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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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One thing to know - if you voluntarily file before the IRS comes after you, you might qualify for penalty abatement under their First Time Penalty Abatement policy. I was in the same boat a few years ago and called after getting my penalty notice. They removed about $2000 in penalties because I had a good history of filing on time before that. You have to specifically ask for it though - they definitely won't offer it automatically!
That's super helpful - thank you! Do you remember what you had to say exactly? Was it complicated to get the abatement?
It was pretty straightforward! I just called and said "I'd like to request first-time penalty abatement under the IRS administrative waiver" and explained that I had a good history of filing and paying on time before my late return. The agent asked a few questions to verify my eligibility and processed it right on the call. The main requirements are that you've filed (or had valid extensions) for the past 3 years and paid (or arranged to pay) any tax due, and haven't had another penalty in the past 3 years. Since you're filing voluntarily before they contacted you, that works in your favor too. Just be polite and direct when asking for it.
Don't mail your payment with your return! File the return but pay online through IRS Direct Pay. I learned this the hard way with a late 2019 return - mailed check got separated from my return and I got hit with even more penalties while they sorted it out.
This is great advice. Also make sure you print out confirmation of your online payment and keep it forever. I had the IRS claim they never received a payment I made online in 2022, but luckily I had screenshots of the confirmation.
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Another thing to consider is that your activity might be classified as a business rather than a hobby depending on how regularly you're doing this and how much profit you're making. The IRS has a "hobby loss rule" where if you don't show profit in 3 out of 5 years, they might classify it as a hobby and limit your deductions. In your case, since you're actually profiting after the cash back, you should probably treat it as a business. The upside is you can deduct legitimate expenses like maybe a home office portion, shipping costs, secure storage, etc. The downside is you'll need to pay self-employment tax on your profits.
That's a good point about the business vs. hobby classification. I'm definitely making a consistent profit when you factor in the cash back, and I've been doing this for about 2 years now. Do you think I need to register as an actual business in California, or is just filing Schedule C enough?
Filing Schedule C is enough for federal tax purposes, but California may have additional requirements. If you're operating as a sole proprietor (just yourself), you typically don't need a formal business registration with the state unless your local county/city requires business licenses for your type of activity. However, if your annual gross receipts are over $100,000, you might need to register for a seller's permit with the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, even for gold coins. I'd recommend checking with your county clerk's office about any local business license requirements as they vary by locality. Better to be compliant from the start than face penalties later. Given the nature of dealing with valuable items like gold coins, being properly registered might also give your customers more confidence.
Just my 2 cents, but you should also look into whether your credit card company might issue a 1099-MISC if your cash back rewards exceed a certain threshold (usually $600). Some banks treat large rewards as miscellaneous income rather than rebates, especially for business cards. I had this happen with my Amex business card last year when I got like $800 in rewards from a similar type of reselling operation. The 1099 made it pretty clear I needed to report it as income.
This is incorrect. Cash back on purchases is considered a discount or rebate, not reportable income, even if it exceeds $600. Banks only issue 1099s for referral bonuses, sign-up bonuses, or interest income - not for cash back on purchases. The IRS views cash back as effectively reducing the purchase price.
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Make sure to check if you're eligible for what's called a "partial exclusion" due to unforeseen circumstances. IRS Publication 523 specifically mentions divorce as a qualifying event. The calculation would be: (months you owned and lived in home ÷ 24) × $250,000 So if you lived there 10 months: (10 ÷ 24) × $250,000 = $104,166 exclusion With your gain being so small after seller costs, this partial exclusion would likely cover all of it, meaning zero tax owed. TurboTax probably isn't capturing this special circumstance correctly.
This is really helpful! Is this something I need to manually override in TurboTax? Or is there a specific section where I should be entering this information?
In TurboTax, you need to look for the section about "home sale" or "sale of home" and there should be questions about how long you owned and used the home. When it asks why you sold before meeting the 2-year requirement, select "divorce" or "unforeseen circumstances." If you can't find this option, you might need to use the "form view" rather than the interview format. Look for Form 2119 in TurboTax. If you're still having trouble, the "Help" search function in TurboTax and searching for "partial exclusion" should guide you to the right section.
One thing nobody's mentioned - make sure you're only reporting YOUR share of the sale on your taxes! If you owned it 50/50 with your ex, you should only be reporting half the purchase price, half the selling price, and half the expenses. This alone could be causing the calculation to be way off.
This! When I got divorced last year, my accountant made this exact point. Each person files their own portion. Your gain would be even smaller if split properly.
Thank you for pointing this out! I think this might be part of the problem because I was trying to figure out how to split everything in TurboTax and wasn't sure if I was doing it right. So I should be reporting only half of everything - half the purchase price, half the selling price, and half of all the associated costs?
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Don't forget to report that employer to the IRS! They're legally required to provide W-2s by January 31st. You can call the IRS at 800-829-1040 to report them. I did this when my employer "forgot" to send my W-2, and miraculously they "found" it and sent it within a week after the IRS contacted them. Also check your state's department of labor about those unpaid wages. Some states have penalties for employers who withhold pay, and they can sometimes get things moving faster than you can on your own.
Thank you so much for this suggestion! Would reporting them to the IRS interfere with my ongoing case with the department of industrial relations? I'm definitely going to call them about the W-2 issue.
Not at all - these are completely separate issues being handled by different agencies. The IRS is concerned with tax compliance (providing W-2s), while the department of industrial relations handles wage theft and payment issues. You should absolutely pursue both avenues simultaneously. In fact, the pressure from multiple agencies often motivates employers to resolve issues faster. The IRS penalties for not providing W-2s can be significant, which might get their attention in a way your individual requests haven't.
Just to add something important - make sure you keep REALLY good records of all your attempts to get your W-2 and your communications with this employer. Save emails, text messages, write down dates of phone calls, etc. This will help you if the IRS has questions about why you filed with Form 4852. Also, when you estimate your withholding, err on the side of caution and estimate a bit LOWER than you think it might be. It's better to potentially owe a small amount later than to claim too much withholding and raise red flags.
This is good advice. I actually took screenshots of all communications with my former employer when they wouldn't give me my W-2. The IRS never questioned my Form 4852, but I was prepared just in case.
Anastasia Ivanova
A few important points about form corrections that might help: 1. Make sure you're using the ORIGINAL payer/payee information when filing corrections. Any tiny discrepancy between your original filings and corrections can cause matching issues. 2. If you filed through a third-party service, check if they have a specific correction process. Some services handle the correction relationship automatically in their system. 3. Document EVERYTHING. Save copies of all original filings, corrections, and any communication with the IRS. If penalties do come up, you'll need this documentation. 4. Consider sending your explanation letter via certified mail with return receipt to prove the IRS received it.
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Sean Murphy
•Do you know if these penalties are per form, or per recipient? I filed for a small business with multiple forms for the same person in some cases (different types of payments).
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Anastasia Ivanova
•The penalties are assessed per form, not per recipient. So if you filed multiple incorrect forms for the same person, you could potentially face multiple penalties. This is why correcting them properly is so important. That said, if you're submitting corrections and an explanation letter demonstrating reasonable cause (like not being aware of the form change), the IRS often waives penalties entirely, especially for small businesses making good faith efforts to comply. Keep detailed records of when you discovered the error and how quickly you moved to correct it - that timeline helps establish reasonable cause.
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StarStrider
Hey I went through this EXACT thing last year with about 25 forms. Here's what worked for me: 1) Filed the corrected 1099-MISC forms with zeros and checked the CORRECTED box 2) Filed new 1099-NEC forms 3) Included a short letter explaining I wasn't aware of the form change but had filed the information on time 4) Sent everything certified mail The IRS never charged me a penny in penalties. They understand this kind of confusion happens with form changes. Just be honest, fix it ASAP, and document everything. Their goal is compliance, not collecting penalties.
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Emma Wilson
•Thank you so much for sharing your experience! That's incredibly reassuring. I'll follow the exact steps you outlined. Did you include anything specific in your letter that you think helped your case?
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