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Using Claimyr will:
- Connect you to a human agent at the IRS
- Skip the long phone menu
- Call the correct department
- Redial until on hold
- Forward a call to your phone with reduced hold time
- Give you free callbacks if the IRS drops your call
If I could give 10 stars I would
If I could give 10 stars I would If I could give 10 stars I would Such an amazing service so needed during the times when EDD almost never picks up Claimyr gets me on the phone with EDD every time without fail faster. A much needed service without Claimyr I would have never received the payment I needed to support me during my postpartum recovery. Thank you so much Claimyr!
Really made a difference
Really made a difference, save me time and energy from going to a local office for making the call.
Worth not wasting your time calling for hours.
Was a bit nervous or untrusting at first, but my calls went thru. First time the wait was a bit long but their customer chat line on their page was helpful and put me at ease that I would receive my call. Today my call dropped because of EDD and Claimyr heard my concern on the same chat and another call was made within the hour.
An incredibly helpful service
An incredibly helpful service! Got me connected to a CA EDD agent without major hassle (outside of EDD's agents dropping calls ā which Claimyr has free protection for). If you need to file a new claim and can't do it online, pay the $ to Claimyr to get the process started. Absolutely worth it!
Consistent,frustration free, quality Service.
Used this service a couple times now. Before I'd call 200 times in less than a weak frustrated as can be. But using claimyr with a couple hours of waiting i was on the line with an representative or on hold. Dropped a couple times but each reconnected not long after and was mission accomplished, thanks to Claimyr.
IT WORKS!! Not a scam!
I tried for weeks to get thru to EDD PFL program with no luck. I gave this a try thinking it may be a scam. OMG! It worked and They got thru within an hour and my claim is going to finally get paid!! I upgraded to the $60 call. Best $60 spent!
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Luca Ferrari
14 With your situation, I think there's a middle path that might work best. Start with TurboTax and go through the process. If at any point you feel uncertain or the software seems confused by your inputs (especially about the 401k transfer or education expenses), then pivot to a professional. I did this last year - started in TurboTax, realized my situation with business expenses and education credits was getting complicated, and took my partially completed return to a CPA who finished it properly. Saved me money compared to just handing everything to the CPA from scratch.
Luca Ferrari
ā¢19 Does TurboTax charge you if you start but don't file with them? I'm worried about paying twice.
Luca Ferrari
ā¢14 TurboTax only charges when you actually file or print your return, not for just inputting your information. You can work through the entire process, see your estimated refund, and then decide not to file without paying anything. What I did was complete everything in TurboTax, printed out the draft forms (there's an option to print without paying), and took those to my CPA. This saved me money because the CPA spent less time gathering and inputting my basic information since I'd already organized everything.
Luca Ferrari
11 For what it's worth, I was in almost your exact situation last year with finishing grad school and having a 401k rollover. I tried both approaches across two years and here's what I learned: Year 1: Used TurboTax, spent about 3 hours figuring everything out, got a $2100 refund Year 2: Used a CPA, spent $350, got a $2950 refund The CPA found education credits and deductions I missed and properly handled some investments. For me, the professional knowledge was worth it, especially with the education expenses. The difference more than covered the CPA fee.
Luca Ferrari
ā¢22 Did you bring your previous year's return to the CPA? I've heard they can sometimes find mistakes from prior years too.
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Pedro Sawyer
One of the weirdest tax rules I've come across is that if you have forgiven debt (like cancelled credit card debt or a foreclosure), the IRS treats that as INCOME you have to pay taxes on! So if you're already struggling financially and manage to get $10k in debt forgiven, surprise! You now potentially owe taxes on that $10k as if someone handed you cash. There are some exceptions like bankruptcy, but it's still a crazy rule that kicks people when they're down.
Wait that's insane! So if I negotiate with my credit card company to settle a debt for less than I owe, I'd have to pay taxes on the amount they forgive? How would that even work with the timing? Like would I get a tax form the next year?
Pedro Sawyer
ā¢Exactly! The credit card company would send you a 1099-C form (Cancellation of Debt) in January/February of the following year showing the amount of debt that was forgiven, and you'd have to report that as income on your tax return. For example, if you settled a $15,000 debt for $10,000, you'd receive a 1099-C showing $5,000 of cancelled debt, which would be added to your taxable income. The timing can be especially brutal because by the time you get the form, you might have already spent that "savings" or not budgeted for the additional tax liability.
Mae Bennett
Has anyone heard about the weird rule where you pay different tax rates depending on if you get paid bi-weekly vs monthly? My friend says she gets more money overall with bi-weekly but i think shes confused about how tax brackets work...
Demi Hall
ā¢Your friend is partially right but for the wrong reason. The withholding calculations can be different between bi-weekly and monthly payrolls, but your actual tax liability at the end of the year is exactly the same regardless of pay frequency. What happens is that bi-weekly receives 26 paychecks per year (which equals 52 weeks), while monthly receives 12. The withholding tables sometimes calculate slightly differently, which can result in slightly different amounts being withheld. But when you file your actual tax return, it's based on your total annual income, not how frequently you received it.
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Connor Byrne
I'm still on the TurboTax train but getting annoyed with the constant price increases. My return is pretty simple - one W-2, standard deduction, and one state. How hard was the transition to FreeTaxUSA? Were you able to import last year's information or did you have to start from scratch?
I had to start from scratch since there's no direct transfer between TurboTax and FreeTaxUSA, which was annoying but not the end of the world. Just had my previous year's return pulled up on my laptop for reference. The interface is definitely different - less hand-holding than TurboTax but still very straightforward. I found it actually asked fewer unnecessary questions. For your simple situation, I think you'd find it super easy. The whole process took me about 30 minutes for both federal and state. The biggest adjustment was getting used to a different layout, but the savings made it totally worth it.
Yara Elias
Has anyone compared FreeTaxUSA to other free options like Cash App Taxes (formerly Credit Karma Tax)? I've been using Cash App for a couple years since it's free for both federal AND state, but I'm wondering if FreeTaxUSA might be better for some reason.
I've used both. Cash App Taxes is good if you want completely free federal+state, but FreeTaxUSA has better support for certain tax situations. Cash App struggled with my HSA contributions and some investment stuff last year. FreeTaxUSA's interface is also more thorough in my experience - it asks more detailed questions that might help find deductions. But if your taxes are super straightforward and you want totally free, Cash App is fine.
Yara Elias
ā¢Thanks for the comparison! I do have some investment accounts and started contributing to an HSA this year, so maybe FreeTaxUSA would be better. $12-15 for state isn't a big deal if it means a more accurate return. Might give it a try this year.
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Raul Neal
Don't forget about quarterly estimated tax payments! As an independent contractor/sole proprietor, you don't have an employer withholding taxes from your paychecks. The IRS generally expects you to make quarterly tax payments if you'll owe more than $1,000 at tax time. I learned this the hard way my first year and got hit with underpayment penalties. Now I set aside about 30% of each payment I receive and make quarterly payments using Form 1040-ES. Keeps me from panicking come tax season!
Jenna Sloan
ā¢Is that 30% just for federal or does that include state taxes too? I'm in Texas so no state income tax, but wondering what percentage others typically set aside.
Hey after reading all this, I think i'm in a similar situation & didn't even realize it lol. I walk dogs through an app and the app company sent me a 1099 for last year. Does that mean I'm technically a sole proprietor too?? This tax stuff is so confusing š©
Beth Ford
ā¢Yes! If you're getting a 1099 form (specifically a 1099-NEC or 1099-K) from the dog walking app, you are considered both an independent contractor and a sole proprietor by default. You'll need to file Schedule C with your tax return to report that income and any related business expenses. The good news is you can deduct business expenses like mileage driving to client homes, poop bags, leashes, business use of your phone (for the app), etc. Just make sure to keep good records of those expenses!
Anastasia Sokolov
Just wanted to add - make sure your parents know you're claiming yourself! If they try to claim you and you've already filed as independent, both your returns will get flagged and processed manually, which can delay refunds by months. My son and I went through this last year - he thought he qualified to claim himself, filed early, then I filed claiming him (I still provided most of his support). We both got letters from the IRS and had to submit documentation. The whole thing took 5 months to resolve.
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Malik Johnson
ā¢Thanks for the heads up! I've already talked to my parents about this, and they agree that since I'm paying for everything myself, I should claim myself. We calculated all the expenses and they definitely don't provide half my support anymore. I'm going to keep good records of all my expenses just in case though. Did the IRS require specific documentation for your situation?
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Anastasia Sokolov
ā¢The IRS wanted pretty detailed documentation from both of us. They asked for proof of payments for tuition, rent receipts, estimated food costs, medical expenses, and basically anything that counted as "support." They even requested utility bills and proof of who paid them. They also looked at how many months he actually lived with me versus on his own. The most important factor ended up being who paid for what, rather than just living arrangements. Since your parents agree with your assessment, you should be fine, but definitely keep good records of all major expenses - especially tuition payments, rent, and any large bills you pay yourself.
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Sean O'Connor
Btw is anyone else having issues with TurboTax when trying to figure this out? It keeps giving me confusing prompts about whether i "can" be claimed vs if i "will" be claimed as a dependent.
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Zara Ahmed
ā¢Yeah, TurboTax is super confusing on this! The question isn't whether you WILL be claimed, but whether you CAN legally be claimed based on the tests the others mentioned. I ended up using FreeTaxUSA instead because their questions were more straightforward about dependency status.
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