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If I could give 10 stars I would
If I could give 10 stars I would If I could give 10 stars I would Such an amazing service so needed during the times when EDD almost never picks up Claimyr gets me on the phone with EDD every time without fail faster. A much needed service without Claimyr I would have never received the payment I needed to support me during my postpartum recovery. Thank you so much Claimyr!
Really made a difference
Really made a difference, save me time and energy from going to a local office for making the call.
Worth not wasting your time calling for hours.
Was a bit nervous or untrusting at first, but my calls went thru. First time the wait was a bit long but their customer chat line on their page was helpful and put me at ease that I would receive my call. Today my call dropped because of EDD and Claimyr heard my concern on the same chat and another call was made within the hour.
An incredibly helpful service
An incredibly helpful service! Got me connected to a CA EDD agent without major hassle (outside of EDD's agents dropping calls ā which Claimyr has free protection for). If you need to file a new claim and can't do it online, pay the $ to Claimyr to get the process started. Absolutely worth it!
Consistent,frustration free, quality Service.
Used this service a couple times now. Before I'd call 200 times in less than a weak frustrated as can be. But using claimyr with a couple hours of waiting i was on the line with an representative or on hold. Dropped a couple times but each reconnected not long after and was mission accomplished, thanks to Claimyr.
IT WORKS!! Not a scam!
I tried for weeks to get thru to EDD PFL program with no luck. I gave this a try thinking it may be a scam. OMG! It worked and They got thru within an hour and my claim is going to finally get paid!! I upgraded to the $60 call. Best $60 spent!
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- DO answer questions and support each other.
- DO post tips & tricks to help folks.
- DO NOT post call problems here - there is a support tab at the top for that :)
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Andre Dupont
Don't forget to check if your state has its own free filing portal! Many states now offer their own free filing systems separate from the IRS Free File program. I live in Massachusetts and used their free MassTaxConnect system to file my state return after doing federal through FreeTaxUSA. Saved me the $15 state filing fee. Also, if your income is under $60,000, look into VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) programs in your area. They'll prepare your taxes completely free with trained volunteers. I used them for years before I started doing my own taxes.
Zara Rashid
ā¢Thank you for this suggestion! I had no idea states might have their own free filing options. I'm in California - does anyone know if they offer something similar?
Andre Dupont
ā¢Yes, California absolutely has a free filing option! It's called CalFile and it's available directly through the California Franchise Tax Board website. It's completely free for eligible California taxpayers and handles most common tax situations. Just go to ftb.ca.gov and search for CalFile. Many other states have similar programs - Illinois has MyTax Illinois, New York has their own free filing options too. It's definitely worth checking your state's tax department website before paying for state filing through a third-party service.
Just wanted to add that if you're switching away from TurboTax, make sure you have copies of your previous years' returns! Some of the free options don't store your old returns for as long, and you might need information from last year's return to file this year's (like your AGI for verification).
This is super important advice. I switched from TurboTax last year and forgot to download my previous returns first. Made things way more complicated when I needed to reference something. Get those PDFs saved somewhere safe before you cancel!
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I think everyone here is missing something important - if your mom receives benefits like Section 8 and food stamps, be careful about claiming her as a dependent because it might affect her eligibility for those programs! Some benefit programs have rules about being claimed as a dependent on someone else's taxes. Also, don't forget that you can include the value of housing, utilities, medical expenses, and transportation in your support calculation. If you're paying for someone to take her shopping, those expenses count too!
Ethan Taylor
ā¢Wait, this is super important - will claiming my mom as a dependent actually impact her Section 8 or SNAP benefits? I definitely don't want to mess up her housing or food situation just to get a tax credit. Has anyone here actually experienced this happening?
It depends on the specific program and state regulations. Generally, Section 8 eligibility is based on the household's income and composition, not tax filing status. So claiming your mom on your taxes shouldn't directly affect her Section 8 benefits since you don't live together. For SNAP (food stamps), the rules focus on who purchases and prepares food together, not tax dependency. Since your mom lives separately and handles her own food preparation, claiming her shouldn't impact her SNAP benefits. However, if you're concerned, your mom should check with her benefits caseworker to confirm the specific rules in her state. Some states have different policies or additional requirements.
Has anyone successfully claimed ODC without a paper trail? I support my grandfather who lives in Mexico, sending him money through Western Union, but I'm worried about audit risk since I can't document all his expenses from here.
NebulaNinja
ā¢I claim my mother who lives in the Philippines! Keep ALL your transfer receipts. I use Xoom and it creates a perfect record. Also, have your grandfather send you pictures of rent receipts and major purchases if possible. The IRS understands foreign situations are different.
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Hugo Kass
Make sure you check whether your parents claim you as a dependent on their taxes! This is super important because whoever claims you as a dependent gets to claim the education credits - not both of you. I made this mistake my sophomore year and claimed the AOTC on my return, but my parents had already claimed me and the same credit on their return. We ended up having to file an amended return and I had to pay back the credit.
Josef Tearle
ā¢Omg I didn't even think about this. My parents have been claiming me as a dependent I think. So does that mean I can't get these credits at all? Or they get them instead of me?
Hugo Kass
ā¢They get the credit instead of you if they claim you as a dependent. The education credits follow whoever claims the student on their tax return. Talk to your parents about this! If they're claiming you and the education credits, they might be getting a pretty substantial tax benefit from your education expenses. Some parents pass some of that money back to the student, while others use it to help pay for more college expenses. It's worth having a conversation about it so everyone understands who's claiming what.
Just a heads up about income limits for these education credits since no one mentioned it yet. The AOTC starts phasing out if your modified adjusted gross income is above $80,000 ($160,000 if married filing jointly) and completely phases out at $90,000 ($180,000 for joint filers). The Lifetime Learning Credit has lower limits - it starts phasing out at $59,000 ($118,000 for joint filers) and completely phases out at $69,000 ($138,000 for joint filers). So if you or your parents make above these amounts, you might not get the full credit or any credit at all.
Khalil Urso
ā¢Are those limits for 2025 taxes or 2024? I know they sometimes adjust the income thresholds year to year.
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Make sure you're accounting for the standard deduction for married filing jointly, which is $27,700 for 2023 (and will be higher for 2024). A lot of calculators miss this. Also, run your numbers through a few different calculators, not just the IRS one. TurboTax and H&R Block have free withholding calculators that might give you different results. The ADDITIONAL withholding amount seems super high. Are you sure you filled out the W4 correctly? The new W4s don't have allowances anymore, so it's easy to make mistakes.
PixelWarrior
ā¢Thanks for pointing this out. I actually think we might have messed up how we entered our income on the calculator. We put in our annual salaries but I'm wondering if we should have included the value of our benefits too? We both have health insurance, dental, and contribute to our 401ks - none of which we included in the calculator. Would that make a difference in the withholding calculation?
No, you did that part correctly. The withholding calculator wants your gross income before any deductions for benefits or 401k contributions. What might have happened is that you may have entered something incorrectly in the "adjustments" section. The new W4 form is confusing because it asks for "deductions other than the standard deduction" rather than total deductions. I'd suggest trying again with the calculator but check each entry carefully. Make sure you're entering your anticipated tax credits correctly too. And be sure to indicate that you're married filing jointly on both of your W4 forms. Another possibility is that your previous withholding as single filers was too low, and the calculator is now correcting for that on top of your married status, which would explain the large adjustment.
Has anyone played around with adjusting their filing status to "Married filing separately" instead of "Married filing jointly"? I've heard sometimes that can be better tax-wise when both spouses have high incomes.
In most cases, filing jointly is better. Filing separately means you lose a lot of tax benefits like student loan interest deduction, child tax credits, earned income credit, etc. It's usually only beneficial in very specific situations like if one spouse has huge medical expenses or income-based student loan payments. I'd recommend running your taxes both ways before deciding, but for most couples, jointly is the way to go.
Thanks for the info! I didn't realize filing separately meant losing so many deductions and credits. We have student loan interest deductions so it sounds like joint is probably still best for us. I guess I'll just have to accept the higher withholding for now and see what happens when we actually file next year. Maybe we'll end up with a nice refund to make up for the monthly budget squeeze.
Yara Khalil
Former tax preparer here - just to add another clarification about the April 15 deadline: if you owe money and can't pay the full amount, still file on time! The penalty for filing late (5% per month up to 25% of unpaid taxes) is much worse than the penalty for paying late (0.5% per month up to 25%). And if you're getting a refund, there's actually no penalty for filing late, though you generally only have 3 years to claim your refund. But why wait for money that's yours?
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Keisha Brown
ā¢What about if I know I need to file an extension? Does that need to be done by 11:59pm on the 15th too? And is there any downside to filing an extension?
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Yara Khalil
ā¢Yes, the extension request (Form 4868) must also be filed by 11:59pm local time on April 15th. Electronic is best because you get immediate confirmation. The main downside to an extension is that it only extends the time to file your paperwork, not to pay what you owe. You still need to estimate what you might owe and pay that by April 15th to avoid penalties and interest. If you're getting a refund, there's no downside at all to filing an extension. And having an extension actually slightly reduces your audit risk according to some statistics, though that shouldn't be your main reason for filing one.
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Paolo Esposito
Another thing that confuses people - if you e-file, you get confirmation right away, but if you mail your return, the POSTMARK date is what counts, not when the IRS receives it. So if you're mailing on April 15th, make sure to go to the post office and get it postmarked that day!
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Amina Toure
ā¢This saved me last year! My local post office has a self-service kiosk that's open until midnight, and the postmark from that counts as official. Double check your local post office hours if you're cutting it close.
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Paolo Esposito
ā¢Great tip about the self-service kiosk! Not all post offices have them though, so definitely check ahead of time. And remember that private delivery services like FedEx or UPS can also be used, but the IRS only accepts certain types of delivery services as "timely filed" - there's an official list on the IRS website. One more thing: if you're mailing a payment with your return or extension, use Form 1040-V for the payment. Makes processing faster and ensures your payment gets properly credited to your account.
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