24 Has anyone compared whether it's better to claim ABA therapy under the medical expense deduction instead of the dependent care credit? I heard you can't double-dip and claim the same expenses for both.

Great question about comparing the medical expense deduction vs dependent care credit! I actually ran into this exact dilemma last year with my daughter's speech therapy costs. Here's what I learned: The dependent care credit is usually better because it's a direct credit (reduces taxes owed dollar-for-dollar) vs a deduction (only reduces taxable income). Plus, medical expenses only help if you itemize AND they exceed 7.5% of your AGI. For example, if you're in the 22% tax bracket and claim $3,000 in medical deductions, you save about $660 in taxes. But if you use that same $3,000 for the dependent care credit at 20%, you save $600 directly off your tax bill - and potentially more if you qualify for a higher credit percentage based on income. However, if you already have massive medical bills that put you over the 7.5% threshold anyway, then adding the therapy to medical might make sense. I'd recommend calculating both scenarios to see which gives you better overall tax savings!

wish i knew this before i filed... now im stuck refreshing my bank account every 5 mins lmaooo

Thanks for sharing this! I had no idea about the extra delay when paying fees from refund. Makes total sense though - the money has to make an extra stop. Definitely keeping this in mind for next year's filing strategy.

One more thing to consider - if you do end up getting that $675 refund, you might need to report the interest portion as income on your current year tax return! The IRS will send you a 1099-INT form for any interest they pay on refunds over $10. It's usually not a huge amount, but worth knowing about so you're not surprised when tax time comes around again. Also, definitely keep detailed records of all your communications with the IRS about this old return. If there are any issues down the road, having documentation of when you filed, when you contacted them, and what they told you will be super helpful.

One more thing to consider that I haven't seen mentioned - make sure to check if you've moved states since filing that 2011 return. If you lived in a different state back then, you might also have a state tax refund waiting for you in addition to the federal $675 credit. State tax agencies don't always communicate well with the IRS about address changes, so if you moved from say California to Texas after 2011, California might still be holding onto a refund for you at your old address. Most states have unclaimed property websites where you can search by name to see if they're holding any old tax refunds. Also, since you mentioned you're just now dealing with very old tax issues, it might be worth checking if you have unfiled returns from other years too. Sometimes people who get behind on taxes have multiple years to catch up on, and there could be refunds waiting from other years as well.

Been dealing with the same frustration! Just went through this process myself. The transcript method is definitely the way to go - WMR is basically useless and rarely updates. Once you get your account transcript, look for these key things: your filing date (150 code), any processing dates, and most importantly the 846 code which means your refund has been issued. The "as of date" at the top tells you when they last processed your account. It's way more detailed than WMR and actually shows what's happening behind the scenes. Takes some getting used to but so much better than being left in the dark!

I've been following this thread and wanted to share my experience from last year. Filed in early February and WMR showed "processing" for almost 8 weeks - I was going crazy! Finally learned about transcripts from this community and it was a total game changer. The transcript showed my refund was actually approved weeks before WMR updated. Now I skip WMR completely and go straight to checking my account transcript every Friday morning when they do updates. It takes a bit to learn the codes but once you do, you'll never go back to that useless WMR tool. Hang in there - 3 weeks isn't too bad, most returns take 21+ days especially during busy season!

Just so you know for next time - I always take a photo of my W-2s AND my first paystub from each new employer specifically because they have the EIN on them. I store them in a secure folder on my cloud drive. Learned this lesson the hard way after a company I worked for went bankrupt and completely disappeared.

This is such a common problem unfortunately! I went through something similar a few years back. One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet - if you filed taxes with that employer in previous years, your own tax records might have the EIN listed. Check your old tax returns (like your 2023 return if you worked there last year) - the EIN should be on any W-2s attached to those returns. Also, if you used any tax software like TurboTax or H&R Block to file previously, log into your account and look at your old returns there. Sometimes it's easier to find digitally than digging through paper copies. The state business registry search is definitely worth trying too - even if the business is dissolved, the records usually stay in the system for several years and sometimes include federal tax ID numbers.