To all those having trouble reaching a human at IRS. I just ran across this video that gave me a shortcut to reach a human. Hope it helps! https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c

I've been dealing with this exact same message for about 6 weeks now. From what I've learned, the 151 topic usually means they're doing additional verification - could be income matching, identity verification, or checking your credits/deductions. The frustrating part is the wait time can be anywhere from a few weeks to several months. I've called the IRS twice and both times waited over 2 hours just to be told "it's under review, wait for a letter." Really considering trying one of those AI tools people are mentioning to at least understand what's causing the delay instead of being left in the dark.

Has anyone used the "cancel payment" feature directly in FreeTaxUSA? I think they have an option to cancel scheduled payments within a certain timeframe. Might be worth logging back into your account to see if you can cancel it there before trying more complicated solutions.

Don't stress too much about this - bank account typos are surprisingly common! I work at a credit union and see this kind of thing regularly. Here's what most likely will happen: When the IRS tries to process your payment, the bank will reject it because the account number doesn't exist or doesn't match your name. Banks have multiple verification steps that prevent money from accidentally going to wrong accounts. Your best bet is to call the IRS Electronic Federal Tax Payment System at 1-888-353-4537 (this is specifically for payment issues, not the general IRS line). They can cancel the pending payment and help you set up a new one immediately. Have your SSN and the exact payment amount ready. If for some reason you can't get through, make a backup payment right now using IRS Direct Pay online. That way you're covered either way. The IRS will see you made a good faith effort to pay on time, which protects you from penalties even if there's a brief delay sorting out the incorrect payment. The key is acting fast - don't wait for the payment to fail and then get a notice weeks later. Being proactive here will save you potential headaches and fees.

Wondering if either of you have student loans? This literally changed everything for my wife and me when we got married. If either of you are on income-based repayment, filing separately could save thousands in student loan payments even if you pay slightly more in taxes.

Great question! Since you're getting married in October, you'll be considered married for the entire 2024 tax year regardless of living separately. Here are the key things to consider: **Filing Status**: You'll have two options - Married Filing Jointly (MFJ) or Married Filing Separately (MFS). Head of Household won't be available once you're married. **W-4 Updates**: Yes, update your W-4s soon! With your combined income of ~$295k, you'll likely be in a higher tax bracket and may need to adjust withholdings to avoid underpayment penalties. **Children**: If filing jointly, you can claim both kids on one return. If filing separately, each claims their own child. **Property Considerations**: Since you both own homes, pay attention to the SALT deduction cap ($10k jointly vs $10k each if filing separately). With two properties, you might exceed this limit. **Run Both Scenarios**: Given your income levels and dual home ownership, definitely calculate both MFJ and MFS. Sometimes MFS works better despite losing some tax benefits, especially if you have high property taxes or state income taxes. The living situation doesn't matter for tax purposes - only your legal marital status on December 31st counts. I'd recommend using tax software to model both scenarios before deciding!

A big thing to ask is whether the buyer will want a covenant not to compete as part of the deal. This is super common with service businesses like property management. If they do, just know that payments for these are ordinary income, not capital gains. Sometimes buyers try to allocate a big chunk of the purchase price to the non-compete to get a faster deduction, while you'd prefer more allocated to goodwill for the capital gains rate.

Great point about the covenant not to compete! This is definitely something to negotiate upfront. In your case with the property management business, they'll likely want some kind of non-compete since you have existing relationships with landlords in the area. One strategy is to propose a shorter non-compete period (maybe 2-3 years instead of 5) with a smaller allocation, then push for more of the purchase price to be attributed to goodwill and the management contracts themselves. You might also consider whether there are any accounts receivable or prepaid management fees that should be allocated separately - those would be ordinary income anyway, so better to identify them clearly rather than have them lumped into other categories. Since you mentioned all the contracts were self-created, document that well. It supports treating them as part of the overall business goodwill rather than separately purchased intangible assets, which generally favors capital gains treatment when selling the entire business.

Has anyone had success getting the failure-to-pay penalties abated when filing an amended return for a capital loss carryback? We're in a similar situation but our CFO is saying it's not worth pursuing because the penalties will still apply even if the tax is reduced.

I went through almost the exact same situation with our C corp last year. A few key points from my experience: 1. The 3-year deadline Noah mentioned is correct, but don't wait until the last minute. The IRS processing time for corporate amendments can be 6+ months. 2. Regarding penalties and interest - they will be recalculated from the original due date based on your reduced liability after the carryback. However, you'll still owe some penalties for the period you didn't pay, just on a smaller base amount. 3. One thing that helped us significantly was filing Form 1139 (Application for Tentative Refund) along with the 1120X. This can speed up getting at least a partial refund while they process the full amendment. 4. Document everything about your cash flow issues and the market conditions that caused both the original payment problem and the subsequent losses. This can help with penalty abatement requests. The whole process took about 8 months for us, but we recovered about 65% of our tax liability plus got partial penalty relief. Definitely worth pursuing given your timeline - you still have nearly a year before the deadline.