Another fascinating case that might work well for your presentation is Estate of Michael Jackson v. Commissioner (2021). The IRS valued Jackson's name and likeness at $434 million for estate tax purposes, but the estate argued it was worth only $2,105. The Tax Court ended up valuing it at $4.15 million - a huge win for the estate. What makes this case so compelling is how the court analyzed the valuation of celebrity image rights and intellectual property after death. They considered factors like negative publicity from the abuse allegations and how that affected the commercial value of his brand. It's a perfect intersection of pop culture and complex tax law that definitely keeps students awake! The case also has great precedential value for estate planning with intellectual property assets, which is increasingly relevant as more wealth is tied up in intangible assets and personal brands.

For similar celebrity valuation cases, you might want to look at Estate of Prince v. Commissioner, which is still ongoing but involves similar issues around valuing music catalogs and image rights posthumously. There's also been some interesting litigation around Elvis Presley's estate from earlier years that helped establish some of the foundational principles. What's really fascinating about the Jackson case is how the court had to essentially create a framework for separating the "person" from the "brand" when that person is deceased and can't generate new content or appearances. They looked at comparable licensing deals, analyzed the impact of negative publicity, and even considered how the estate's own management decisions affected value. The case is also great for demonstrating how expert witness testimony works in complex valuation disputes - both sides brought in entertainment industry experts, financial analysts, and intellectual property specialists who came to wildly different conclusions using different methodologies.

Have you checked the WMAR tool instead of just WMR? In my experience from the past three filing seasons, the Where's My Amended Return tool sometimes shows different information even if you didn't file an amended return. Last year my return was delayed with a similar code pattern, and WMAR showed a message about verification that the regular WMR tool didn't display. The 0505 code typically resolves within 21 days of the "as of" date, but I've seen it take up to 30 days in some cases.

Just got my refund yesterday after having the exact same situation! 0505 code with 5/13 date, and I was watching everyone else celebrate their deposits while I refreshed my transcript hourly like it was a social media feed 😂 My 846 code suddenly appeared on Tuesday night's update, and the money hit my account this morning. Hang in there - the system seems completely random sometimes, but it does eventually work.

Has anyone actually been audited for crypto? I'm curious what they actually look for. I'm doing summary reporting too but I'm always paranoid I'm doing something wrong.

Thanks everyone for the detailed responses! This has been super helpful. I was getting really stressed about whether I was doing this correctly, but it sounds like the summary approach is the way to go. @Adrian Connor - Your perspective as a former tax preparer is especially reassuring. The comparison to stock transactions makes a lot of sense. I think I'll stick with the summary reporting in FreeTaxUSA and just make sure I keep all those transaction records from my exchange well organized. Seven pages of transactions seemed overwhelming to enter manually, and now I know I don't need to put myself through that. For anyone else in a similar situation - it sounds like the key takeaways are: 1) Summary reporting is acceptable, 2) Keep detailed records for at least 3 years, and 3) The "SEE STMT" notation doesn't require you to actually attach anything to your return. Really appreciate this community helping ease my tax anxiety!

Does the loss relate to rental property by any chance? If so, it might go on Schedule E instead. I've seen K-1 code W losses for rental property damage go there rather than Schedule A.

Based on the additional details you provided about this being business property damaged in a natural disaster, you're dealing with a casualty loss that gets special treatment. Since this is from a partnership's business property (not personal property), you'll want to report this on Form 4684, Section B for business casualties. The key thing here is that business casualty losses from federally declared disasters aren't subject to the same limitations as personal casualty losses. After you complete Form 4684, the loss will flow through to your return in a way that allows you to claim it even while taking the standard deduction - it's not competing with your itemization decision. Make sure to check if the disaster area was federally declared, as this affects the timing of when you can claim the loss (sometimes you can elect to claim it on the prior year's return). The partnership should have provided information about the specific disaster event in their K-1 supplemental materials.

16 Does anyone know if there's a way to see exactly how the calculation is done? My last employer seemed to take out way more than my current one even though I'm making more money now. Makes no sense and HR just says "it's what the system calculates" which isn't helpful.

One thing that might help is understanding that your employer uses the annualized method - they basically take your current pay period and multiply it out as if you'll earn that same amount all year long. So if you start in October making $4,000/month, they'll calculate withholding as if you make $48,000 annually, even though you'll only actually earn $12,000 that year. This is why people who start jobs late in the year often have too much withheld - the system doesn't know you're only working part of the year. You can adjust this by indicating on your W-4 that you want less withheld, or just accept that you'll get a bigger refund when you file your taxes. The IRS withholding calculator can help you figure out the right adjustment if you want to get closer to breaking even.