I tried H&R Block and they have the same March 17th date for Form 8379. Tried TaxAct too and they said mid-March. It's definitely an IRS thing, not specific to any one tax software. Apparently, it's because they had to update how injured spouse allocations are calculated with some tax law changes.

Thanks for checking! Guess I'll just have to be patient then. At least now I know it's not worth the hassle of switching tax software just for this issue. Hopefully the processing will be quick once we can actually file after the 17th.

That's really helpful advice, thanks! Did you need to submit anything beyond your W-2s to show the separate withholdings? I'm worried because I had some 1099 work this year in addition to my W-2 job, and my husband has only W-2 income.

For W-2s, those were sufficient since they clearly show whose income is whose. For your 1099 work, make sure you have documentation showing you're the one who performed the services - contracts with your name, invoices you sent, etc. The biggest issue we ran into was with joint bank accounts where taxes were withheld (like on interest or dividends). For those, we needed to show whose money was originally deposited that earned the interest. Bank statements showing deposits from each person's employer helped prove this.

This is really helpful! Question though - my school "required" us to have health insurance but it wasn't directly tied to a specific course. Would that count as a qualified expense? Also, some of my textbooks were technically listed as "recommended" not "required" on the syllabus but the professor actually did require us to have them for assignments. Can I count those?

Health insurance required by the school generally doesn't count as a qualified education expense for Pell Grant purposes, even if the school requires it. That falls under personal expenses according to IRS guidelines. For your textbooks that were "recommended" but actually needed for assignments, this is a gray area. Technically, only "required" textbooks count, but if you can document that these books were necessary to complete required coursework and assignments (like if the syllabus mentions assignments from these books), you could make a case for including them. If you were to be audited, you'd want documentation showing why these were effectively required for the course, such as assignment instructions that reference these "recommended" textbooks.

This advice could be misleading. If OP is being claimed as a dependent on someone else's return (like their parents), the filing threshold is much lower - just $1,250 for unearned income in 2024. Scholarship/grant money not used for qualified education expenses counts as unearned income.

Do you think there's value in going back to the same preparer each year? Or should I shop around for the best price annually?

There's definitely value in building a relationship with the same preparer over time. They learn your specific situation and can provide more tailored advice as they get to know your financial patterns. They'll also notice changes year-to-year that might indicate new tax opportunities. Shopping based on price alone can backfire. The cheapest preparers are often the least experienced or may rush through returns during busy season. If you find someone who does quality work and you're comfortable with them, the continuity is usually worth any small premium you might pay compared to shopping around.

Not everyone is confident doing their own taxes, especially with self-employment income. I tried doing my own and missed a huge home office deduction that my preparer caught the next year. Sometimes paying a professional saves you more than their fee.

Not everyone is comfortable doing tax math though. My eyes glaze over whenever I try to calculate this stuff, and I inevitably make mistakes. I think the point is that the employer shouldn't be blamed for following the W-4 instructions correctly.

Fair point. I forget that not everyone is comfortable with tax calculations. You're right that the employer isn't at fault here - they processed the withholding correctly based on the form provided. A simpler approach would be to just use the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator online. It walks you through everything step by step and tells you exactly what to put on each line of the W-4. No math required.

I think the problem is that the withholding system is based on outdated assumptions about household income. The tables were designed when it was common to have one primary earner in a family. Now with two similar incomes, the system gets confused without specific instructions.

What about state taxes? If someone reports this "other income" on federal taxes, do states have different rules about reporting and information sharing with law enforcement?

State tax authorities generally have their own reporting requirements, and information sharing between federal and state agencies does occur. States vary significantly in how they handle information and their relationships with law enforcement. Some states have stronger information sharing agreements with law enforcement than the federal government does. California and New York, for example, have robust tax enforcement divisions that do coordinate with other agencies. So while federal tax law has certain protections, state-level reporting could potentially create different risks.

It's actually real! While there's no specific form just for stolen property, the IRS guidance explicitly states that stolen property must be reported as income. Publication 17 has historically mentioned this requirement. The IRS doesn't have a "stolen items" line, but they do expect you to report it as "Other Income" on Schedule 1 of Form 1040. It's one of those bizarre tax code realities that exists because the tax system is designed to collect revenue from all income sources, regardless of how that income was obtained.