This is great advice! My friend had something similar happen with utility bills (same name, wrong account) and contacting the other person directly was the quickest solution. The tax office probably won't give out contact info, but they might be willing to forward a letter from you to the other property owner.

I actually asked the tax office if they could at least tell me where the other property was located or forward a message to the owner, but they refused citing privacy regulations. I even suggested they could contact the other Jeff Anderson themselves to explain the situation, but they said that wasn't their responsibility. It's so frustrating because somewhere out there, another Jeff Anderson suddenly had a multi-year tax debt wiped clean, and he probably has no idea it was because of my mistake. I feel like the tax office should at least inform him that his bill was paid by someone else by mistake.

This is important! Also, make sure you're looking at the correct level of government. Property taxes are usually handled at the county or municipal level, so you want to look for county procedures rather than state procedures in most cases. Each county might have slightly different rules for handling misapplied payments.

Wait, so if I sold my old Pokemon cards for more than I paid 20 years ago, that's capital gains and not just regular income? Does that mean I might pay less taxes on it? I made like $3k selling my childhood collection last year and just wasn't going to report it since I didn't get any forms.

Yes - if you owned those Pokemon cards for personal enjoyment for years and then sold them at a profit, that would be considered a capital gain, not ordinary income. Long-term capital gains (items held over a year) are typically taxed at lower rates than regular income. Since you held them for 20 years, you'd qualify for long-term capital gains rates, which could be 0%, 15%, or 20% depending on your income bracket - often lower than your regular income tax rate. You should definitely report this on Schedule D. Even without a 1099-K, the IRS expects you to report all income, including from casual sales that resulted in a profit.

Exactly right. Since you sold personal items at a loss (for less than you originally paid), there's no taxable income to report. And since you're well under the $20,000/200 transaction threshold, Facebook wasn't required to issue you a 1099-K for 2023 taxes.

Would an employer ever consider holding the garnished amount separately until confirmation rather than sending it to the IRS? It seems unfair to keep taking money when the debt is paid.

Unfortunately, employers generally can't hold the garnished amounts separately. We're legally required to follow the garnishment order until we receive an official release. If we failed to withhold and remit the funds as ordered, the company could be held liable for the full amount of the original debt. That said, some employers might be willing to advance you the equivalent of the garnished amount if you can show proof of payment, essentially treating it as a payroll advance that would be repaid once the duplicate payments are refunded by the IRS. This isn't standard practice, but it doesn't hurt to ask if you're in a tight financial situation due to the continued garnishment.

Yes, you'll get it back but it can take time. Call the IRS and specifically request a refund for the excess amount. They should apply it automatically, but in my experience, you need to be proactive about requesting it or it can sit in limbo for months.

Do they handle Form 8843? Also curious if FreeTaxUSA properly deals with tax treaties? I'm from a country with education exemptions.

FreeTaxUSA does support Form 8843, but you need to know to include it - it won't automatically suggest it based on your visa status. As for tax treaties, it does have options to enter treaty exemptions, but you need to know the specific article numbers and exemption amounts that apply to your situation. It doesn't guide you through determining eligibility like the specialized software does. For my simple situation it works, but if you have complicated treaty benefits, you might want something more specialized that will help identify which treaties apply to you.

I tried TaxSlayer last year as an F-1 student and couldn't figure out how to file as a non-resident alien. I think it's designed primarily for residents. I ended up switching to Sprintax even though it cost more.

Do you need to keep gas receipts too or just the mileage log?

For farm vehicles, you generally have two options: deduct actual expenses (gas, maintenance, insurance, etc.) OR take the standard mileage deduction. You can't do both. For most small farmers, the standard mileage deduction is simpler and often more beneficial. In that case, you only need to keep a mileage log with dates, destinations, purpose, and miles driven - no gas receipts needed. The log should differentiate between farm use and personal use if it's a vehicle you use for both. If you choose to deduct actual expenses instead, then yes, you'd need to keep all those gas receipts and maintenance records.

How far back do you need to keep farm tax records? Is it different than regular tax returns?