Has anyone used the FreeTaxUSA software instead of TurboTax for household employee taxes? I'm wondering if it handles Schedule H any better. TurboTax is so expensive, especially when you need the higher-tier versions just for Schedule H.

Just went through this exact situation myself! I was also using a payroll service (HomePay) and got completely confused about where to enter everything in TurboTax. Here's what I learned after calling both the payroll service and spending way too much time on IRS.gov: 1. Yes, enter those federal tax payments as estimated taxes - that's correct 2. When TurboTax asks about quarterly payment dates, don't stress about matching the "official" quarterly dates. Just group your payments by quarter and use the date of your last payment in each quarter 3. Make sure you're also completing the Schedule H section separately - this shows what you owe vs. what you've already paid 4. Double-check that your nanny received their W-2 and that the wage amounts match between your Schedule H and their W-2 The thing that helped me most was realizing these are two separate things: Schedule H calculates your household employment tax liability, while the estimated payments section gives you credit for taxes already paid. Once I understood that distinction, everything clicked into place. Also, if you paid over $2,700 in wages to your nanny in 2024, you definitely need to file Schedule H - it's not optional even if you used a payroll service.

KeyBank customer with successful deposit this morning from a 3/22 DDD. The deposit hit my account at exactly 04:37 EST. According to the ACH transaction details, the payment originated through the Treasury's Automated Standard Application for Payments (ASAP) system and was processed through the Federal Reserve's FedACH service before arriving at KeyBank's internal settlement system. Can you verify if your Return Transcript shows TC 846 with the correct account number? Sometimes there can be a mismatch between what's displayed on WMR versus what's on your actual transcript.

KeyBank customer here with a 3/22 DDD - still nothing showing up in my account as of this morning. I've been banking with them for about 3 years and they're consistently slow with tax refunds compared to other banks my friends use. What's frustrating is that I can see pending transactions for everything else (like my paycheck that comes Friday but shows pending Wednesday), but tax refunds seem to be handled differently. I called their customer service yesterday and they basically said "wait until the official date" without being able to tell me if they've even received anything from Treasury yet. At this point I'm just setting a phone reminder to check tomorrow morning and trying not to stress about it. Thanks for posting this - at least I know I'm not the only one dealing with KeyBank's slow processing!

Just to add one more perspective - if you file a return claiming the kids (which it sounds like you're entitled to do), the IRS will initially process both returns. Then they'll send notices to both you and your ex. Often at this point, the person who incorrectly claimed them will just concede rather than going through an audit. If neither party backs down, the IRS will audit both returns and request documentation proving who provided support, where the kids lived, etc. Since you were living together, make sure you have documentation showing you paid the bills.

Something missing from this discussion - the tiebreaker rules when both parents live together! When parents who aren't married live together with their children, the IRS has specific tiebreaker rules: 1. First, the parent who provides more than 50% support 2. If that's unclear, then the parent with the higher AGI gets to claim Since you mentioned having the higher AGI and paying "just about everything," you clearly qualify under both criteria. Your ex definitely incorrectly claimed them.

Just wanted to say I had this EXACT same problem, and in my case, it randomly fixed itself after about 6 weeks. I never called or did anything special - the balance just appeared one day. The IRS is operating on stone age technology so patience is unfortunately required sometimes.

I'm dealing with the exact same frustrating situation! Filed in early March, accepted immediately, but still getting that "Your Information Is Not Available" message when I try to check my balance. One thing that helped me was checking my account transcript instead of just the balance page - go to "Get Transcript" and look at your Account Transcript for 2023. Mine actually showed the return was processed even though the balance page was still showing the error message. Also, if you know you owe $3,800, you can absolutely make a payment now through IRS Direct Pay without waiting for the balance to show up. Just select "Form 1040" and "2023" as the tax year. The system will accept payments even when your balance isn't displaying properly. I did this last week and got a confirmation number, so at least I know my payment went through. The waiting is nerve-wracking but from what I've read, this seems to be happening to a lot of people this year. Hopefully both our accounts update soon!

PROTIP from someone who works at a brokerage: The easiest solution is to NOT have a joint account at all! Open separate individual accounts and coordinate your investments. This completely eliminates the nominee tax headache. Each person gets their own 1099 from the brokerage, reports their own investment income, and you just informally track contributions toward your dad's care.

I went through this exact same situation with my sister last year for our mom's care fund. The nominee reporting is a real requirement, but there's actually a middle-ground approach that worked well for us. We kept the joint account (since emergency access was important) but created a simple written agreement documenting our contribution percentages and how we'd handle the tax reporting. Each tax season, I calculate her portion of the dividends and capital gains based on our agreement, then report it as a nominee distribution on Schedule B. The key is keeping good records of your contributions throughout the year - I use a simple spreadsheet tracking deposits and the running percentage split. This makes the year-end tax calculations much easier. Your brother should also keep records showing he received his portion of the income from you. One thing that helped us was setting up automatic monthly transfers from our individual accounts to the joint account on the same day each month. This creates a clear paper trail of the 65/35 split you mentioned, which makes the tax reporting more straightforward if anyone ever questions it.