Thank you everyone for the detailed explanations! This makes so much more sense now. I was getting confused because the Form 8615 instructions focus on the age/student/income tests, but I didn't realize the dependency eligibility was the overriding factor. Just to confirm my understanding: Since my unemployment benefits are more than half my support, I cannot be claimed as a dependent by anyone. Because I cannot be claimed as a dependent, Form 8615 doesn't apply to me at all, regardless of my age, student status, or type of income. My new preparer was right, and I apologize for doubting them! I guess my previous preparer was either being overly cautious or misunderstood the rules. This has been a huge learning experience - tax rules are way more nuanced than I thought. Thanks again for helping me sort this out before I filed!

Great question and thanks for sharing your situation! This is actually a really common confusion point that trips up both taxpayers and even some preparers. Your new preparer is absolutely correct. The key insight here is understanding what Form 8615 is actually designed to do - it's meant to prevent wealthy families from shifting investment income to their children's lower tax brackets. But this "kiddie tax" only applies if you CAN be claimed as a dependent. Since your unemployment benefits make up more than half of your support, you fail the support test for being claimed as a dependent. This means you're filing as a truly independent taxpayer, so the kiddie tax rules don't apply to you at all. The Form 8615 instructions can be misleading because they list all those age/student/income tests first, but they're only relevant IF you meet the basic dependency eligibility requirements. Think of dependency status as the "gateway" - if you can't pass through that gate, none of the other tests matter. Your previous preparer was likely being overly cautious or may have misunderstood how the dependency rules interact with Form 8615. It happens more often than you'd think! Good on you for questioning it when something didn't feel right.

Has anyone here used TurboTax for this kind of situation? I'm having the same issue as OP but wondering if the tax software will figure it out automatically or if I need to do something special.

I'm a newer member here but wanted to share what I learned from a similar situation. Like others mentioned, Form 8919 isn't the right form since you're properly classified as an employee with a W-2. The key thing to check is whether your employer is correctly handling tip reporting and withholding. If you reported tips to your employer (which it sounds like you did), they should be withholding Social Security and Medicare taxes on both your hourly wage AND your reported tips. The fact that nothing was withheld suggests a payroll processing error. I'd recommend checking with your employer's payroll department first - they may need to issue a corrected W-2. If they're unresponsive or the issue isn't resolved, you might need to contact the IRS directly to report the employer's failure to withhold required taxes. This is different from Form 8919, which is specifically for worker misclassification disputes. Make sure to keep documentation of your tip reporting (Form 4070 or equivalent records) in case you need to prove you properly reported your tips to your employer.

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!