did you check if you have any freezes or holds? sometimes they dont show up obvious on the transcript but theyre there

A negative balance definitely means the IRS owes you money! With your tax liability at $0 and that negative balance, you likely received refundable credits like the Child Tax Credit or Earned Income Credit that created the overpayment. The delay could be due to identity verification, income verification, or just processing backlogs. I'd recommend calling the IRS refund hotline at 1-800-829-1954 to check if there are any issues holding up your refund. You can also try calling early morning (7-8am) for better chances of getting through!

If you need more personalized advice, I'd recommend calling the IRS to discuss your specific situation. I tried for days to get through their normal line and kept getting disconnected. Finally used Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) and got connected to an agent in about 15 minutes who walked me through all my filing status questions. They confirmed MFJ was best for our family with multiple kids and helped me understand exactly how the credits would apply in our situation.

Great advice from everyone here! Just wanted to add that you should also look into the Additional Child Tax Credit if your tax liability is low. With 5 kids, even if your combined income reduces your regular tax to near zero, the ACTC can still give you up to $1,500 per child as a refund. This is especially helpful if a significant portion of your income is from sources with lower withholding. Also, make sure you understand the age requirements - kids must be under 17 at the end of the tax year to qualify for the full $2,000 CTC. Any over 17 might still qualify for the $500 Other Dependent Credit instead.

Don't forget about state-level considerations! Your Delaware LLC may be federally disregarded, but Delaware still requires annual reports and franchise tax payments regardless of your investment activities. Also, depending on how much passive income your LLC generates from investments, you might trigger economic nexus in other states if the stocks/bonds are from companies based there. Some states have started to get aggressive about claiming tax jurisdiction based on investment income sourced to their state. Make sure you keep your registered agent in Delaware current too - if you miss service of process notices, you could face default judgments.

One thing nobody's mentioned - watch out for FDII (Foreign-Derived Intangible Income) calculations if your software business starts generating significant income. The presence of investment assets on your books can affect the deemed tangible asset calculations that go into FDII deductions if you later elect to be treated as a corporation. Also, make sure your operating agreement clearly separates business activities from investment activities. This becomes important if the IRS ever questions whether your passive investments are actually part of your active business model.

Can anyone recommend good tax software that handles Section 179 for side businesses properly? I tried using [redacted] last year and it kept getting confused about my W-2 income counting toward the limitation. I ended up having to override some calculations manually.

Great question! You're absolutely correct in your understanding. The Section 179 income limitation does include your W-2 wages along with your LLC income. This is specifically covered in IRC Section 179(b)(3) and the regulations. For individuals, the "taxable income from the active conduct of any trade or business" limitation includes: - Your Schedule C business income (your LLC's $12,000) - All W-2 wages, salaries, tips, and other employee compensation - Any other trade or business income So with your $85,000 W-2 income plus $12,000 LLC income, you have $97,000 available for the Section 179 limitation, which easily covers your $20,000 equipment purchase. Just make sure the equipment qualifies (used more than 50% for business) and that you're within the overall annual limit ($1,160,000 for 2025). Also keep good records showing the business use percentage if it's mixed personal/business use. One small tip: if your equipment has any personal use, only deduct the business percentage. So if it's 80% business use, you'd claim Section 179 on $16,000, not the full $20,000.

whatever you do dont use those sketchy third party websites that charge you $30 to check. stick to the official nc government site

Also worth noting that NC typically processes e-filed returns much faster than paper ones. If you e-filed and it's been more than 3 weeks, that's when I'd start following up. The "Where's My Refund" tool on ncdor.gov usually updates once a week, so don't panic if it doesn't change daily.