Can't reach IRS? Claimyr connects you to a live IRS agent in minutes.
Claimyr is a pay-as-you-go service. We do not charge a recurring subscription.
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!
Ask the community...
- DO post questions about your issues.
- DO answer questions and support each other.
- DO post tips & tricks to help folks.
- DO NOT post call problems here - there is a support tab at the top for that :)
Join the conversation
Join the conversation
Alicia Stern
One option you might want to consider is doing a 1031 exchange instead of a regular sale. If you exchange the condo for another rental property, you can defer both the capital gains tax AND the depreciation recapture. The catch is you have to identify a replacement property within 45 days and close within 180 days of selling your condo, plus you must use a qualified intermediary to hold the funds. I did this with a rental house last year and it wasn't nearly as complicated as I feared. Just make sure you're planning to stay in real estate investing long-term, because you're basically kicking the tax can down the road.
Thanks for the suggestion! I've actually been thinking about getting out of real estate altogether, so a 1031 exchange probably isn't right for me at this point. But I appreciate the idea - if I was looking to stay in the landlord business, that would definitely be something to consider to avoid the recapture hit.
Has anyone successfully used the installment sale method to spread out depreciation recapture over multiple years? My accountant mentioned this as a possibility but wasn't super clear on how it would actually work in practice.
Drake
ā¢Yes, an installment sale can help spread out the tax hit. When you sell with owner financing and receive payments over multiple years, you can spread the depreciation recapture tax over the payment period rather than paying it all in year one. However, there's a catch - if the mortgage on your property exceeds your basis, you might face something called "mortgage over basis" that can trigger immediate gain recognition.
Join the conversation
Ravi Patel
Former HOA board member here. The property manager is 100% wrong and I suspect they just don't want to do the extra work. Your HOA should absolutely provide you with documentation showing what portion of your dues went toward property taxes. In our HOA, we included this breakdown in our annual financial statement to all owners automatically. It's not difficult accounting - they know exactly how much they paid in property taxes and how many units share that cost.
Amina Bah
ā¢Thanks for the insight! Do you think it would help if I reached out to individual board members instead of just the property manager? Or should I bring it up at the next board meeting?
Ravi Patel
ā¢Definitely reach out to board members directly. Property managers sometimes filter what gets to the board, and your board members might not even be aware of your request. I'd send an email to the board president specifically. Bringing it up at a board meeting is also effective. Put your request in writing beforehand asking to be added to the meeting agenda. When other owners hear about it, they'll likely want the same information, which puts pressure on the board to address it properly. Most board members are just owners like you and would want this documentation for their own taxes too.
Check your HOA's annual financial statement! Even if they won't give you a special document, the information is probably already available to you. Look for line items like "property taxes" or "real estate taxes" in the annual budget or financial report. Then just calculate your percentage based on your ownership share (usually listed in your master deed or condo docs). If you own 2% of the development, then you can deduct 2% of the total property taxes paid by the HOA.
Omar Zaki
ā¢This is what I did with my townhouse. Our HOA wouldn't provide individual breakdowns, but I found the property tax line in the annual budget and calculated my share based on square footage. I've been deducting it for years with no problems.
Join the conversation
Kevin Bell
Another option nobody's mentioned is checking if your local community college offers tax assistance. The one near me has accounting students (supervised by their professors who are CPAs) who do free tax reviews. They can't file for you, but they'll go over your return and answer specific questions. Might be worth looking into if you're trying to save money. Just call the business/accounting department and ask if they have a VITA or tax assistance program.
That's really interesting! Would students really know enough to handle self-employment questions though? My main concerns are around business deductions and depreciation.
Kevin Bell
ā¢The students themselves might be hit or miss on complex issues, but the supervising CPAs definitely know their stuff. I should've been clearer - the students do basic returns, but the professors oversee everything and handle the more complex questions like business deductions. When I went, I specifically mentioned I had self-employment questions, and they made sure the professor reviewed that part of my return. They actually found a home office deduction I had missed!
If your questions are specifically about depreciation under $1000, you might not need paid help at all. Look up "de minimis safe harbor election" - basically, the IRS allows you to immediately expense (not depreciate) business property that costs less than $2,500 per item. You just need to have an accounting policy in place (even if it's just written down for yourself) and elect this on your tax return. Could save you a lot of hassle with depreciation schedules.
This is right but don't forget you have to attach a statement to your return saying you're making this election! I forgot last year and it was a headache.
Join the conversation
Another option might be to verify the SSN issue with the Social Security Administration first, rather than assuming it's just because the SSNs are new. There could be a discrepancy between what's on the card and what's in their system. I had a similar issue last year where the client had a child with a perfectly valid SSN from the previous year, but their last name had changed due to adoption. The SSA had the update but it hadn't propagated to the IRS yet. Have you checked that the Social Security records match exactly what you're entering? Name spelling, birth date, everything? Sometimes these minor differences cause rejections even when the SSN itself is valid.
That's a great point I hadn't considered! I did confirm with the parents that the names on the Social Security cards match exactly what we're entering on the return, including middle initials and spelling. Birth dates also match perfectly. The only unusual aspect is that these are twins born in December, but they didn't receive their actual SSN cards until February this year. I'm wondering if maybe the SSA records could have some discrepancy even though the physical cards look correct?
Twins born in December with SSNs issued in February definitely points to the "new SSN not in database" issue. But it's always worth double-checking with SSA directly just to rule out any other problems. You can verify the SSNs with the Social Security Administration by going to their office with your clients (with proper authorization forms) or by having your clients request a Social Security Statement. If everything checks out with SSA, then it's almost certainly just the delay in the information transfer between SSA and IRS systems. Given that information and the timing, I'd probably recommend paper filing now rather than waiting for an extension. Even with the current backlog, the paper return should still be processed well before October.
Don't forget that there's a significant difference in how quickly different IRS processing centers handle paper returns. Where your clients live makes a huge difference! Paper returns sent to the Austin center seem to be moving faster right now (about 5 weeks), while Kansas City is taking closer to 8-9 weeks based on what I've seen with my clients this season. Make sure to use certified mail with tracking so you have proof of when it was delivered! I've had clients' paper returns get "lost" before, and the tracking receipt was the only thing that saved us from having to resubmit and start the clock all over again.
Which processing center handles returns from Florida? My client is in Miami and I'm helping them with a similar issue.
Alicia Stern
Just an additional tip - you mentioned using Melio for the second payment, which is smart. For future reference, there are several business-focused payment platforms that make tax reporting much cleaner: Bill.com, Melio, and QuickBooks Payments all integrate directly with accounting software and automatically track contractor payments for 1099 purposes. Costs a bit more in fees than PayPal friends & family (obviously), but the tax compliance and automatic tracking is totally worth it.
0 coins
Gabriel Graham
ā¢Do those services automatically generate and file the 1099-NECs at the end of the year? That's my biggest headache with contractors.
0 coins
Alicia Stern
ā¢Yes, all three services I mentioned can automatically generate and e-file 1099-NECs based on the payments you've processed through them throughout the year. They collect and verify contractor W-9 information upfront and track all payments. QuickBooks is probably the most comprehensive if you use their accounting system too, but even standalone Melio or Bill.com will handle the 1099 filing process. They usually charge a small fee per 1099 (like $3-5 each), but the time saved and accuracy is absolutely worth it compared to manually preparing them.
0 coins
Drake
I messed this up last year too! My accountant told me that for small amounts like this, the practical reality is that as long as YOU report it properly as a business expense and issue the 1099-NEC, and your contractor reports the income on their taxes, the IRS generally won't flag anything. The biggest problem happens when you deduct it but don't issue a 1099, then the contractor also doesn't report it as income. That's when audits happen.
0 coins
Sarah Jones
ā¢I agree with this. I've been running a small photography business for 5 years and have occasionally messed up payment classifications. As long as you issue the correct 1099s at tax time, how you actually transferred the money is less important. The IRS wants the income reported correctly on both sides.
0 coins