One resource I've found super helpful is the "Sales Tax Institute" website. They have free state-by-state guides that outline service taxability. From my experience in running a marketing agency for 5+ years: - Pure marketing services (strategy, consulting, campaign management) are exempt in most states - Digital products (downloadable reports, templates, etc.) are taxable in about 30 states - SaaS tools you might resell to clients are taxable in ~20 states - Design services fall into a gray area in some states Multi-state sales tax compliance is honestly one of the biggest headaches of running a digital business. I ended up registering in the 5 states where I have the most clients just to be safe.

Something nobody's mentioned yet - make sure you're tracking where your CLIENTS are, not just where you're located. I made this mistake when I started my agency. Even if marketing services are exempt in your state, if you hit economic nexus thresholds in other states (usually around $100k in sales or 200 transactions), you might need to register and file there too. Some states also have different rules for digital products vs. services.

Be extremely careful when searching for IRS phone numbers online. I found what I thought was a legitimate number on a tax help website, called it, and it turned out to be a scam operation. They started asking for my SSN and payment info to "verify my identity." The ONLY safe place to get IRS contact info is directly from IRS.gov or the official IRS publication you received. Don't trust random Google search results like I did - lesson learned the expensive way.

For property tax deduction questions specifically, you might want to try the Individual Tax Line at 800-829-1040 and specifically ask to be transferred to someone who handles Schedule A itemized deductions. When you call, have your prior year returns ready and be prepared to explain that your question relates to property tax deductibility - this helps them route you to the right specialist faster. I'd also recommend calling right at 7am when they open, as the wait times are typically shortest then. If you're dealing with SALT (State and Local Tax) limitation issues on your property taxes, mention that specifically since it requires someone familiar with the $10,000 cap rules.

I'm on week 14 of waiting for my amended return and just checked "Where's My Amended Return" for the millionth time... FINALLY shows "adjusted" instead of "received"! There is hope people!!!

I'm in the exact same boat! Filed my amended return on March 8th and still stuck on "received" status after 13 weeks. It's so frustrating seeing others who filed around the same time getting their refunds already. I amended mine to claim the Child Tax Credit that I missed on my original return - nothing too complicated, but apparently that doesn't guarantee faster processing. The uncertainty is the worst part because you never know if there's an actual issue or if you're just in the normal processing queue. Thanks for posting this - at least I know I'm not alone in the waiting game! Going to try calling the IRS next week if I hit the 16-week mark with no movement.

So i had the EXACT same issue last month. Paper check that never showed up. I couldn't get through to anyone at the IRS for weeks. Finally used claimyr.com to get through to an agent who told me my check had been returned to them because of a partial address issue. They fixed it and resent it. The second check arrived in 8 days. If I hadn't gotten through to them I would still be waiting. Sometimes you need to talk to an actual person to fix these things.

I'm in a similar situation - my refund check was mailed April 16th and still nothing after 11 days. Reading through all these comments is both reassuring and terrifying at the same time! It sounds like anything from 2-7 weeks is "normal" which is crazy when you're waiting on thousands of dollars. I'm definitely going to set up USPS Informed Delivery today and maybe call my local post office to see if they have it sitting there with a scanning error like someone mentioned. Thanks for posting this - at least I know I'm not alone in this waiting game!

Is your friend enrolled as an Electronic Return Originator (ERO)? If so, he can access e-Services online and might have an easier path to resolving this. Also worth checking if he has a dedicated IRS agent through the Practitioner Priority Service - experienced accountants often have this resource and it can bypass many of the normal wait times.

I work at a mid-size CPA firm and we've dealt with this exact scenario before. Here's what I'd recommend for your friend: 1) Call EFTPS immediately at 1-888-353-4537 (not the number mentioned earlier - that's the old one). Explain it's an emergency with multiple clients and pending deadlines. They can issue temporary PINs over the phone that are valid for 30 days. 2) If he can't get through quickly, have him fax a signed letter on his letterhead to 855-264-3287 explaining the situation with a list of all affected EINs. Include his PTIN number if he has one. They usually respond to emergency fax requests within 24-48 hours. 3) As a last resort, clients can make payments directly through their bank's online bill pay system using the "Federal Tax Deposit" option - most major banks offer this and it posts same-day if done before 8 PM ET. The key thing is to document everything he's doing to resolve this. Even if some payments are a day or two late, showing he took immediate action usually results in penalty abatement when you can prove reasonable cause. I've successfully gotten penalties waived in similar situations by providing this documentation to the IRS. Don't let him stress too much - this is more common than people think and there are definitely solutions!