This is such a frustrating situation that so many gamblers face! You're absolutely right that the tax system seems backwards - you can literally lose money overall but still owe taxes on your wins. Here's what I've learned from dealing with this myself: Yes, casinos report the full amount of your winnings (not just profit) on W-2G forms. So your $1200 slot win gets reported as $1200 in income, even though you only profited $1100. The good news is you CAN deduct your gambling losses, but only if you itemize deductions and only up to the amount of your winnings. So in your example, if you lost $1500 total but won $1200, you could deduct $1200 in losses (not the full $1500) to completely offset your reported winnings. The tricky part is that you need to keep meticulous records of ALL your gambling activity - not just the wins that generated W-2Gs. I use a simple phone app to log every casino visit with start/end amounts, dates, and locations. Also save your player's card statements and any betting tickets. Since you mentioned you've probably lost more than you've won this year, you should be able to offset those W-2G winnings completely if you have proper documentation. Just make sure to work with a tax professional who understands gambling taxes - it's worth the investment to avoid overpaying!

I went through this exact same nightmare last year! Had a $2,500 jackpot on a slot machine in February (got the W-2G) but ended up losing about $3,200 total for the year. I was panicking thinking I'd owe taxes on money I didn't actually keep. The key thing that saved me was keeping detailed records of every casino visit. I started using a simple spreadsheet with columns for date, casino, money in, money out, and net result. Even tracked the smaller sessions where I might have won $50 or lost $100 - it all adds up. When I filed my taxes, I was able to itemize and deduct $2,500 in gambling losses (up to my winnings amount) which completely offset that W-2G. Ended up owing $0 in taxes on gambling despite that big reported win. My advice: Start tracking everything NOW if you haven't already. Get win/loss statements from every casino where you have a player's card. Keep all your betting slips, cash-out tickets, ATM receipts from casinos, everything. The IRS can be really picky about gambling loss documentation, so over-document rather than under-document. Also, don't forget to factor in whether itemizing vs. standard deduction makes sense for your overall tax situation. Sometimes even with gambling losses, the standard deduction might still be better depending on your other deductions.

Depends on your situation tbh. What forms are you filing? Any businesses? Investments? Rental income?

That's absolutely outrageous for a basic W-2 return! I'm a CPA and can tell you that $1,300 is what we'd charge for complex business returns with multiple entities. For a standard individual return, you should be paying $150-300 max. After 10 years, she's definitely taking advantage of your loyalty. I'd recommend getting quotes from other preparers or trying software like TurboTax/TaxAct first - you'll probably save over $1,000!

Is anyone else confused about the different tax rates for bonuses? My bonus got taxed at like 40% it felt like! Way more than my regular paycheck. Something about a "supplemental tax rate"?

I had a very similar issue last year! Turns out my bonus was actually included in my W-2, but I was looking at it wrong. Here's what helped me figure it out: First, grab your final paystub from December and compare the year-to-date totals to your W-2. They should match exactly. If your paystub shows $162k YTD but your W-2 Box 1 shows $135k, look at Box 12 on your W-2 for codes like D (401k contributions), C (health insurance premiums), or other pretax deductions. Also, bonuses are often subject to supplemental wage withholding at a flat 22% rate, which might make the net amount you received feel smaller than expected, but the full gross amount should still appear in your total wages. If the numbers still don't add up after accounting for pretax deductions, definitely contact your payroll department. Sometimes smaller companies do make mistakes with bonus reporting, especially if they're not used to handling them regularly.

I'm probably going against the crowd here, but TurboTax has always been super easy for me even as a first-time filer years ago. Yes it costs more than FreeTaxUSA but the interface is really user friendly. They walk you through federal and then state automatically, importing all relevant info from federal to state.

For your first time filing, FreeTaxUSA is definitely a solid choice! You'll do federal and state separately, but like others mentioned, the info carries over so you're not starting from scratch twice. Regarding payment options - if your debit card is acting up, you can usually pay the FreeTaxUSA service fee directly from your bank account using your routing and account numbers (same info you'd use for direct deposit). Most banks also let you pay bills online through their bill pay service if you want to avoid entering card info. One thing I learned my first year: don't stress too much about making mistakes. The software catches most common errors, and even if something small slips through, it's usually easily fixable. The IRS isn't out to get you - they just want their forms filled out correctly. You've got this!

I feel your frustration! I went through something similar with my state refund last year - it was stuck in "pending review" for 6 weeks with absolutely no communication from the state. What finally worked for me was filing a formal inquiry through my state's taxpayer advocate office. Most states have this service now (similar to the federal IRS Taxpayer Advocate). You can usually find the contact info on your state's department of revenue website under "taxpayer rights" or "taxpayer advocate." They have more authority to actually look into your case and get answers. In my situation, they discovered my return was flagged because I had moved states the previous year and it triggered an automatic review. Once the advocate got involved, my refund was released within 10 business days. It's worth noting that many states are still dealing with staffing shortages from the pandemic, which is why processing times are so unpredictable this year. Hang in there - your money will come through!

I'm going through the exact same thing right now! Filed my state return on February 28th and it's been stuck on "pending review" for over 3 weeks. What's really annoying is that my federal refund came through in just 10 days, so clearly there's nothing wrong with my information. I called my state's tax line last week and after being on hold for 45 minutes, the representative basically told me "reviews take as long as they take" and couldn't give me any timeline. It's so frustrating when you're expecting that money and they just leave you hanging with zero communication. Has anyone had luck with contacting their state representative's office about tax delays? I'm wondering if that might get more attention than the regular customer service channels.