Be careful... a friend of mine ignored a missing W-2 and got a CP2000 notice from the IRS about 8 months later. They calculated what he owed PLUS interest AND a 20% accuracy penalty. Ended up being WAY more expensive than just filing the amendment would have been. Just pay your tax guy or use one of the options others suggested. Not worth the stress of waiting for the IRS to catch it.

You absolutely need to file that amendment - don't even think about ignoring it! The IRS gets copies of all W-2s directly from employers, so they WILL catch this discrepancy eventually. It's not a matter of if, but when. I work in tax preparation and see this situation all the time. When clients try to "wait it out," they almost always end up paying more in penalties and interest than they would have spent on just filing the amendment properly. The IRS has automated systems that match W-2s to tax returns, and a $2,800 discrepancy will definitely trigger a notice. Here's what you need to know: File Form 1040-X as soon as possible. You'll likely owe additional tax on that $2,800 (probably around $300-600 depending on your tax bracket), plus you'll need to pay back part of your refund. But if you file the amendment before the IRS catches it, you'll avoid the hefty accuracy-related penalties that can be 20% of the underpayment. If $175 seems steep for your tax preparer, you can definitely do this yourself or use some of the tools others mentioned. The 1040-X form has pretty clear instructions, and since you're just adding income, it's relatively straightforward. Don't let the cost of fixing it now turn into a much bigger problem later!

One thing nobody has mentioned - leasing might be a better option if you plan to upgrade vehicles frequently. No depreciation recapture to worry about since you never owned the asset. Plus you can still deduct the lease payments as a business expense.

Something to consider that might help with your planning - the recapture calculation gets more complex if you use the vehicle for both business and personal use. If your heavy-duty truck is used 80% for business and 20% personal, only the business portion of the depreciation is subject to recapture rules. Also, keep detailed records of your business mileage and usage from day one. The IRS can challenge your depreciation deductions if you can't prove the business use percentage, which would affect both your original deduction and any recapture calculations later. One more tip: if you're considering the trade-in route, get multiple appraisals for the fair market value before making the deal. Dealerships sometimes manipulate trade-in values to make deals look better, but the IRS will use actual fair market value for recapture calculations, not whatever number appears on the dealer paperwork.

If you want to verify your employer contributions are correct, check your annual 401k statement from the plan administrator. Mine shows both my contributions and my employer match clearly broken down by pay period. Way easier than trying to find it on tax forms since it's not reported there!

This is exactly what I was worried about when I started my 401k last year! I kept checking my W-2 over and over thinking HR had made a mistake. What helped me feel confident everything was correct was logging into my 401k provider's website and downloading the year-end summary. It clearly showed my $2,200 in contributions and my employer's $1,800 match, which matched what I calculated from my pay stubs. The summary also breaks down when each contribution was made, so you can cross-reference it with your paychecks if you want to be extra sure. Your numbers look totally normal - that $1,640.80 employer match on your $1,970.14 contribution suggests a pretty good matching formula from your employer!

Have you checked your status on the NJ Division of Taxation website? Sometimes the generic "processing" message doesn't tell the whole story. I found out my return was actually on hold because they were missing a document (that I definitely submitted 🙄). Called them and got it sorted in one day, refund came a week later. Also, if you're really desperate for the cash, you might want to look into tax refund advances for next year. I know it's too late now, but as a fellow gig worker, I've used them before when things were tight. Yeah, the fees suck, but sometimes you need that money now, not when the state decides to finally process your return! 😂

I'm in a similar situation - filed my NJ return on March 12th and still waiting! The uncertainty is definitely stressful, especially when you're counting on that money. One thing I learned from calling their automated line is that if you have ANY business income (including gig work), your return automatically goes into a secondary review queue. They don't advertise this, but the rep told me it adds about 2-3 weeks to processing time because they have to verify the income against 1099s. Also, pro tip: if you create an account on their taxpayer portal, you can sometimes see more detailed status updates than the basic "Where's My Refund" tool. Mine showed "under review" when the main site just said "processing." Hang in there - from what I'm seeing in this thread, it sounds like we're all just caught in the March filing crunch with extra delays this year!

your basically done! the 150 code with that cycle date means its processed. now its just waiting for treasury to cut the check/dd

Hey Diego! Your transcript looks really solid - that Feb 24 processing date is great news. With cycle 5 (20250605), you're on the Thursday night/Friday morning update schedule. Since your return shows code 150 (tax return filed) with that processing date, you're essentially just waiting for the Treasury to issue your refund now. The $10,790 refund breakdown makes sense - you've got withholding, what looks like Child Tax Credit (that $2,439 credit), and a substantial EIC of $7,830. Your self-employment tax of $573 is being more than covered by all these credits. Keep checking WMR (Where's My Refund) tool on Friday mornings since that's when cycle 5 updates. You should see movement soon! 🤞