Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences! I just went through this exact same situation with my elderly father and wanted to add a few tips that might help others: 1. When you resubmit the corrected Form 2848, include a cover letter explaining that you're resubmitting based on their feedback. This helps the IRS processor understand why you're sending it again. 2. Make copies of EVERYTHING before you mail it. The IRS processing times are unpredictable right now, and having copies helps if you need to follow up. 3. Consider sending it certified mail so you have proof of delivery. It adds a few dollars but gives you peace of mind. The "licensing jurisdiction" column issue trips up so many families - I wish the IRS would just relabel that column to "relationship/jurisdiction" to make it clearer. Once I put "son" in that field and left the license number blank, it was approved within 3 weeks. Good luck getting this resolved for your cousin's mom! Having the POA in place makes handling her tax matters so much easier.

I went through this exact same frustrating experience with my mom's Form 2848 last year! The IRS rejection letter was so confusing - like you, I couldn't understand why they wanted a "licensing jurisdiction" for a family member. After multiple phone calls and rejected submissions, I finally learned that when you select "f" for family member in the Declaration of Representative section, you need to write the specific relationship (like "son," "daughter," etc.) in that licensing jurisdiction column. It's completely counterintuitive since that column is clearly designed for professional credentials, but that's what they want. So yes, just write "son" in the licensing jurisdiction column and leave the license/certification number column blank. The form will be processed much faster once you make that correction. One additional tip: if your cousin doesn't already have durable power of attorney documents from a lawyer, you might want to consider getting those too while his mom is still able to understand and sign legal documents. The Form 2848 only covers IRS matters, but having broader POA documents will help with other financial institutions and situations that might come up as her condition progresses. Hope this helps and you get it resolved quickly!

Don't forget you'll need to track personal vs business mileage separately! The IRS is really picky about this. If you use the same vehicle for both, make sure your Excel sheet clearly distinguishes which trips are for business. Learned this the hard way when I got audited last year over my mileage deductions for my courier service.

This is really helpful info! I'm in a similar situation with consistent routes. One thing I'd add - if you're using Excel, consider adding a column for your vehicle's odometer reading at the start and end of each business day. Even though it's not strictly required by the IRS, it creates a paper trail that shows your total business vs personal mileage split, which can be super valuable if you ever get audited. I learned this from my accountant after she saw how many business miles I was claiming compared to my total annual mileage. Having those odometer readings makes it crystal clear that your business use percentage is legitimate.

Make sure you're keeping track of your Form 8606 information year to year! This bit me hard last year. If you've been doing backdoor Roth conversions for multiple years, you need to have the previous year's Form 8606 values for line 14 (your basis). TaxAct won't automatically pull this information from your previous returns, even if you used TaxAct last year. Messed this up once and almost paid tax twice on $12,000!

I went through this exact same nightmare with TaxAct last year! The software's handling of backdoor Roth conversions is definitely not intuitive. Here's what finally worked for me: 1. Don't enter your 1099-R first - that just confuses the software 2. Go to Federal > Income > IRA, Pensions and Annuities and find the Form 8606 section 3. Answer "yes" to making nondeductible contributions to a traditional IRA 4. Enter your basis (the amount you contributed with after-tax dollars) 5. THEN enter your 1099-R information The key insight is that TaxAct needs to know about your nondeductible contributions before it processes the conversion. Once you do this correctly, only the small amount of earnings (like that $3 of interest you mentioned) should be taxable. Also, keep really good records of your Form 8606 from year to year - you'll need the basis information for future conversions. I learned this the hard way when I almost paid tax twice on a $6,000 conversion because I didn't carry forward my basis correctly. Hope this helps save you from the hours of frustration I went through!

My tax guy told me not to stress about tiny amounts like this. He said the IRS is focused on people hiding thousands, not a few hundred bucks. Just something to consider.

I had a similar situation with Cashapp income last year! The key thing to understand is that you're legally required to report ALL income, even if it's under $600 and you didn't get a 1099-K form. The $600 threshold just determines whether Cashapp has to send you tax documents - it doesn't change your obligation to report what you earned. For your $480 in side gig income, you'll need to report it as self-employment income on Schedule C. The good news is that you can also deduct legitimate business expenses (gas, supplies, etc.) which might reduce your tax liability. Even if you don't have perfect receipts, bank statements can serve as documentation. While the IRS may not catch small unreported amounts, it's not worth the risk of penalties and interest if you're ever audited. Better to be compliant from the start, especially since you're establishing a pattern of side income that might grow in the future.

Quick question for anyone who knows - would establishing a Hungarian company change the tax situation at all? Like if I set up a Hungarian LLC equivalent and have my income go there instead of directly to me?

I went through a similar situation when the US-South Africa tax treaty was modified a few years back. One thing that really helped me was keeping detailed records of all taxes paid to both countries - it makes claiming Foreign Tax Credits much smoother. Also, don't overlook the potential impact on your state taxes if you're still considered a US resident for state purposes. Some states don't recognize foreign tax credits the same way the federal government does, which could create an additional layer of taxation. For what it's worth, I found that even without full treaty protection, the combination of FEIE and Foreign Tax Credits still prevented true double taxation on my earned income. The bigger headaches came from investment income and retirement account distributions, as others have mentioned. One practical tip: consider timing your move to align with tax year planning. If you can establish Hungarian tax residency early in a calendar year, it gives you more flexibility in how you structure your income for both countries' tax purposes.