I had no idea about the Saver's Credit! I'll definitely look into that. I do have some student loan interest (about $1,200 last year) but I've been including that on my returns. I don't think I have any other major deductions I'm missing, but maybe I should double check. What's the income limit for the Saver's Credit? I'm worried I might make too much to qualify.

The Saver's Credit has phaseout limits that change annually. For the 2024 tax year (filing in 2025), the credit begins to phase out at $46,000 for single filers and is completely phased out at $71,000. With your income around $68,000, you might qualify for a partial credit, which could result in a small refund. Your student loan interest deduction is good to include - that's up to $2,500 in deductible interest annually. If you work from home at all, you might also want to check if you qualify for any home office deductions, especially if you're an independent contractor for any portion of your income. Every little bit helps!

YES! This happened to me too. H&R Block online gave me a completely different result than Credit Karma Tax (now Cash App Taxes). Turned out H&R Block was correctly applying a credit that Cash App missed. Definitely worth trying a different software.

I actually tried that first! Form 7004 isn't available through Free File Fillable Forms for 2025 filing season. I spent an hour searching the IRS site before giving up and looking for alternatives. Seems like the IRS really wants business filers to use paid preparers or software.

Thanks for clarifying that! You're right, I just double-checked and Form 7004 isn't on the Free File Fillable Forms list this year. That's disappointing since it's such a simple form. It does seem like the IRS pushes businesses toward paid options. Their justification is probably that businesses can deduct tax preparation expenses, but that doesn't help with cash flow when you're a small partnership just starting out.

Generally the IRS doesn't send confirmation for 7004 extensions when filed by mail. Extensions are automatically approved if properly completed and filed on time. If there's an issue, they'll contact you. Keep your certified mail receipt as proof of timely filing. If you need extra reassurance, you can call the IRS business tax line (might take several attempts to get through) and ask if your extension was processed - have your EIN ready.

Did you consider filing an amended return after you noticed the issue? I'm wondering if I should do that since I just found this bug on my already-filed 2024 return.

I didn't file an amended return, and I wouldn't recommend doing so in your case either. An amended return should be used for substantial errors that affect your tax liability, not for missing information that doesn't impact the final calculations. Since the sale details are correctly reported elsewhere on Form 4797 and your tax calculation is accurate, filing an amended return would likely just create unnecessary complexity and potentially delay any refund you're expecting. In my case, the IRS processed my return without any issues despite the blank line 1a.

From my experience talking with the IRS (mentioned in my comment above), they're well aware of this TurboTax bug. The agent I spoke with said they see this frequently and it doesn't trigger any compliance issues as long as the property sale is fully reported with the correct amounts elsewhere on Form 4797.

Thanks for pointing this out! I checked and they did send me the complete return (about 15 pages). But what exactly should I be looking for? The numbers seem to match my W-2s, but there's so much other stuff I don't really understand.

Focus on verifying the basics first: check that your name, SSN, address, and filing status are correct. Confirm that all your income documents (W-2s, 1099s, etc.) are included with the correct amounts. If you have dependents, make sure they're listed correctly with proper SSNs. For deductions, verify any major items like mortgage interest, property taxes, charitable donations, student loan interest, education expenses, or medical costs if you itemize. Double-check your bank account information for direct deposit of refunds - this is a common error point.

Yeah and e-filing is WAY better! I did paper filing last year and my refund took over 4 months. My sister e-filed and got hers in like 2 weeks. The IRS is still catching up on paper returns from last year.

Oh wow, I didn't realize there was an additional tax on top of regular income tax. Does TurboTax factor all this in automatically? And is that 15.3% on the $42,000 she made after expenses or on the full $73,000?

TurboTax will absolutely calculate this automatically for you, so don't worry about figuring it out manually. The self-employment tax applies to her net earnings after expenses (so the $42,000 figure you mentioned), not the gross income. The one good piece of news is that you can deduct half of the self-employment tax on your 1040, which helps offset some of that additional tax burden. Also, don't forget to look into whether you qualify for the Qualified Business Income deduction (Section 199A), which could give you a deduction of up to 20% of qualified business income. TurboTax should walk you through this as well.

How do you organize all of that? I have a shoebox full of receipts and I'm already dreading next year's taxes.