My sister went through almost the exact same situation with her adopted son. What worked for her was submitting Form 8862 (Information To Claim Certain Credits) along with a detailed letter explaining the circumstances and documentation from the adoption agency confirming the dates of placement and finalization. She also included affidavits from her social worker and pediatrician confirming they had been seeing the child since placement. The IRS eventually approved her claim after initial rejection. The key was persistence and overwhelming documentation from multiple sources.

Have you tried contacting your state's taxpayer advocate? They can sometimes help navigate these situations, especially when there are extenuating circumstances like yours. They might be able to help identify exactly what documentation the IRS needs to approve your claim. Also, just a personal experience - we had a somewhat similar situation with our kinship placement and eventually got our credits after appealing, but it took almost 8 months and multiple submissions. Don't give up!

For what it's worth, I went through something similar and found out it's pretty common with gig work. Your W-2 withholding is probably correct, but the issue is that you need to be making quarterly estimated tax payments on your 1099 income. When you're seeing that big refund before entering your 1099, it means your W-2 job is withholding correctly for THAT income only. But once you add the 1099 income, you owe additional taxes that weren't withheld. I solved this by setting up automatic transfers of 25-30% of my DoorDash deposits into a separate savings account for taxes. Then I make quarterly payments using the IRS Direct Pay system.

One thing no one mentioned - check if you changed your W4 in the past year or if your employer updated their payroll system. My company switched payroll providers last year and somehow my withholding got WAY messed up (too much taken out) even though I didn't change anything on my W4. If you do wanna adjust your W4 to have less taken out from your regular job, use the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator online. It lets you put in both W2 and 1099 income to give you the right withholding.

As someone who's been audited for exactly this type of situation, let me offer some practical advice: 1) Business purpose is everything. If you buy a $130k luxury vehicle primarily for the deduction rather than because it genuinely serves a necessary business function, you're asking for trouble. 2) Keep meticulous records of every property you visit, meeting you take, and business mile you drive. I use an app that logs all my business trips automatically. 3) Consider a cost-benefit analysis. Even if you could get the deduction (doubtful given passive activity loss limits), is the administrative burden and audit risk worth the tax savings? 4) Talk to someone who specializes specifically in taxation for physicians with real estate investments. Generic CPAs often miss the nuances here. Just my two cents from someone who learned the hard way!

Have you considered a 1031 exchange into opportunity zones instead? Much cleaner tax advantages than trying to create losses. My practice income is similar to yours, and I've found that investing in actual rental properties in opportunity zones gives me better tax benefits without raising the same red flags.

This is why I always say the tax code is anti-family! The government basically punishes you for getting married. My wife and I had the exact same issue. We used to get around $5,000 back when we filed separately, now we're lucky if we get $1,200.

One thing to consider for next year - you might want to adjust your withholding on your W-4s since your tax situation has changed significantly. If you're owing a lot now, updating your withholding could help prevent a big surprise next year. The IRS has a Tax Withholding Estimator tool on their website that can help with this.

I'm dealing with the same Form 2210 issue and my software provider told me it should be available by March 15th. They said the delay is because the IRS made last-minute changes to the form's calculations for the 2025 filing season. If your clients can wait until then, e-filing would still be faster than paper filing now. For the employer hold issue - I've had success writing a letter on my preparers letterhead explaining the situation to the employer. Most reasonable employers will accept documentation that you're waiting on IRS form availability rather than penalizing the employee.

Another option is to e-file now WITHOUT the Form 2210 and then file an amended return later with Form 2210 once it becomes available. This gets the main return processed right away, clearing any employer holds, and then you deal with the penalty waiver separately.