Has anyone successfully gotten their company to reverse course on this? My employer just sent an email saying our wellness reimbursmements ($750) are considered taxable income and thats "industry standard" but I'm seeing mixed info online.

I went through this exact same situation last year and it was incredibly frustrating! The key issue is that most companies don't properly structure their wellness programs to qualify for tax-free treatment under IRS rules. Here's what I learned: if your company's wellness program isn't formally documented as either a Section 105 medical reimbursement plan or doesn't meet the requirements for de minimis fringe benefits under Section 132, then yes, the reimbursements are taxable income. For your situation with $1,150, you have a few options: 1. Request documentation from HR about how their wellness program is officially structured 2. If they confirm it should be tax-free but was reported incorrectly, demand a corrected W-2 3. If they refuse, you can file Form 4852 with an amended return explaining the discrepancy The most important thing is to get everything in writing from your company about their wellness program structure. Don't let them brush you off with "that's just how it works" - they need to provide documentation of the actual tax treatment they're applying and why. I ended up having to file an amended return, but I got a refund of about $280 because my company had overcomplicated things. Document everything and don't give up!

Anyone else notice that the SDI rates changed in some states for 2025? I'm in California and my SDI jumped from 1.1% to 1.3% this year. Maybe that's why some of your deductions increased? Worth checking what state you're in and if any rates changed recently.

Hey Ethan! I totally get the confusion - those acronyms are like a foreign language when you're starting out. Everyone covered the basics well, but I wanted to add something that might explain your $95 jump specifically. Since you mentioned this is your first "real" job after college and you've only been there 3 months, there's a good chance your employer might have initially set you up with minimal withholdings during your probationary period or while you were getting your paperwork sorted. Now that you're fully onboarded, they probably switched you to the standard withholding rates based on your actual W-4 elections. Also, if you got any kind of raise or shift differential that kicked in after your probationary period, that would bump up both your gross pay AND your withholdings proportionally. Even a small hourly increase can cause a noticeable jump in total deductions. I'd suggest checking with payroll to see if anything changed in your employment status or pay rate recently. They should be able to show you exactly what changed between the two paychecks. Don't stress too much though - this kind of adjustment is super common for new employees!

Does anyone know if selling on Facebook Marketplace triggers the same 1099-K requirements? I've been selling furniture I refinish and I'm getting close to that threshold but haven't received any tax forms from them.

The whole 1099-K situation is incredibly frustrating for casual sellers. I've been dealing with something similar after selling some of my old photography equipment on eBay. What helped me was creating a simple spreadsheet tracking original purchase dates, amounts paid, and sale prices for everything. One thing your H&R Block advisor might not have mentioned - if you can prove you're selling personal items at a loss (which it sounds like you are), you should be reporting this on Schedule D as capital gains/losses, not as business income on Schedule C. Personal items held for more than a year get capital gains treatment, and while you can't deduct the losses, you also don't pay self-employment tax on the transactions. The key is documentation. Even without original receipts, you can use credit card statements, bank records, or research comparable prices from when you likely purchased the items. The IRS accepts reasonable estimates if you make a good faith effort to determine your actual cost basis. Don't give up on selling entirely - just get organized and understand the rules. The 1099-K is just a reporting mechanism, not a tax bill.

What I ended up doing after facing this exact same issue was printing out Form 8863, filling it out by hand, scanning it, and then attaching it to my electronic return as a PDF. This bypassed the fillable form system's validation for that particular form while still allowing me to e-file the rest of my return. It's a workaround but it worked for me.

I've been dealing with this exact same Form 8863 rejection issue for the past week! After reading through all these suggestions, I tried the browser switching approach first (went from Safari to Firefox) and that actually fixed it for me. For anyone still struggling, here's what I learned from this thread and my own experience: 1. Try a different browser first - it's the easiest fix 2. Make sure you're filling out BOTH 22a and 22b sections even if you only attended one school 3. If checkboxes aren't working, try typing "X" instead of clicking 4. As a last resort, the print/scan/attach method works The whole Free File Fillable Forms system really needs an overhaul. These rejection issues seem way too common for such a basic form. Thanks everyone for sharing your solutions - this thread probably saved dozens of people from having to mail in their returns!

Quick tip on the expense tracking part - don't overthink it when you're starting out. I wasted so much time trying different complex systems. Just get a dedicated business credit card that automatically categorizes expenses and syncs with accounting software. I use Chase Ink Business which integrates with QuickBooks. Makes expense tracking almost automatic. For an S Corp with your revenue level, you'll want a simple chart of accounts that tracks: - Office expenses - Travel & meals - Software subscriptions - Professional services - Equipment purchases - Home office (if applicable) Keep digital copies of all receipts (I use the QuickBooks app to snap photos). The IRS accepts digital receipts now.

The meal deduction rules have changed several times recently, but for 2025, business meals are generally 50% deductible if they're ordinary and necessary for your business. The key is proper documentation - you need to record the business purpose, who attended, and the business relationship. For S Corps specifically, if you're entertaining clients or having business meetings over meals, those qualify. Solo meals while traveling for business also count. Just make sure you're not trying to deduct personal meals or anything that could be seen as lavish. The temporary 100% deduction for restaurant meals that was in place during COVID has expired, so we're back to the standard 50% rule. Keep detailed records because the IRS scrutinizes meal deductions more than most other business expenses.