I feel your pain - went through something very similar last year and it's incredibly frustrating to owe taxes when your portfolio is actually down. One thing that helped me understand my situation better was creating a simple spreadsheet tracking all my wash sale adjustments. I listed each disallowed loss and which replacement shares got the basis adjustment. This helped me see exactly where my "missing" losses went and gave me confidence that I'd eventually get them back when I sell those positions. Also, don't panic about owing taxes on phantom gains - while it sucks in the short term, those deferred losses are sitting in your replacement shares' cost basis. As long as you eventually sell those shares without triggering another wash sale, you'll get the tax benefit. The timing just gets shifted around. For this year's filing, make sure you're reporting everything correctly on Form 8949 with the proper wash sale codes. If your broker didn't catch all the wash sales (especially if you trade across multiple accounts), you might need to make additional adjustments. The IRS takes wash sale reporting seriously, so getting it right is important. Hang in there - once you get through this tax year, you can plan better strategies to avoid this mess in the future!

I went through this exact nightmare two years ago and it nearly gave me a panic attack! Had about $55K in disallowed wash sale losses while my actual portfolio was down around $20K. The "phantom gains" tax bill was brutal. Here's what I learned that might help you: First, double-check that your broker correctly identified ALL wash sales. Mine missed several because I had some trades in a second account with them. Wash sales apply across all your accounts with the same SSN, not just individual accounts. Second, if you're still holding any of those replacement shares from the wash sales, consider whether it makes sense to sell them before year-end (as long as you don't repurchase within 30 days). This would finally allow you to recognize those deferred losses. The most important thing though - keep detailed records of everything. I created a master spreadsheet showing every wash sale, which replacement shares got the basis adjustment, and which ones I still owned. This saved me when I got audited the following year. One last tip: if your situation is really complex, consider getting professional help. I ended up paying a CPA who specializes in trader taxes about $800, but they found an additional $12K in losses I had missed and properly structured everything for the IRS. Sometimes it's worth the investment to get it right. You're not alone in this - wash sales catch a lot of active traders off guard. The silver lining is that those losses aren't gone forever, just deferred. Hang in there!

Has anyone used the IRS's own QBI worksheet rather than online calculators? I found it in the Form 1040 instructions and it seems more detailed than most online tools. It definitely accounts for the thresholds and limitations we're discussing.

The IRS worksheet is definitely the most accurate approach, but you're right about it being complex. As a CPA who helps clients with QBI calculations regularly, I always recommend starting with the official worksheet to get the correct baseline calculation before using any online tools. One tip that helps avoid calculation errors: work through each section methodically and double-check that your "qualified business income" number excludes reasonable compensation from your S-corp. I see clients mess this up frequently - they include their W-2 wages in the QBI amount when it should only be the remaining business profits. For Dylan's original question about the $340K joint income with $250K from the S-corp - make sure you're clear on whether that $250K is before or after your reasonable compensation. If it's after, then you're on the right track. If it includes your salary, you'll need to subtract that first to get your actual QBI amount.

Something similar happened to my brother last year. What finally worked was having his accountant contact the IRS Practitioner Priority Service. This is a special hotline for tax professionals that often gets better results than the regular channels. Since your accountant made the error, they should be willing to help resolve this through their professional channels. My brother's accountant was able to get the IRS to issue a manual refund check after proving the original deposit was an error.

I went through this exact same situation two years ago and it was incredibly stressful. Here's what I learned that might help you: The key is understanding that once the IRS confirms the deposit went to the account number listed on your return, they consider their obligation fulfilled. At that point, it becomes a civil matter between you and whoever received your funds. You mentioned Chase hasn't returned the money - this is actually crucial. If the account exists and is active, the account holder legally has possession of funds that don't belong to them. You may need to take legal action against the account holder directly. I'd recommend: 1. Get written confirmation from the IRS that the refund was deposited to the wrong account due to an error on your return 2. Demand Chase provide you with information about the account holder (they may resist, but you have legal grounds since it involves your money) 3. Consider small claims court against the account holder if they won't return the funds voluntarily In my case, once I threatened legal action against the person whose account received my refund, they cooperated with the bank to return the money. The whole process took about 6 weeks, but I did get my full refund back. Don't give up - $5,400 is worth fighting for, and you do have legal recourse here.

One option nobody mentioned yet - you could use a Print-on-Demand platform that handles tax for you. I use Printful through their Etsy integration, and Etsy collects and remits all the sales tax automatically. I just deal with my income taxes in France, and it's much simpler. The downside is you'll make less profit per item since these platforms take a cut, but the time and stress saved on tax compliance might be worth it when you're starting out.

As someone who went through this exact process last year, I'd highly recommend starting with the basics first. Before diving into tools or services, make sure you understand the fundamental difference between income tax (federal) and sales tax (state-level). For income tax, you'll likely need an ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number) from the IRS since you're not a US citizen. This lets you file the proper forms like 1040-NR for nonresident aliens. The process takes a few months, so start early. For sales tax, track your sales by state from day one. Most states have economic nexus thresholds around $100K in sales OR 200+ transactions per year. Keep detailed records because once you hit these thresholds, you'll need to register for sales tax permits in those states. Also consider getting a US bank account through services like Wise or Mercury - it makes payments from US customers much smoother and can help with your business legitimacy when dealing with suppliers.

For those with PTPs, remember that these Schedule K-3 requirements are still relatively new and even many tax professionals are confused by them. My approach has been to look at the prior year K-3 (if available) to gauge whether there's likely to be any significant foreign information. If last year's K-3 had minimal or zero foreign information AND your current K-1 has an empty Box 21, that's usually a good indication you can proceed without waiting. Just set a reminder to review the K-3 when it eventually arrives to confirm your decision was correct.

This is a great discussion and really helpful for those of us dealing with PTP K-1/K-3 complications! I'm in a similar situation with two different partnerships - one clearly states no foreign assets like yours, but the other is less clear in their language. One thing I've learned from my CPA is to also check if your partnership issues a Form 8865 (for foreign partnerships) or has any mention of PFIC investments in their annual reports. If there's no mention of these and Box 21 is empty, it's another good indicator that waiting for the K-3 won't provide actionable information. I've decided to follow your approach this year - filing without waiting for the delayed K-3s from partnerships that clearly indicate no foreign tax activity. The stress of extensions just isn't worth it when all indicators point to the K-3 being irrelevant for our tax situations.