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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!
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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.
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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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I had the same issue last year! The confusion comes from how FreeTaxUSA displays the information. The Earned Income Credit (EIC) is already included in your "TOTAL PAYMENTS" - that's why that number matches your EIC amount exactly. So your tax calculation is: Total Tax ($832) - Total Payments ($420) = Amount Owed ($412) If you weren't eligible for the EIC, your Total Payments would be $0 and you'd owe the full $832. So the credit is definitely working for you! FreeTaxUSA could definitely make this clearer in how they display it. TurboTax shows it differently which makes it easier to understand, but they charge way more for self-employment filing.
Is FreeTaxUSA good for self-employment returns? I've been using TurboTax but the fees are killing me for the self-employment version.
FreeTaxUSA is actually really good for self-employment returns and WAY cheaper than TurboTax. They include all the Schedule C forms and self-employment calculations in their free federal filing. You only pay for state filing (around $15). The interface isn't quite as polished as TurboTax, but it has all the same features for self-employment. It walks you through business income, expenses, home office deductions, vehicle expenses - everything TurboTax does but without the ridiculous upcharge for self-employment features. I switched three years ago and have saved at least $200 in tax prep fees since then.
QuantumQuest
Wait, I'm confused about something. If your total tax is $832 and your EIC is $420, then yes, you would owe $412. But where does the self-employment tax fit in? Is that part of the $832 or separate? I'm self-employed too and always confused about how all these numbers work together. Anyone know a simple way to understand this?
The self-employment tax is included in that $832 "Total Tax" amount. It's actually made up of two parts: 1. Self-employment tax (15.3% of your net self-employment income) 2. Income tax (based on tax brackets, but likely $0 in OP's case because of the standard deduction) Since their income after the standard deduction is $0 for income tax purposes, the entire $832 is probably just self-employment tax. The confusing part is that you still owe self-employment tax even when you don't owe income tax. Self-employment tax starts from dollar one of profit, while income tax only kicks in after your income exceeds the standard deduction.
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Just my 2 cents - I've used both Tax Slayer and Free Tax USA. For me Free Tax USA wins hands down. The interface isn't as pretty but it's WAY more transparent about what's happening with your taxes. Tax Slayer kept trying to upsell me on stuff I didn't need. One thing to watch out for with Free Tax USA is that if you have HSA contributions, make sure you enter them correctly. The form is a bit confusing and I almost double-counted mine last year which would have messed up my return.
Thanks for this! Do either of them handle crypto transactions well? I dabbled a bit last year (lost money of course lol) and heard that can complicate things.
One thing to consider is audit support! I used Free Tax USA last year and got a letter from the IRS questioning some of my deductions. Free Tax USA's help section had exactly what I needed to respond correctly, but they don't provide direct representation if you get audited unless you pay extra for their "Audit Defense" add-on when you file. Not sure about Tax Slayer's audit support, but worth looking into if that's a concern for you!
I can answer about Tax Slayer - their basic package doesn't include audit support either. You have to upgrade to their Premium or Self-Employed tiers to get that (~$45-70 range). Honestly though, for simple returns like what OP described, the chance of a serious audit is pretty low.
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One thing nobody has mentioned yet - if you're self-employed and the investment was related to your business, you might be able to deduct some of these fees as a business expense on Schedule C. I had a similar situation where I took a loan to invest in equipment for my consulting business that also included some stock in the company, and my accountant was able to allocate part of the fees as a legitimate business expense. Might be worth checking if any portion of your investment had a business purpose rather than just being a personal investment.
Would this apply if the stock options were from my employer where I'm just a regular W-2 employee? I don't have any self-employment income or a Schedule C.
No, unfortunately this wouldn't apply in your situation. Since you're a W-2 employee and these were personal investments (even though they were from your employer), you can't deduct these on Schedule C. This strategy only works for self-employed individuals where the investment is directly tied to their business operations. Your best approach is still to add the platform fee to your cost basis as mentioned in the earlier comments, which will reduce your capital gain amount.
Connor Byrne
Has anyone actually calculated if it's even worth itemizing deductions just to claim investment interest expense? I paid about $3,200 in margin interest last year but the standard deduction is so high now that I'm not sure if it matters.
Yara Elias
ā¢I ran the numbers for my situation and it wasn't worth it. Had about $2,700 in investment interest but my total itemized deductions were still about $4k below the standard deduction. Plus you can only deduct investment interest up to the amount of your net investment income, which was another limitation for me.
Connor Byrne
ā¢Thanks for sharing your experience. I was thinking it might be the same for me - probably not worth the extra paperwork if I'm still better off with the standard deduction. Guess I'll stick with adding fees to cost basis where possible and not worry about trying to deduct the interest separately.
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I've been a payroll specialist for 10+ years, and I see this issue all the time with dual-income households. Here's what's happening: when both you and your wife claim "0" (which isn't even a thing on the new W4), your employers are each withholding as if your specific job is your household's only income. The withholding tables are progressive, so they withhold at lower rates for the first chunks of income. The problem? When you combine two incomes, more of that money falls into higher tax brackets than either employer accounts for. So neither job withholds enough for your actual combined tax situation. Solution: One or both of you should fill out the new W4 and either: 1. Check the box in Step 2(c) for "multiple jobs" which approximately increases withholding 2. Complete the worksheet and enter the more precise extra withholding amount in Step 4(c) 3. Or just put an additional dollar amount to withhold from each paycheck
This makes so much sense! So basically each of our employers is calculating withholding like we're in a lower tax bracket because they only see their portion of our income? Now I understand why we keep owing despite claiming "0" on the old forms. If we both make roughly the same amount (I make about $115k and she makes about $108k), should we both check that box in Step 2(c) or just one of us? And do we still select "Married filing jointly" at the top?
Yes, you've got it exactly right! Each employer only "sees" their portion of your income, so they withhold at lower rates than what applies to your combined income. When your incomes are that close (both around $110k), you should only have one of you check the box in Step 2(c). If you both did it, you'd over-withhold by quite a bit. And yes, you should both still select "Married filing jointly" at the top of the form. The spouse with slightly higher income (you in this case) should be the one to check the box, while your wife's W4 should just have the filing status and nothing checked in Step 2.
Has anyone tried just doing an extra flat amount of withholding? My husband and I had the same problem (both claimed 0, still owed $3k+ every year). I just calculated how much we owed, divided by 26 pay periods, and added an extra $125 withholding per paycheck in line 4(c). Way simpler than trying to figure out all these worksheets and multiple jobs calculations.
Mei Chen
ā¢This is actually pretty smart. No complex calculations, just fixing the shortfall directly. I might try this approach since my eyes glaze over with all the W4 worksheet stuff.
Ava Garcia
Has anyone used those online "quit claim deed" services to transfer property? I'm in a similar situation and wondering if we need a lawyer or if those DIY services are good enough for a simple transfer between family members.
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StarSailor}
ā¢DON'T use those online services for property transfers!!! My cousin did that last year to add his son to his deed and completely messed up the title. Cost him $3,800 in lawyer fees to fix it. Definitely get a real estate attorney for this - way cheaper than fixing mistakes later.
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Miguel Silva
Just a heads up since I went through this recently - make sure your mom doesn't file her gift tax return (Form 709) herself unless she's really comfortable with tax forms. My dad tried to DIY it and actually reported the gift incorrectly which caused a whole mess. Either get a CPA or make sure you're using good tax software that handles gift tax returns. It's not super complicated but there are a few tricky sections that are easy to mess up.
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