Just to clarify something important: SBTPG (Santa Barbara Tax Products Group) only gets involved if you chose to have your preparation fees deducted from your refund. This service is variously called "Refund Transfer," "Refund Processing," or sometimes "E-Collect" depending on which tax software you used. If you paid all your tax preparation fees upfront with a credit card or bank account for both state AND federal, then your refund would come directly from the IRS to your bank account. You can verify this by looking at your tax preparation receipt or agreement - it will specifically mention if you opted for a refund transfer service.

I'm dealing with a similar situation right now! I'm also a student who moved states for school and made the same choice - paid my state prep fees directly but let them take the federal fees from my refund. Based on what I'm seeing here and my own research, it sounds like your federal refund will definitely still go through SBTPG first since you chose the refund transfer option for federal. The good news is that most people seem to be getting their money within 2-5 days after SBTPG receives it from the IRS. I filed around the same time as you and I'm in the same waiting boat! Have you tried checking the SBTPG website to see if they've received your refund yet? I'm planning to check that tomorrow if I don't see any movement on my bank account.

Make sure you're tracking all your qualified education expenses carefully for next year too. Things like required books, supplies, and equipment count toward your education credits even if you don't pay them directly to the school. I learned this the hard way after missing out on claiming about $1,200 in textbooks and required software for my program. I use TurboTax and they have a feature where you can upload receipts throughout the year so you don't have to scramble to find everything at tax time. I imagine other tax software has similar features.

I'm so sorry to hear about your son's hospital stay - that must have been incredibly stressful on top of everything else you're dealing with. As others have mentioned, you can definitely still claim education credits by filing an amended return with Form 1040-X. One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is that you should also look into whether any of those medical expenses are deductible. Medical expenses that exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income can be deducted, and with a hospital stay that could potentially add up to significant savings. This would include things like travel to/from the hospital, parking fees, meals during extended stays, and of course all the medical bills themselves. Since you're dealing with both education expenses AND substantial medical bills in the same year, it's worth making sure you're capturing everything you're entitled to. The combination of the Lifetime Learning Credit plus potential medical deductions could really help offset those hospital costs. Hang in there - being a parent and a doctoral student is tough enough without added medical stress!

I just want to make sure I understand correctly - if I'm not itemizing deductions (just taking standard deduction), then it doesn't matter whose name is on the 1098, right? Because I won't be claiming the mortgage interest anyway?

This is a really common situation that trips up a lot of people! The key thing to remember is that the IRS cares about who actually paid the mortgage interest, not whose name appears on the 1098 form. Since you're making 100% of the payments, you can absolutely claim 100% of the mortgage interest deduction on your tax return. When you file, you'll want to include a brief explanation with your return stating something like: "Mortgage interest paid by taxpayer although Form 1098 issued to other borrowers due to lender reporting limitations." Your brother and sister should NOT claim any of this mortgage interest on their returns since they didn't pay it. The fact that their names are on the 1098 doesn't give them the right to the deduction - it's all about who actually made the payments. Make sure to keep good records of all your mortgage payments (bank statements, canceled checks, etc.) in case the IRS has any questions later. This documentation will clearly show that you were the one making the payments throughout the year. If you're using tax software, look for an option that lets you indicate you paid mortgage interest reported under someone else's name/SSN. Most major tax programs have provisions for this exact situation.

This is exactly why I keep detailed gambling logs even for casual play. I learned the hard way a few years ago when I got hit with a similar situation - had about $8k in reported winnings but was actually down for the year. The key thing that saved me was having contemporaneous records. I started keeping a simple spreadsheet tracking every session: date, site/casino, amount deposited, amount withdrawn, and net result. Takes maybe 30 seconds after each session but it's bulletproof documentation. For your situation, try to reconstruct as much as you can. Print out your complete PayPal transaction history and bank statements. Highlight every gambling-related deposit and withdrawal. Create a timeline showing the flow of money. Even if it's not perfect, showing a clear pattern of more money going out than coming in will help your case. Also consider getting a tax professional involved if the amount is significant. They know exactly how to present this documentation to the IRS in a way that's most likely to be accepted. The $24k they're claiming you owe is probably worth spending a few hundred on professional help.

One thing that might help strengthen your case is to request your complete account history directly from the online casino/gambling site. Most legitimate platforms are required to maintain detailed transaction records and can provide you with a comprehensive report showing every deposit, withdrawal, bet placed, and outcome. Contact their customer service and specifically ask for a "complete gaming history report" or "transaction summary" for 2024. This should include timestamps, bet amounts, game types, and results. Some sites can export this data in spreadsheet format which makes it easier to analyze. If they claim they don't have this data or won't provide it, get that refusal in writing. The IRS understands that some gambling operations don't maintain or share detailed records, so documented efforts to obtain records can actually help your case even if you're unsuccessful. Also, don't overlook credit card statements if you funded your gambling through cards. These create an additional paper trail showing money going to gambling sites that can corroborate your bank statement deposits. The more documentation you can piece together showing the full picture of money in vs money out, the stronger your position will be.

yall need to stop freaking out about every little code... its normal processing stuff happens every year

Just went through this exact same thing! Had 570/971 codes appear right after ID verification and was panicking. Turns out it's totally normal - the 570 is just a processing hold while they finish reviewing everything after you verified your identity. Mine cleared after about 10 days and refund came through. Hang in there, you're almost at the finish line! 🤞