Don't forget there's a social security and Medicare impact too, not just income tax! Since med premiums should have been pre-tax, employees also overpaid on FICA taxes. Your company likely also overpaid the employer portion of these taxes. You should file a Form 941-X for each affected quarter to get your employer portion refunded, and the W-2c process will help employees get their overpaid portion back. Some payroll systems can help you calculate exactly how much was overpaid by each party.

This is a really tough situation, but you're handling it responsibly by trying to make it right for your employees. I went through something similar when our previous payroll company miscoded our dependent care FSA contributions. One thing I'd add to the great advice already shared - consider sending a clear, simple letter to all affected employees along with their W-2c forms explaining exactly what happened, what it means for them, and what their options are. We found that many employees were initially confused or even worried when they received corrected tax documents, thinking they had done something wrong. In our letter, we included a simple table showing "If your original refund was X and your corrected refund would be Y, your additional refund would be Z." This helped employees quickly see if filing an amendment would be worthwhile for their situation. We also set up a dedicated email address and phone line for questions about the correction, which really helped reduce confusion and showed employees we were taking ownership of the mistake. The transparency went a long way toward maintaining trust with our staff. Given your industry and the timing, you might also want to consider offering to reimburse filing fees for amendments over a certain threshold (like $200 in additional refund) to make the decision easier for employees who would benefit most from filing.

Random but important question - are both your names on the deed AND the mortgage? Because if only one of you is legally obligated on the mortgage, only that person can claim the interest regardless of who makes payments!

I had a very similar situation with my husband before we were married! We also used a private family loan and were splitting payments. Here's what I learned after consulting with a tax professional: The key issue is that the IRS requires you to have both legal obligation AND actual payment to claim the deduction. If both your names are on the mortgage documents, you each have legal obligation, but you can only deduct what you personally paid. The "retroactive payment shuffling" idea your father-in-law's accountant suggested could be problematic. The IRS looks at the substance of transactions, not just paperwork after the fact. If you're audited, they'll want to see bank records showing who actually made payments when. However, you still have some legitimate options for this tax year: 1) If you haven't made all 2024 payments yet, change who makes the remaining payments to optimize your situation, 2) Make additional principal payments before year-end from your account to shift the balance, or 3) Consider if filing separately vs. jointly (once married) would be better overall. For next year, definitely restructure your payment arrangement from the start. Have the higher earner make all mortgage payments while the other covers utilities, groceries, etc. This gives you maximum flexibility for tax planning. Don't risk audit issues by trying to recharacterize payments that already happened - focus on legitimate strategies moving forward!

Does anyone know if employee discounts count as taxable income? I work retail and get 40% off merchandise. My manager said it's completely tax-free but that sounds too good to be true lol.

Great question about employee discounts! Your manager is mostly right, but there are some nuances. Employee discounts on merchandise are generally tax-free as long as the discount doesn't exceed your employer's gross profit percentage. So if your company has a 50% markup on products, a 40% employee discount would be completely tax-free. However, if the discount exceeds the gross profit margin, the excess becomes taxable income. For services (rather than merchandise), employee discounts are tax-free up to 20% off the regular customer price. Since you're getting 40% off and it sounds like your employer considers it non-taxable, they've likely determined that their markup is high enough to cover your discount. Retail often has substantial markups, so a 40% employee discount staying within tax-free limits is definitely plausible!

I just got my Robinhood tax forms too and I'm in the EXACT same boat! I bought some Ethereum in 2022 and haven't sold, but they still sent me forms. I called customer service and they said I don't need to report anything since buying isn't taxable. They told me they're required to send the documents by law but that doesn't mean I have any tax obligation. Hope that helps!

I went through this exact same confusion last year! The key thing to remember is that Robinhood sends those tax documents to everyone who had crypto activity, but "activity" to them just means having an account with crypto holdings. Since you only bought Bitcoin and never sold it, you don't have any taxable events to report for 2023. The forms you're seeing probably show your positions and maybe some year-end valuations, but those are just for record-keeping purposes. You only need to worry about reporting crypto transactions when you sell, trade, or use crypto to buy something. Keep those documents though - you'll need them when you eventually sell to calculate your cost basis. The $135 you paid in 2022 will be important for determining your capital gains or losses later.

my sister works at WF, she says new accounts are fine as long as theyre not like brand new (less than 2 weeks

You should be totally fine! 2 months is plenty of time for the account to be established. I've been doing taxes for 8 years and Wells Fargo is one of the most reliable banks for direct deposits. The IRS usually only has issues with accounts that are literally days old or have mismatched names. Since yours has been open for 2 months and presumably has activity on it, you're golden. Just keep an eye on your "Where's My Refund" tool starting about 24 hours after you get your acceptance email!