Has anyone used TurboTax to file Form 709? I'm trying to figure out if their Premier version actually handles gift tax returns properly or if I should just do the paper form. The software costs so much and I don't want to pay if it can't handle this form correctly.

Just wanted to share my experience since I was in a very similar situation last year. I gave my sister $65,000 for her business startup and was completely lost on Form 709. The key thing that helped me was understanding that Part 2, Line 4 is where you enter your AVAILABLE unified credit, not the total lifetime exemption amount. Since this was my first gift over the annual exclusion, I entered the full unified credit amount of $5,113,800 (which corresponds to the $12.92 million exemption). The taxable gift amount ($60,000 - $17,000 annual exclusion = $43,000) gets calculated in Part 1, and then Part 2 figures out how much of your credit you're using. One mistake I almost made was forgetting to attach Schedule A with all the gift details. Make sure you complete that first before moving to the main form. The IRS needs to see exactly what you gave, to whom, and when. Good luck with your filing!

Has anyone managed to reach PriorTax customer service directly? What's the best contact method? Their website just sends me to FAQs that don't address my problem.

I had almost the exact same issue with PriorTax two weeks ago! The infinite loading on "save & go" is definitely a known bug they're dealing with. Here's what finally worked for me: 1. Try using an incognito/private browsing window - this bypasses any cached data that might be corrupted 2. If you're using Chrome, go to Settings > Advanced > Reset and clean up > Clean up computer and run that tool 3. Most importantly - try accessing your return through their mobile app instead of the website. For some reason the mobile version doesn't have the same JavaScript conflicts I was stuck for 4 days before discovering the mobile app workaround. All my data was still there and I could edit/save everything normally through the app. Once I completed everything on mobile, I was able to access it normally on desktop again. Don't give up on PriorTax yet - you're so close to finishing! The mobile app trick saved me from having to start over with different software.

Anyone try calling the TurboTax support line? I had a similar issue and their support team actually helped identify the problem was with my state ID number. Might be worth a shot before trying other services?

I've been through this exact same nightmare! One thing that helped me was checking if there were any spaces or special characters accidentally entered with the EIN. Sometimes when you copy-paste from a PDF W-2, it picks up invisible characters that look fine but cause reject codes. Also, if your employer recently went through any corporate changes (merger, acquisition, name change), they might have multiple EINs on file with the IRS and it can take time for everything to sync up. In that case, you might need to use the old EIN even if your W-2 shows the new one. Don't panic about the deadline - you have until the actual due date to get it accepted, and even if you're a bit late, the penalties for filing late are usually pretty minimal if you're getting a refund (which most people are). The IRS is generally understanding about technical difficulties during tax season.

Beware that some of these social casinos operate in legal gray areas. If the site isn't properly licensed for gambling in your jurisdiction, there could be additional complications beyond just tax issues.

One thing to keep in mind is timing - you'll want to report the Bitcoin winnings as income for the tax year when you actually received them, not when you won the play coins. So if you won the coins in December 2024 but didn't convert them to Bitcoin until January 2025, that would be 2025 income. Also, make sure to keep records of the exact date and Bitcoin price when you received the payout, since that establishes both your taxable income amount and your cost basis for any future sales. The social casino should have transaction records you can reference, but don't rely on them to provide tax documents - most of these platforms don't issue proper gambling forms like traditional casinos do.

Anyone else notice that TaxSlayer seems really buggy this year compared to previous years? I switched to FreeTaxUSA after getting weird errors in TaxSlayer that their support couldn't even explain. Their customer service wait times were over 2 hours when I tried calling!

I'm glad you got it sorted out! This is actually a pretty common issue with tax software - they're designed to be overly cautious and flag anything that might indicate missing information. The education credit section is notorious for this kind of confusion. Just to add some context for anyone else reading this thread: most tax software will let you claim education expenses for yourself through either the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC) or the Lifetime Learning Credit (LLC). The AOTC is generally better if you're in your first four years of college, while the LLC works for any post-secondary education including professional development courses. Make sure you have your Form 1098-T from your school if you're claiming tuition expenses, and keep receipts for any books or supplies you're claiming. The software should walk you through which credit gives you the bigger benefit once you enter all your information correctly.