local tax service is that they probably paid their fees upfront and gave you the full refund immediately. With TurboTax's "pay from refund" option, you're essentially getting a mini-loan that gets settled when your actual refund arrives. Check your TurboTax account - it should show exactly which payment method you selected and give you a clearer timeline for when to expect your money.

Has anyone used the Household Employment Tax section in TurboTax? I find it super confusing because it asks for the total wages I paid my nanny, but I'm not sure if that should include the taxes I paid to Poppins or just her direct wages?

One thing that helped me was getting a copy of the actual tax deposits Poppins made on my behalf throughout the year. They should be able to provide you with a summary showing the exact dates and amounts of each federal tax deposit they made. This makes it much easier when entering the estimated tax payments in TurboTax because you can enter each payment with the correct date it was actually submitted to the IRS. Also, double-check that Poppins handled both the employer and employee portions of Social Security and Medicare taxes correctly. Sometimes there can be confusion about which taxes were withheld from your nanny's pay versus which ones you paid as the employer. The Schedule H should reconcile everything, but having that detailed breakdown from your payroll service makes the whole process much smoother.

Has anyone dealt with the situation where BOTH you and your parents file conflicting returns? I accidentally claimed myself as independent last year when my parents had already claimed me as dependent. It was a NIGHTMARE. We got letters from the IRS and had to file amended returns.

This is such a common situation! I went through something similar when I was 24 and had just started working full-time while living at home. The support test calculation can be tricky, but it's really important to get it right. One thing that helped me was creating a spreadsheet to track all the support items. I included fair market rent for my room (looked up similar rentals in the area), my portion of utilities, groceries, health insurance premiums, car expenses, phone bill, clothing, entertainment, etc. Then I calculated what percentage I paid vs. what my parents covered. Don't forget to include things like the value of meals your parents provide, any medical expenses they pay for you, and educational expenses if applicable. These can add up to more than you might think. The key insight for me was realizing that even though I was earning decent money, the fair market value of housing in my area was really high, so my parents were actually providing more than half my total support even with my income. Make sure you're using realistic market values for housing costs - don't lowball it just because your parents own their home outright.

Make sure you and your parents aren't BOTH claiming you!! My cousin and her mom both claimed her and they both got audited. The IRS gets really mad about this and it's a huge hassle to fix. Talk to your parents before filing!!!! Don't just decide on your own!

Hey Omar! I was in almost the exact same situation when I was 22 - living at home, working part-time, parents covering most expenses. Here's what I learned: The IRS has specific tests to determine if you're a dependent, and it sounds like you probably qualify as your parents' dependent since they're providing more than half your support (housing, food, health insurance are usually the biggest expenses). But here's the key thing everyone's touching on - you need to actually RUN THE NUMBERS both ways. Don't just guess! Even if you legally qualify as their dependent, sometimes the family comes out ahead with you filing independently, especially if your parents are in higher tax brackets where benefits phase out. A few things to consider: - If they claim you, they get education credits (American Opportunity Credit can be worth up to $2,500) - Your standard deduction is the same either way ($13,850 for 2023) - But if you file independently, YOU get any education credits instead My advice: Use tax software to model both scenarios before anyone files. Show your parents the numbers - they might actually prefer you file independently if the total family benefit is higher. And definitely coordinate so you don't both claim you (that's an audit nightmare)! The "right" answer depends on your specific numbers, not just the general rules.

One thing nobody mentioned yet - check if your spouse has ever been a victim of identity theft. My wife and I had a similar rejection and after weeks of back and forth, we discovered someone had filed a fraudulent return using her SSN the previous year, which put a flag on her SSN in the IRS system. We had to go through the identity theft resolution process with the IRS and file an affidavit. It was a pain but eventually got resolved. Might be worth checking your credit reports too just to be safe.

I went through something very similar last year! The key thing to understand is that the IRS rejection doesn't always tell you the exact problem - it just says there's a mismatch. In my case, it wasn't the SSN itself but how my husband's name was formatted. Here's what I'd recommend doing in order: 1. **Check the Social Security card character by character** - Look for spaces, hyphens, periods, or middle initials that might be on the card but not in your return (or vice versa). Even a missing period after a middle initial can cause rejection. 2. **Call SSA first, not the IRS** - The Social Security Administration at 1-800-772-1213 can tell you exactly how your spouse's name appears in their system. This is what the IRS cross-references against. 3. **Don't assume last year's format is still correct** - Sometimes the IRS tightens their matching algorithms or updates their systems, causing previously accepted formats to suddenly get rejected. If the SSA confirms everything matches and you're still getting rejected, then it might be worth exploring other causes like identity theft flags or prior year discrepancies. But start with the name formatting - that's the culprit in about 80% of these cases. The good news is once you identify the exact issue, the fix is usually simple and your amended return should process quickly!