14 I tried that route last year for my unfiled taxes. You can't just walk in - you have to make an appointment through their phone system first... which gets you right back to the impossible phone situation. And when I finally got an appointment 6 weeks out, they couldn't even help with multiple years of returns. They just gave me some forms and told me to mail everything in. Waste of time honestly.

10 Thanks for letting me know. That sounds super frustrating and not helpful at all. Guess I'll look into the other options mentioned here since showing up in person won't skip any steps in the process.

22 Be careful with this approach. If you owe money, you need to know how to properly calculate penalties and interest. I tried doing it myself and ended up with the IRS sending me letters saying I calculated everything wrong, which just created more headaches. Sometimes paying for proper help is worth it to avoid mistakes.

Thanks for the perspective! Did you find that your VITA experience helped you land your first tax job? I'm hoping it will give me a leg up when I start applying.

Absolutely it helped! I highlighted my VITA experience in all my job interviews. Employers loved that I already had practical experience preparing returns and working directly with clients. Many accounting students graduate only knowing theory, but VITA gives you hands-on experience. It also gives you great stories to tell in interviews. I talked about challenging cases I handled and how I researched solutions. This demonstrated problem-solving skills that firms are looking for. Several interviewers told me my VITA experience was what set me apart from other candidates.

This is so true! I've been doing taxes professionally for 8 years and I still look stuff up constantly. The tax code changes every year anyway, so memorization isn't as valuable as knowing how to research.

Thanks for bringing this up. I haven't received any notices about a tax sale yet, just the regular past due notices. I think I'm still in the penalty/interest phase rather than the actual lien sale process. I'm hoping to get the house sold before it gets to that point.

Then you're likely still in good shape. Most counties go through multiple steps before actually putting a property up for tax sale - first notices, then liens, then more notices, and finally the tax sale process. It usually takes 3+ years of non-payment in most places before they move to sell. Just make sure to disclose the situation to your real estate agent and potential buyers. The title company will find the tax liens during their search anyway, so it's better to be upfront. As others have mentioned, the unpaid taxes will just be deducted from your proceeds at closing.

Seconding this! My county had an "economic hardship" form that reduced my penalties by 75% when I provided proof of medical bills that had caused my financial problems. Definitely worth asking about.

Can it import the already completed Sch D and 8949 forms that OP mentioned, or would they have to re-enter all their crypto transactions manually?

Unfortunately it doesn't have a direct import feature for already completed forms. You would need to manually re-enter the information from your Schedule D and Form 8949. This is actually one downside compared to some other options mentioned. If you have a lot of crypto transactions, re-entering everything could be quite time-consuming.

Learned this the hard way too. Also date everything! I wrote notes on some of my forms but didn't put dates and couldn't remember which version was final when I got audited.

I had no idea about quarterly payments! What's the threshold for when you need to start making those? And how do you even calculate how much to pay each quarter?

The general rule is if you expect to owe $1,000 or more in taxes for the year from self-employment, you should make quarterly payments. With your combined income from both sources around $9,000, you'll likely need to make these payments. For calculating the amount, you can either pay 100% of last year's tax liability divided by 4 (the safe harbor method), or 90% of what you expect to owe this year. I use the IRS Form 1040-ES worksheet to figure it out. The due dates are April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15 of the following year.

That explains it! I was shocked when I got a 1099-K from PayPal this year when I never received one before. I only sold maybe $1200 worth of my old clothes and furniture. Do I really have to pay taxes on selling my used stuff??