IRS

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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!


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 – 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!

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Ask the community...

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Tax Season Experts Ready to Answer Your Filing Questions - Ask Us Anything!

Hey there tax folks! I'm part of a small team of finance writers at a national news outlet, and we've been knee-deep in tax season coverage since November. Our team has published over 50 articles addressing the most common filing headaches - everything from whether your teenager needs to file taxes to deciphering that ridiculous alphabet soup of tax forms (W-2, 1099-MISC, 1095-A, Schedule C... it never ends!). A bit about me: I've been covering personal finance for about 5 years, focusing on tax filing, retirement planning, Social Security benefits, student loan repayment options, and general consumer spending trends. I've written extensively about tax season for the past three filing periods. My colleagues include our finance team leader who previously worked at several major news outlets covering business, financial markets, and manufacturing, along with another writer who specializes in personal finance topics. Now that the 2025 tax filing season is officially underway, we wanted to share what we've learned through our reporting to hopefully make things less painful between now and the April 15 deadline. Important disclaimer: We're journalists, not CPAs or tax professionals. We can explain rules and help you understand the system better, but we can't provide individual tax advice. For personalized guidance, please consult a qualified tax professional. That said - fire away with your questions! We're here to help however we can!

Andre Moreau

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Can someone explain the Child and Dependent Care Credit for 2024 taxes? I spent about $8,400 on after-school care for my 9-year-old last year while I worked. I keep getting confused about how much I can actually claim and if there are income limits. The IRS website makes my head spin every time I try to figure it out.

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For 2024 taxes (filed in 2025), the Child and Dependent Care Credit allows you to claim up to $3,000 in expenses for one child or $6,000 for two or more dependents. The credit percentage ranges from 20-35% of those expenses depending on your income. The percentage decreases as your income increases, with the 35% rate applying to those with AGI below $15,000. For most middle-income families, you'll get 20% of your qualifying expenses. Since you spent $8,400, you'd be limited to claiming the $3,000 maximum for one child. At the 20% rate, that would be a $600 credit. This is a non-refundable credit, so it can only reduce taxes you owe to zero, not generate a refund beyond that.

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Andre Moreau

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Thank you so much for explaining! That makes way more sense now. So basically even though I spent $8,400, I can only claim $3,000 of it, and then I get 20% of that amount as an actual credit on my taxes. That's much less than I was hoping for, but at least it's something.

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Does anyone know which tax software is actually free? I make about $45k a year, have one W-2, rent an apartment, and take the standard deduction. Nothing complicated. But every year I start with a "free" version and somehow end up paying $75+ by the time I finish. It's so frustrating!

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Mei Chen

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Check out the IRS Free File program. If your AGI is under $73,000, you can file federal taxes for free. The Free File Alliance has different providers, and some even offer free state filing too. TaxAct, TaxSlayer, and 1040Now are usually good options. Make sure you go through the IRS website (irs.gov/freefile) to access the truly free versions. If you go directly to the company websites, they often push you toward paid versions.

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Daryl Bright

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Don't forget that refunds for returns claiming Earned Income Tax Credit or Additional Child Tax Credit are automatically held until mid-February due to the PATH Act, regardless of when you file. The IRS does this to prevent fraud. So even if you file on day 1, if you're claiming these credits, you won't get your refund until at least February 15th.

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Romeo Quest

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Thanks for mentioning this! I'm not claiming either of those credits, just getting back over-withheld taxes from my bonuses. So hopefully I won't be affected by those delays.

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Daryl Bright

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You should be fine then! Since you're just dealing with over-withholding on bonuses and not claiming those particular credits, your refund should follow the standard timeline. Just make sure to file electronically with direct deposit selected for the fastest processing.

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Sienna Gomez

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Pro tip: File on a Monday or Tuesday early in the morning if possible. The IRS systems get backed up later in the week and especially on weekends when everyone has time to file. I've done this for years and consistently get my refund faster than friends who file on weekends.

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Is there actually any evidence for this or is it just something you've noticed personally? I've never heard the IRS say anything about processing returns differently based on the day of the week.

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Do NOT skip filing!! I did that for 2 years when I first started freelancing and it was the worst financial mistake ever. By the time the IRS caught up with me (they always do), my original $4k tax bill had ballooned to over $9k with penalties and interest. Plus they can hold your future refunds, put liens on your property, and even levy your bank accounts if you ignore them long enough. The stress of wondering when they'd come knocking was horrible. Just file and set up a payment plan - it's super easy online and the minimum payment can be as low as $50/month depending on how much you owe. Way better than the alternative!

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Was there any trouble with the IRS beyond the financial penalties? Like did they treat you differently or make things harder because you skipped filing?

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No actual trouble beyond the financial hit, but they did put me on a shorter leash for a few years. They processed my refunds more slowly the next couple years and seemed to scrutinize my returns more carefully. I also couldn't qualify for their streamlined payment plans for a while - had to provide more financial documentation. The biggest issue was honestly just the unnecessary stress and the fact that I ended up paying more than double what I would have if I'd just filed on time and set up a payment plan from the start. The interest and penalties stack up way faster than most credit cards.

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Another option nobody's mentioned - you could file your taxes on time but pay with a credit card. The processing fee is around 2%, which is probably less than the IRS penalties would be. Then you can continue with your debt payoff strategy while avoiding IRS penalties. Not ideal to add to credit card debt, but if you're close to paying off your cards anyway and the interest rate on the remaining one isn't terrible, it might be mathematically better than IRS penalties + interest.

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This is actually not a terrible idea if you can qualify for a 0% intro APR card. I did this last year - got a card with 15 months at 0%, paid my taxes, then focused on paying off the card before the intro period ended. Saved me a bunch compared to the IRS installment plan interest rates.

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GalacticGuru

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My brother got audited for not reporting his side business income (about $12k yearly from personal training). The penalties and interest ended up being way more than if he'd just paid the taxes originally. Plus he had to go back and try to recreate expense records from 2 years earlier which was a complete nightmare.

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Ethan Taylor

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How did they catch him? Was it also through payment apps or did someone report him?

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GalacticGuru

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It was actually through social media. He was advertising his training services on Instagram and Facebook, and someone (probably a competitor) reported him to the IRS. They have a whistleblower program where people can report suspected tax fraud. Once they started looking into him, they found the payment app transactions didn't match his reported income. It was really stressful for him, and he ended up having to hire a tax professional to help sort everything out, which was another expense on top of the penalties.

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Does anyone know if buying equipment (like small soccer goals, training cones, etc.) would count as business expenses? I've spent like $600 on stuff for my similar setup.

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Yes! All of that counts as business expenses. Keep your receipts though. Also track mileage if you drive to buy supplies or meet clients anywhere outside your home. That adds up fast at the current deduction rate.

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Tax preparer falsified my forms as an international J1 visa holder - urgent help needed

I'm in desperate need of advice on a tax nightmare. I was in the US on a J1 visa for a year and just got my W2 forms for 2024. Last year (2023) I filed with FreeTaxUSA but realized I incorrectly filed as a US resident, so this year I went to a tax preparer recommended by a fellow J1 friend who got the referral from people who've used him for years. This tax guy never showed me any forms to sign and just filed everything on my behalf. Red flags started showing when he asked for my FreeTaxUSA account login, but I trusted him since so many others had used his services. After downloading my documents, I discovered he falsely listed me as a student at a college I've never attended to claim additional credits! When I confronted him about this fraud, he claimed I had agreed to it (which is absolutely not true). He's charging $500 for his "services" and wants payment when my refund hits my account. After arguing back and forth, he's refusing to amend the return. I've threatened to report him to the IRS using Form 14157-A and withhold payment, but now I'm worried about what he might do since he has scans of my passport and SSN. Some friends are saying I should just pay him to protect my information, but I don't want to reward fraud. The worst part is I've already left the US and have limited access to resources to fix this mess. I'm terrified this could prevent me from ever entering the US again. I did save all our conversations and emails as evidence. ANY ADVICE WOULD BE DEEPLY APPRECIATED! I'm absolutely panicking about this situation.

Mei Lin

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I work at a university international student office and see this EXACT situation at least 5 times every tax season. International students/scholars get terrible advice from "recommended" preparers who claim false credits. DO NOT PAY THIS PERSON. File your amended return correctly, specifically noting that the original was filed incorrectly by the preparer without your knowledge or consent. Include Form 8275 (Disclosure Statement) with your amended return explaining the situation in detail. For future reference, many universities offer free VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) programs that specialize in nonresident tax returns. Many can help remotely even if you're no longer in the US.

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This happened to me too. My VITA preparer was amazing and fixed everything. One question - doesn't amending mean the OP will get a smaller refund since the fraudulent credits will be removed?

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Regardless of what you do with the IRS, make sure to file a complaint with your state's board of accountancy if the preparer is a CPA. If they're an enrolled agent, report them to the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility too.

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