One thing nobody's mentioned yet - since your mom had a stroke and likely qualifies as disabled, she might be eligible for an IRS provision called "Disability Discharge." This isn't widely known but can be huge. I discovered this after my husband became disabled. You'll need medical documentation showing permanent disability, but if approved, it can result in forgiveness of certain tax debts. It's not guaranteed and doesn't apply to all types of tax debt, but definitely worth investigating given her stroke and ongoing health issues. Also, make sure to check if your state has similar provisions for state tax debt - many states have parallel programs for disability-related tax relief.

I'm so sorry you're dealing with this overwhelming situation. As someone who works in tax resolution, I want to add a few critical points that could really help your mom's case. First, given that she was self-employed and dealing with mental health issues, there's a good chance the IRS may not have accurate records of her actual income during those years. Self-employed individuals often have the IRS estimate their income based on industry averages, which can be way higher than reality. Getting those returns filed with actual income figures could significantly reduce what she owes. Second, her stroke and ongoing health issues could qualify her for "reasonable cause" relief from penalties. This is separate from hardship status and can result in substantial penalty reductions. You'll need medical documentation, but given the severity of her condition, this could eliminate a huge portion of her debt. Also consider that if she had very low income in some of those years, she may not have owed much (or anything) for those periods. Self-employed people only owe self-employment tax if their net earnings exceed $400 annually. The most important step right now is getting those returns filed to establish the actual tax liability rather than letting the IRS continue to estimate. Everything else becomes much clearer once you know what she actually owes versus what penalties and interest have accumulated.

I'm confused about one thing. If you have foreign tax credit carryover from multiple years, how do you determine which year's credits get used first? Is it FIFO (first in, first out) or can you choose?

This is exactly the situation I found myself in last year! I had been working in Singapore from 2018-2020 and accumulated about $2,800 in unused foreign tax credits in the general category. When I returned to the US in 2021, I made the mistake of not filing Form 1116 for general income since I had no new foreign employment income that year. I discovered my error when preparing my 2022 taxes and panicked thinking I'd lost those credits permanently. After doing some research and consulting with a tax professional, I learned I could still recover them by filing an amended return (Form 1040X) for 2021. The key thing I learned is that you MUST file Form 1116 every single year if you have carryover credits, regardless of whether you have new foreign income in that category. Even if it means filing a form that shows zero current year income, it's the only way to preserve your carryover rights. I ended up manually adding the Form 1116 in my tax software by searching for it specifically and forcing it to stay even when the software wanted to remove it due to zero income. The amended return was approved without any issues, and I was able to use those credits against my 2022 and 2023 tax liability. Don't make the same mistake I did - always document those carryovers!

Have any of you tried calling TurboTax directly? I had a similar issue last year and their advanced support team was actually pretty helpful. They have specialists who deal specifically with investment reporting issues.

I'm dealing with the exact same TurboTax ESPP/RSU nightmare! The data contamination between different sales is absolutely maddening. I've been going in circles for days trying to get my Microsoft ESPP transactions entered correctly. Based on what I'm reading here, it sounds like the Forms view workaround that Carmen mentioned might be my best bet. I'm also curious about the taxr.ai solution that a few people have had success with - has anyone else tried it beyond Andre? I'm hesitant to upload sensitive documents to a third-party service, but at this point I'm running out of options. One thing I've noticed is that the TurboTax bugs seem to get worse when you have multiple ESPP purchases throughout the year with different discount percentages. The software just can't seem to handle the varying ordinary income adjustments properly. Has anyone found a way to work around this specific issue, or is switching to H&R Block really the only solution? Really appreciate everyone sharing their experiences - it's reassuring to know I'm not the only one pulling my hair out over this!

I've been dealing with the IRS for over a decade as a tax preparer, and I can confirm what everyone else is saying - the transcript is your golden source of truth here. When you see that 846 code with a specific date, that's the IRS saying "we've cut the check" (digitally speaking). The WMR tool is basically just a dumbed-down version for the general public and it updates whenever it feels like it. I've seen cases where WMR still showed "processing" even AFTER clients received their refunds! Your Friday date is solid. As a fellow business owner, I know you need that certainty for planning - you've got it. The money will be there Friday, and WMR will probably catch up sometime next week and act like nothing happened 😅

I completely understand your concern as a small business owner - cash flow timing is critical! I went through this exact same situation a few months ago. My transcript showed a refund date but WMR was still showing "processing" for days. I was panicking because I had vendor payments due and needed to know if I could count on that money. The transcript ended up being 100% accurate - the refund hit my account exactly when it said it would, while WMR didn't update until 2 days AFTER I already had the money in my bank. It's frustrating that their systems don't sync better, but at least now I know which one to trust. One tip: if you use a credit union or smaller bank, they sometimes release federal deposits a day early, so you might even see it Thursday evening. Either way, you can confidently plan your business finances around that Friday date from your transcript!

Verification is actually a good thing - means they're protecting against identity theft. But yeah the wait times are brutal ngl

I just went through this process last month! The online ID.me verification worked for me after a few tries - definitely try early morning like someone mentioned. If that doesn't work, the in-person appointments are actually pretty quick, just hard to get. Once I verified, it took exactly 21 days to get my refund deposited. Hang in there, I know the waiting is stressful but you'll get through it!