I went through this exact same thing last year with my tutoring side gig. Made about $3200. Thought I was going to owe a fortune but ended up with a refund because of my kids. The self-employment tax bit was annoying (thanks, government, for taking BOTH sides of FICA when I work for myself... how generous 🙄) but the child credits more than made up for it. Just make sure you don't forget to claim your business expenses - every dollar counts!

I've analyzed hundreds of tax returns with side income like yours. The exact amounts matter here: With $2,500 in babysitting income, your self-employment tax will be approximately $353.16 (calculated as 15.3% of 92.35% of $2,500). For the 2023 tax year, the Child Tax Credit is $2,000 per qualifying child under 17, so potentially $4,000 total. Your income tax liability on $2,500 would be determined by your overall tax bracket, but the CTC would likely eliminate it entirely. Keep in mind that if your total income is between $11,750 and $46,560 (for two children), you may qualify for EITC worth up to $6,604 depending on your filing status and other income.

I had this exact scenario last tax season and waited until April 14th to figure it out - don't make my mistake! My stepkids were on their mom's insurance but claimed on our taxes, while my husband and I had our own Marketplace plan. The IRS rejected my first attempt because I didn't complete Part IV correctly. I had to allocate 0% for the kids' policy (since they were on a policy with someone outside our tax family) and 100% for our policy. If your dependents are on a completely separate policy that only includes your tax family members, you'll allocate 100% to yourself. Get this done ASAP because if you make a mistake, the IRS will hold your entire refund until corrected!

I'm trying to understand this too and have a few questions: • Do you need separate allocation worksheets for each month if coverage changed during the year? • What happens if one dependent aged out of coverage mid-year? • Is there a difference in how you handle this if your dependents are on a state CHIP program versus Marketplace coverage? • Do you still need to allocate if dependents were on Medicaid instead of a Marketplace plan?

Got mine this morning! Was starting to think the IRS forgot about me or maybe my kids suddenly became tax-ineligible overnight 😂 Seriously though, I was freaking out because I'm counting on it for daycare payment. Checked my account obsessively for days and then BOOM - there it was this morning, a week later than usual. Hang in there, it's probably coming soon!

You need to act ASAP if you haven't received it by now! Follow these steps immediately: 1. Log into your IRS account 2. Download your account transcript for 2024 3. Look for code 290 (indicates processing) 4. Check for code 846 (indicates payment sent) 5. If you see code 570, your payment is on hold If you don't see code 846 for April, call the dedicated CTC hotline at 800-908-4184 before 4PM Eastern TODAY. They're closing cases for this payment cycle at end of day!

Be careful with planning around this too precisely. On February 15th, I received that exact same email from TurboTax, but my bank put an additional 5-day hold on the deposit because it was over $10,000. They claimed it was a "security measure" even though I've been with them for years. If you're counting on this money for your PCS, I'd suggest calling your bank to confirm they don't have any hold policies that might affect your timeline.

Try calling your bank. Ask specifically about pending ACH deposits. Many can see them in their system before they post. Worth a shot. Might save you stress. Some banks have early posting policies. Credit unions often process faster. Online banks vary widely. Navy Federal typically posts overnight. USAA sometimes same day.

According to IRS Publication 2043 (IRS Refund Information Guidelines For The Tax Preparation Community), the IRS states that "the IRS issues more than 9 out of 10 refunds in less than 21 days." However, refunds containing Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC) cannot be issued before mid-February per IRC §32(c)(1) as modified by the PATH Act of 2015. For your specific situation with a DDD of 4/17, Treasury Regulation §301.6402-2 dictates that the refund must be processed within 24-48 hours of that date, but financial institutions may hold funds according to Federal Reserve Regulation CC.

Pro tip from someone who's been through this anxiety many times: stop checking your bank account! 😂 The refund WILL come, and checking every 15 minutes won't make it arrive any faster. The IRS actually has a pretty good track record with DDDs being accurate within 24-48 hours. I've found that refunds typically hit my account around 3am on the DDD day, but I've seen them come a day later too. Unless you need that money for an emergency today, just pretend you're getting it on Friday and be pleasantly surprised if it comes tomorrow.

I was in your exact situation last year. Filed Feb 8th through Chime and didn't see my refund until March 29th! The whole time WMR just showed "still processing" with no explanation. I was counting on that money for car repairs and ended up having to put them on a credit card. The wait is definitely stressful when you're budgeting around that refund. Thanks to everyone here for the helpful advice.

You might want to try accessing your tax transcript through the IRS website rather than relying on WMR. The Account Transcript often shows pending refund information with cycle codes that can give you a more accurate timeline. If you see code 570 (refund hold) followed by 971 (notice issued), that's typically indicating they need additional information. Many Chime users report longer processing times due to the routing numbers triggering additional verification in the IRS fraud detection filters.

Has anyone considered that this might be related to the IRS's Questionable Refund Program (QRP) or Return Integrity Verification Operations (RIVO)? These programs flag returns that match certain criteria year after year. Did you perhaps claim similar credits each year? Have you moved frequently? Do you work in an industry with high reported fraud rates? The 120-day timeframe is interesting because it suggests manual review rather than automated verification, which typically resolves in 60 days. What exactly did the agent say the letter was regarding?

I had the EXACT same issue for 3 years straight after changing jobs. Turns out my previous employer had been reporting my income under a slightly different name format than what was on my Social Security card (they had my middle initial included). I finally fixed it by bringing my SS card to HR and having them update their records. Haven't had a single verification letter since 2022! The IRS systems are extremely sensitive to these tiny discrepancies, especially with the increased fraud detection algorithms they've implemented in the last few years.

Have you been checking both your account transcript and return transcript? Sometimes one updates before the other, and I think it might depend on what stage of processing your amended return is in.

Think of IRS transcript updates like mail delivery - you get the big deliveries on weekdays, but maybe just a small package or two on Saturdays, and Sundays are usually quiet. I was watching my transcript like a hawk back in February. Nothing happened for 6 weeks, then suddenly on a Tuesday morning, everything updated at once and my refund was scheduled. The waiting game is painful, but it's like watching water boil - checking constantly doesn't make it happen faster!

I finally got my refund after filing on January 31st! Here's what worked for me: 1. First, I checked my transcript instead of WMR (showed processing activity WMR didn't) 2. Next, I verified there were no hold codes (like 570/971) 3. Then I called the IRS using the trick of selecting the option for "making a payment" (gets you to a human faster) 4. The agent confirmed my return was just in normal processing with no issues 5. My refund appeared in my account exactly 7 days after that call Such a relief after waiting for so long! The agent mentioned they're processing January returns in batches, and some just take longer than others with no rhyme or reason.

Last year I filed on January 30th and had zero movement until March 15th. I called multiple times and couldn't get through, even tried different times of day. Then I noticed something weird - my transcript showed a TC 570 code (temporary hold) but no explanation. Turns out my employer had submitted a corrected W-2 that I didn't know about, which caused the system to flag my return. The IRS eventually sorted it out themselves and released my refund on March 28th. Sometimes these things resolve themselves without any action on your part, but the waiting is brutal!

I was in your exact situation. So stressful. Couldn't understand my transcript. Used taxr.ai to analyze it. It explained everything. Showed me what each code meant. Predicted my refund date accurately. The site decodes all those confusing numbers. Really helped my anxiety. Worth checking out: https://taxr.ai

Has anyone else noticed that the 2024 filing season seems to have more of these offset issues than previous years? I remember back in 2022 when my transcripts updated almost instantly after an offset was applied. I wonder if the IRS is processing things differently now?