The IRS systems are such a mess rn... one status means something different every other day i stg 🤡

I experienced the exact same thing! Mine changed from "not processed" to "not available" about 2 weeks ago and I was panicking thinking something went wrong. But then last Friday I checked and boom - DDD appeared with a deposit date for this week! The "not available" status seems to be their way of saying they're actively working on it. Definitely check daily because once it updates, things move fast. Good luck! 🤞

I'm surprised nobody mentioned Form 2210! If you miss estimated payments but have a reasonable cause, you can sometimes get penalties waived by filing this form with your tax return. Valid reasons can include casualty losses, disasters, or other unusual circumstances. Also, the quarterly payment system is not actually quarters of the calendar year, which trips up a lot of new freelancers. The due dates are: - April 15 (for Jan-Mar income) - June 15 (for Apr-May income) - September 15 (for Jun-Aug income) - January 15 of the next year (for Sep-Dec income

@Brady Clean, based on your income level ($3,200-4,000/month), you'll likely owe more than $1,000 in taxes, so you would normally need to make quarterly payments. However, since you started freelancing in April, you might still be okay if you had enough tax withholding from your W-2 job earlier this year. The key is whether your total withholding from January-March covers at least 100% of what you owed in taxes last year (the "safe harbor" rule others mentioned). If it does, you're protected from penalties even if you don't make estimated payments. If you don't qualify for safe harbor, you technically should have made payments by June 15th and September 15th already. But don't stress too much - the penalties aren't catastrophic. You can still make your remaining payments (due January 15th) and minimize further penalties. My recommendation: Calculate whether you qualify for safe harbor first. If not, make a payment for the January 15th deadline and consider catching up on any missed payments. The IRS is generally reasonable about first-time situations, especially if you make a good faith effort to comply going forward.

looks like a normal return tbh. ur getting back over 6k, thats a W

Just wanted to add some clarity on that code 971 notice - it's typically an automated notice that gets generated when your return is processed, especially if there are credits involved like EIC or Child Tax Credit. Since yours was issued the same day as processing (02-24-2025), it's likely just a standard CP12 or similar notice confirming your refund amount and breakdown. Nothing to stress about! Your transcript looks clean and you should expect that $6,122 refund soon. The processing date of Feb 24th means you filed early and should get your money faster than most people.

How do you even figure out what you can deduct with a 1099? My friend says I can write off part of my rent since I work from home sometimes??

As someone who's been freelancing for about 5 years now, I can tell you that 1099-NEC taxes are definitely manageable once you understand the basics. The biggest mistake I made my first year was not tracking my business expenses properly - things like software subscriptions, equipment, internet bills, and even mileage for client meetings can all be deducted. My advice is to open a separate business checking account and put 25-30% of each payment into a savings account immediately for taxes. That way you won't be scrambling come tax time. Also, keep receipts for everything work-related throughout the year. It's much easier than trying to reconstruct your expenses in April!

Has anyone tried just establishing an "accountable plan" for the LLC? We did this with our engineering partnership and it helped with cashflow. Basically, we documented that certain retained earnings were being held in anticipation of specific business expenses for the following year. Then we reimbursed ourselves when we actually incurred those expenses personally. Our accountant said this doesn't eliminate SE tax on the original profits, but it creates a clean paper trail and business justification for why we're keeping funds in the company account.

One thing that might help with the cash flow issue is to make quarterly estimated tax payments throughout the year instead of waiting until tax time. Since you know you'll owe SE tax on your share of profits regardless of distributions, you can set aside money each quarter based on your projected earnings. For our consulting LLC, we calculate roughly 15.3% for SE tax plus our marginal income tax rate, then multiply that by our expected quarterly profits. We transfer that amount to a separate "tax savings" account each quarter. This way, when tax time comes around, we're not scrambling to find cash to pay taxes on money that's still sitting in the business account. Also worth noting - if you're consistently retaining earnings year over year, you might want to consider whether some of those retained funds could be reclassified as loans to the partners rather than undistributed profits. This gets complex and definitely needs professional guidance, but it's another structure some partnerships use to manage the cash flow vs. tax timing mismatch.