The Credit Karma Tax Advance program changed their policies this year. For 2024 tax season, they implemented a new verification process that requires either: 1) waiting for the physical card and activating it before transfers are permitted, or 2) completing their enhanced identity verification through the app. This wasn't widely announced but is mentioned in their updated terms of service. If you go to Settings > Security > Identity Verification, you might find the option to complete this process and unlock transfers sooner.

I had this same frustrating experience with my TurboTax advance through Credit Karma earlier this month! Here's what I learned after spending way too much time figuring this out: The transfer restrictions are indeed a security measure, but there are a few workarounds. First, check if you received an email with virtual card details - mine went to spam. You can add this virtual card to your digital wallet immediately. Second, if you need to transfer to your bank account, you'll need to complete the enhanced identity verification process that @Amina Diallo mentioned. Go to Settings > Security > Identity Verification in the app. Once I completed this (took about 10 minutes with photo ID), I was able to set up external account transfers within 24 hours. The daily limits are still there ($500/day, $2000/week), but at least you can start accessing the funds. Hope this helps save you some headaches!

This is actually pretty common! I work in payroll and see this happen when companies don't properly remove terminated employees from their systems before year-end processing runs. The automated W-2 generation picks up everyone in the database and creates forms even when there's no income to report. Since your W-2 shows zero dollars across all fields, you don't need to include it when filing your taxes. The IRS only cares about forms that show actual income, withholdings, or other reportable amounts. Keep the document with your tax records though - it's good documentation that you received it and verified it contained no reportable income. If you're concerned about why this happened, you could always check your credit reports to make sure there's no other unusual activity, but blank W-2s from former employers are usually just administrative oversights rather than anything suspicious.

I had the exact same thing happen to me last year! Got a W-2 from a company I left in 2022, completely blank with all zeros. I was so confused and stressed about it at first. After doing some research and talking to a tax preparer, I learned that this is actually super common. Companies often don't clean up their payroll systems properly when people leave, so when they run their year-end W-2 processing, it generates forms for everyone still in the database - even if no money was paid out. The bottom line is you can safely ignore it when filing your taxes. Since there's no income, withholdings, or other amounts reported, there's literally nothing to add to your tax return. I kept mine with my tax documents just in case, but never had to use it for anything. Don't stress about it - this is just a harmless paperwork glitch that happens more often than you'd think!

I went through this exact situation last month as a first-time H&R Block customer! My timeline was pretty similar to what others have shared - got IRS acceptance in about 26 hours, and the refund advance approval came through about 6 hours after that. What really helped me was making sure I had all my homeowner documents (mortgage interest, property taxes) uploaded clearly from the start. The Tax Pro Review definitely seems worth it for the peace of mind and potentially faster processing. One tip: I set up text notifications in addition to email because I got the approval text about 3 hours before the email arrived. The waiting is stressful but it sounds like you've done everything right! Keep us posted on how it goes.

I'm also going through this process right now as a first-time H&R Block customer! Filed with Tax Pro Review on Thursday and still waiting for IRS acceptance. Reading through everyone's experiences here is really reassuring - it sounds like the 24-48 hour window is pretty accurate. I'm a homeowner too and made sure to have all my mortgage interest statements and property tax documents properly organized before filing. My expected refund is around $3,200, so based on what Louisa mentioned about the median being $2,847, I'm cautiously optimistic about the advance approval. Has anyone noticed if filing earlier in the week (like Monday/Tuesday) versus later affects processing times? I'm wondering if I should have waited until Monday to avoid any weekend delays, but I was eager to get the ball rolling. Thanks for all the detailed timelines everyone - this community is so helpful!

PRO TIP: your transcript will tell you way more than WMR. Go pull those if you can access them

I feel your pain! Been in the exact same situation - filed in late January as Head of Household and got stuck with that same "delayed beyond normal timeframe" message for what felt like forever. The worst part is how vague they are about timelines. From my experience, the Head of Household status does seem to trigger extra reviews more often. They want to make sure you actually qualify (supporting a qualifying person, paying more than half the household costs, etc.). I ended up having to wait about 8 weeks total before it finally moved to "Refund Approved" and then got deposited within a few days after that. The key thing is that once you see that delay message, you're basically in a manual review queue. No amount of checking the app will speed it up unfortunately. I know it's frustrating but try to check maybe once a week instead of daily - it'll save your sanity and your phone battery! 😅 Hang in there, it will eventually process!

Has anyone used TurboTax for handling home office additions? I'm worried it won't handle the complex depreciation schedules correctly. Does the business version cover this stuff or should I pay for a CPA this year?

One thing to consider that hasn't been mentioned yet - if you're planning to use the space 100% for business as you stated, make sure you understand the "exclusive use" test. The IRS is pretty strict about this - it means ONLY business use, no personal activities whatsoever in that space. I learned this the hard way when my accountant told me that even having my kids do homework in my home office occasionally could disqualify the entire deduction. You might want to think about the layout and access to ensure you can truly maintain exclusive business use. Also, since you mentioned this is to avoid buying a bigger house - document that business necessity thoroughly. Keep records showing how your current business operations are constrained by lack of space, client meeting needs, etc. This helps establish the business purpose if the IRS ever questions the addition. The $135k investment sounds substantial, but if properly structured, the tax benefits over time plus avoiding a house purchase could make it very worthwhile. Just make sure you get professional guidance before breaking ground to avoid any costly mistakes in how you set things up.