Don't forget that if you're still holding the remaining 171 shares, you'll want to keep extremely detailed records of your cost basis for when you eventually sell! I learned this the hard way. My company did 3 acquisitions over 5 years, which meant our stock went through multiple conversions. When I finally sold shares last year, I had absolutely zero documentation from the original grants 8 years ago. Ended up having to piece everything together from old paystubs and emails. I'd recommend creating a spreadsheet right now with: - Grant date - Vest date - FMV on vest date - Number of shares - Any adjustments for stock splits/mergers Trust me, future you will be eternally grateful when you need this info 5+ years from now!

Is anyone else's broker just completely useless with providing this info? My company uses E*Trade and their 1099-B just shows the proceeds from the shares sold for taxes but nothing about the actual RSU grant or vesting details. And their customer service people just read from scripts and don't understand RSU tax treatment at all.

One option nobody's mentioned yet is splitting the difference. You could adjust your withholding to reduce it somewhat, but not eliminate the refund entirely. That way you still get more in your paychecks now, but you're also building in a safety margin in case your tax calculations aren't perfect. I do this every year - aim for a modest refund of $1,000-2,000 as insurance against unexpected tax issues, while keeping my regular withholding reasonable. The perfect withholding would theoretically result in $0 owed and $0 refund, but that's nearly impossible to achieve with changing circumstances throughout the year.

Has anyone here actually applied an overpayment to the next year and then adjusted withholding to $0 for a quarter? My accountant warned me this could trigger an automated review because it looks unusual. Just wondering about real experiences.

I had this exact problem and TurboTax was NOT helpful! I ended up calculating my estimated payments manually and here's what worked for me: For Line 18, you need to list the DATE and AMOUNT of each payment you actually made, regardless of when it was due. The dates matter because the IRS calculates interest based on how late the payments were. If you have your bank records or IRS payment confirmations, just go through and list each payment chronologically with the exact date. Don't try to organize them by which quarter they were "for" - just list them in the order you paid them.

Don't panic about Form 2210! Most people get confused by it. One tip: if your total tax underpayment is less than $1,000, you may not even need to file this form at all - there's a safe harbor provision. If you're stuck on Line 18, just list all payments in chronological order with exact dates. And remember that even if you do have a penalty, it's just interest - not some huge fine. The penalty rates change quarterly but have been around 5-7% annually. Not pleasant but not the end of the world either!

Be careful about amending right away! Make sure you understand EXACTLY what the preparer did first. My sister had a similar situation and rushed to amend her return, but ended up creating more problems because she didn't understand what she was fixing. Get a professional review of your return (a legitimate CPA, not another random preparer). You might also want to check if your preparer has credentials - some people call themselves "tax preparers" without any qualifications at all.

Does the tax return have an EFIN or PTIN number on it anywhere? All legitimate tax preparers have to have these identification numbers. If they're missing, that's another red flag that you're dealing with someone who isn't properly registered with the IRS.

To answer your original question - yes, people would definitely pay for this service, but the pricing model would need to be reasonable. I think most people would be open to a "finder's fee" model where you pay a percentage of whatever's recovered. The industry standard seems to be around 10-15% of recovered funds. Anything higher feels excessive since the money already belongs to the person. Some states actually cap how much these services can charge - I believe California limits it to 10%.

What most people don't realize is that unclaimed funds go way beyond forgotten bank accounts. I used to work for my state's treasury department, and we'd see unclaimed property from: - Insurance policy payouts - Utility deposits - Uncashed paychecks - Stock dividends - Tax refunds - Security deposits - Contents of safe deposit boxes A notification service would be valuable if it could actually identify ALL types of unclaimed assets. The biggest challenge is accurately matching people to their funds since the state databases often have limited identifying information.