Your best bet is to submit a W-4 with your information so they can properly pay you as an employee. If you're concerned about identity theft, monitor your credit reports after giving them your SSN. You can get free credit reports at AnnualCreditReport.com and even put a fraud alert on your accounts if you're really worried.

Unfortunately, paying training shifts "under the table" is illegal, even though it's common in the restaurant industry. All hours worked, including training time, must be properly documented and paid through payroll with appropriate tax withholdings. The fact that multiple restaurants have done this doesn't make it legal - it just shows how widespread wage violations are in food service. Employers often justify this by saying training shifts are "unpaid" or "trials," but the Department of Labor is clear that if you're performing any work that benefits the business, you must be compensated as an employee. This is exactly why you should be cautious about the restaurant in your original post. Places that cut corners on basic employment law (like proper payroll processing) often have other violations too. Document your hours worked and consider filing a wage complaint with your state's labor department if they won't pay you properly.

Watch out for FAFSA implications! If you're trying to get dependency for FAFSA purposes, the FAFSA rules are completely different from IRS rules. For FAFSA, if you're the noncustodial parent, your income generally isn't considered for financial aid calculations regardless of who claims the student on taxes. But this is changing with the new simplified FAFSA for 2025-2026. They're now asking which parent provides more financial support rather than which parent the student lives with.

Based on your situation, I'd strongly recommend getting professional guidance before making any decisions. Since you're paying 100% of college expenses but are the noncustodial parent, the tax implications can be quite complex. A few key points to consider: First, the college dorm residency question is tricky - temporary absences for school are generally counted as time with the custodial parent, not you. Second, even though you're covering all expenses, without Form 8332 or specific language in your divorce decree, you likely can't claim him as a dependent. However, you might still be able to claim education tax credits like the American Opportunity Credit since you're paying the expenses directly. This could actually provide better tax benefits than the dependency exemption. Given the FAFSA changes mentioned above and the complexity of divorced parent rules, it might be worth consulting with a tax professional who specializes in education tax issues. The interaction between dependency rules, education credits, and FAFSA requirements can significantly impact both your taxes and your son's financial aid eligibility.

Thanks for sharing your experience, Jamal! That's really reassuring to hear. I'm in a similar boat - just realized I might have made an error with my dependent claim and I've been stressing about it for days. Your timeline is super helpful to know. Quick question though - when you say the adjustment amount was a payment you had to make, does that mean you ended up owing money because of the dependency change? I'm trying to figure out if I should expect to owe something back or if it could go either way. Also, did TurboTax charge an additional fee for filing the amendment?

I went through this exact situation two years ago and can confirm that TurboTax's amendment process works really well for dependency changes! A few additional tips from my experience: • Make sure to gather ALL documents related to the dependent before starting - birth certificates, SSN cards, proof of residence if applicable • The system will automatically recalculate ALL related credits (Child Tax Credit, EITC, etc.) so you'll see the full impact upfront • TurboTax does charge around $50 for the amendment service, but it's worth it for the convenience and accuracy • If you're claiming someone NEW as a dependent (rather than removing one), be extra careful about the qualifying tests - TurboTax has good guidance but double-check residency and support requirements The electronic filing really is much faster than paper. My amendment was processed in about 8 weeks vs the 16-20 weeks they quote for paper filing. And yes, your original refund processes completely separately, so you won't have delays there. Good luck!

Am I the only one who thinks these expense tracking apps are more trouble than their worth? I went back to the old school spreadsheet method after trying 3 different apps. None of them categorize expenses correctly for tax purposes and I always end up redoing everything manually anyway.

I had the exact same problem with Simplywise last month! After trying all the suggested menu paths with no luck, I discovered you actually need to go through their web portal instead of the mobile app. Log into your Simplywise account on a desktop browser, then go to Reports > Tax Year Summary > Export Options. The mobile app is missing this functionality for some reason. From there you can download a comprehensive tax report in PDF or Excel format that includes all your categorized expenses with proper IRS-compliant documentation. Hope this helps and you can get it to your CPA in time!

Just a heads up - if you adjusted your W4s for this year, DOUBLE CHECK them again. My husband and I did the "two earners/multiple jobs" worksheet and still ended up owing. The worksheet is outdated and doesn't account for higher incomes properly. We finally figured out we needed to add about 12% extra withholding beyond what the worksheet suggested. Basically take your combined income, figure out your tax bracket, and make sure you're withholding at least that percentage across both jobs.

I'm going through the exact same thing right now! My wife and I owe $6,200 this year and we're both W-2 employees. It's so frustrating because we thought we were being responsible by having extra withholding, but apparently not nearly enough. One thing that helped me feel less panicked was realizing that owing taxes doesn't mean you did anything wrong - it just means the withholding system isn't great for married couples with two incomes. The IRS actually prefers that you owe a little bit rather than getting a big refund (since a refund means you gave them an interest-free loan all year). I'm planning to set up a payment plan too. From what I've researched, as long as you file on time and set up the payment plan quickly, the penalties aren't too bad. Just make sure you file by the deadline even if you can't pay the full amount right away - the failure-to-file penalty is much worse than the failure-to-pay penalty. Hang in there! This is way more common than you'd think, especially with all the tax law changes over the past few years.