Be careful with how many times you attempt verification! My cousin kept trying over and over with the Michigan site, and after his 10th attempt, his account got locked for 48 hrs due to "suspicious activity." Then he had to call to get it unlocked which was another whole nightmare. MI Treasury told him they've been having probs w/ their verification system since they upgraded in Jan. Might be worth waiting a day before trying again if you've already made multiple attempts today. Just FYI so you don't end up in verification limbo like he did.

I've been dealing with this exact same Michigan verification nightmare for the past week! After reading through everyone's experiences here, I tried the early morning approach (around 6:30 AM) and it finally worked. The site seems way more stable before regular business hours. Also want to echo what others said about using different browsers - Safari on my Mac kept timing out, but switching to Edge did the trick. One thing I noticed that hasn't been mentioned yet: make sure you're entering your SSN exactly as it appears on your return (with or without dashes - the system is picky about formatting). Hope this helps someone avoid the frustration I went through!

Has anyone else noticed that companies are increasingly adding these "hidden" benefits that you don't really see until tax time? My company does the same thing - they advertise a salary but then there's all this "total compensation" stuff they add on. I'd rather just have the cash tbh.

This is such a helpful thread! I'm dealing with something similar where my W2 shows about $3,200 more than my final paycheck YTD. Reading through everyone's experiences, it sounds like the most common culprits are employer-paid benefits that show up as taxable income on the W2 but aren't reflected in regular paycheck totals. @Diego - glad you found the Box 12 codes explanation helpful! That's exactly where I need to look on mine. I think my company provides life insurance and some wellness benefits that I never really thought about as "income" but apparently the IRS does. One thing I'm curious about - do these discrepancies ever indicate actual payroll errors, or is it pretty much always just these fringe benefit reporting differences? I want to make sure I'm not missing something that could affect my tax filing.

Just wanted to add some specific FreeTaxUSA navigation tips for your backdoor Roth situation: 1. Go to the Deductions & Credits menu 2. Select "Retirement/IRA" 3. When asked about Traditional IRA contributions, select "Yes" 4. Enter the $16,000 contribution amount 5. Indicate it was a non-deductible contribution 6. Later in the section, it will ask about conversions to a Roth 7. Enter the conversion amount and date The software should then generate Form 8606 correctly. HOWEVER - for the excess contribution (anything over $6,000), you'll need to also report that. Look for the section about "Excess Contributions" and follow those prompts too. I did this exact process last year and it worked perfectly. The key is making sure to indicate the contribution was non-deductible.

Your friend is in the middle of what's called a "backdoor Roth IRA" which is completely legal but needs specific reporting. The issue isn't just that the previous accountant missed it - the $16,000 amount is a red flag. The IRA contribution limit for 2022 was only $6,000 (or $7,000 for those 50+). Unless your friend was contributing for both 2021 and 2022 in that single transaction (which would be unusual timing in April), he's looking at an excess contribution situation.

Is it bad that I'm kinda relieved to see I'm not the only one dealing with this? Misery loves company I guess 🤷‍♀️

Just went through this myself a few weeks ago! Don't stress too much @752ce4ac1090 - it's really not as scary as it seems. The whole process took about 45 minutes on the phone. They asked me basic stuff like my SSN, filing status, previous year's AGI, and a few personal questions like old addresses. The agent was actually pretty nice and walked me through everything step by step. Once it's done, they'll tell you if your return can be processed or if there's anything else you need to do. You got this! 👍

I've been through this SBTPG nightmare three years running. Last year they held my refund for 7 days after receiving it from the IRS. The year before that, it was 5 days. This year I wised up and just paid my preparation fees upfront. My refund came direct from IRS to my bank account in 13 days total. No more SBTPG for me ever again!

I'm going through the exact same thing right now! SBTPG told me they received my refund on 2/20 and won't release it until 2/26. It's so frustrating because I can see on my IRS transcript that they already sent the money, but now I'm stuck waiting another 6 days. At least we both have concrete dates - I was reading about people who don't even know when their funds will be released. Still doesn't make the wait any easier when you're expecting that money for bills and expenses.