Do you know if they offer any sort of discount or special features for seasonal businesses? Since tax prep has that huge Jan-April rush and then slower periods.

They don't have specific seasonal business features that I know of. But their transaction limits are fairly generous which handles the busy season well. During slower months, you can easily maintain the minimum balance to avoid fees since you're not drawing as much from the account. The mobile app is also really good for depositing client checks which saves tons of time during the busy season when you can't step away to visit a branch.

Square's great but their transaction fees add up. 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction means you're losing like $3-4 on each $100 payment. Better to encourage direct bank transfers or checks.

23 Do you use any specific apps to track expenses? I've been just keeping physical receipts in a shoebox and I know there's got to be a better way lol.

19 I use QuickBooks Self-Employed and it's been a lifesaver. You can link your business accounts and credit cards, then just swipe right or left to categorize transactions as business or personal. It also has a mileage tracker that runs in the background on your phone. Another good option is Expensify if you don't need full accounting software. Wave is a free alternative that a lot of people like too. Anything is better than the shoebox method! I missed so many deductions my first year because receipts got lost or I forgot what expenses were for.

8 Do you know what the threshold is for when you need to make quarterly payments? Like is there a minimum amount you need to earn?

Are municipal bonds still worth it though? The yield is typically lower than corporate bonds or dividend stocks because of the tax advantage. Wouldn't it make more sense to just keep total income under the standard deduction with higher-yielding investments?

It really depends on your total income needs. If you need more income than the standard deduction would shelter, then municipal bonds become valuable because that portion remains tax-free regardless. For someone who needs, say, $30,000 in annual income, they could take $14,600 from taxable sources (covered by the standard deduction) and the rest from municipal bonds, effectively paying zero federal tax on the full amount. If your income needs are below the standard deduction, then yes, higher-yielding taxable investments make more sense mathematically.

Good point! Some states also tax certain retirement income that's exempt at the federal level. My parents moved from New Jersey to Florida partly because NJ was taxing their pension while Florida has no state income tax.

Would this still happen if the two jobs are in different states? I'm considering taking a remote position while keeping my current job, but they're in different states and I'm worried about triggering something like this.

Yes, it would still likely trigger a flag even with jobs in different states. The IRS systems look at the total reported income under your SSN regardless of which states the W2s come from. In fact, having W2s from multiple states might make it even more likely to trigger their identity theft algorithms. For your remote position situation, just be prepared to potentially deal with this verification process. It's not a huge problem, just an extra step. Also be aware you'll need to file state tax returns for both states in most cases, which adds some complexity to your tax situation.

Which software did you use to file? I'm wondering if certain tax software handles multiple W2s better than others to avoid triggering these flags.

I've had good experiences with Track1099 for corrections. Their interface is really straightforward for amendments - there's literally a "create correction" button that walks you through the process step by step.

Thanks for the recommendation! I'll check out Track1099. QuickBooks has been a nightmare for this - it keeps wanting me to create new 1099s from scratch without any way to mark them as corrections properly.