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 – 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
One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet - if you have a spouse and file jointly, your spouse can file an injured spouse claim (Form 8379) to get their portion of the refund protected from your debts. My husband had old student loans, and we were able to still get part of our refund by filing this form.
That's really good to know but unfortunately I'm single so that won't help in my situation. Do you know if there's anything similar for individual filers? Like some kind of hardship exception?
There is a hardship exception you can request, but it's very specific to each type of debt. For federal student loans, you'd need to contact your loan servicer directly to request a hardship exception to the offset. They'll send you paperwork to prove extreme financial hardship. For state tax debts, you'd need to contact your state tax authority directly - each state has different criteria for hardship exceptions. Just be aware that these exceptions are pretty rare and usually require documented evidence of severe financial distress. Things like pending eviction, utility shutoffs, or medical emergencies sometimes qualify.
Has anyone tried adjusting their withholding to get less of a refund? I got hit with an offset last year and my tax guy suggested changing my W-4 so I get more in each paycheck and less of a refund. That way there's less for them to take at tax time.
I did this after getting burned by an offset two years in a row. Changed my withholding so I'm just about even at tax time instead of getting a big refund. Now I put the extra amount from each paycheck into a separate savings account. Even if I still owe the debt, at least I'm controlling when and how much I pay instead of having the whole lump sum taken.
Join the conversation
One option nobody's mentioned is to just redesignate that transfer retroactively. I'm also an S-Corp owner and my accountant told me I can document that initial transfer as a "shareholder advance" that will be counted toward my reasonable salary when I run payroll. Basically, you're pre-paying yourself, and when you run payroll, you just need to account for taxes and issue yourself a smaller net paycheck since you've already received most of the money. Just make sure your payroll service knows how to handle this correctly, and you'll need good documentation. I do this regularly - take money when I need it, then formalize it through payroll later.
Is this really legit though? Don't you have to run actual payroll with proper tax withholdings at the time you take the money? I've been stressing about making sure everything is by-the-book with my new S-Corp.
This is absolutely legitimate as long as you properly document and account for everything. When you run payroll, you'll calculate the full gross salary amount, withhold all required taxes, and then reduce the net check by the amount you already advanced yourself. For example, if your reasonable salary is $5,000 monthly and you already took $3,000 as an advance, when you run payroll, you'll still calculate taxes on the full $5,000, but the net check would only be around $2,000 (minus the taxes on the full amount). This ensures all proper employment taxes are paid on your full reasonable compensation. Just make sure your payroll system can handle this "adjustment" or "reimbursement" properly.
My CPA told me this isn't actually as big a deal as people make it out to be for a new S-Corp with only a few months of operation. As long as you establish a reasonable salary before the end of the tax year and properly document everything, minor sequence mistakes in your first year typically won't trigger an audit. The reasonable compensation test is primarily looking at the entire tax year picture, not whether you took a specific distribution a few weeks before establishing payroll. Just don't make it a habit going forward!
Agreed! I did something similar my first year and my accountant just had me document everything carefully. The important thing is the year-end picture looks right. S-Corps get in trouble when they take massive distributions and tiny salaries over the course of entire years, not when they make minor timing errors while learning the ropes.
Join the conversation
Going back to your original question about your CPA - I'd recommend interviewing a few other accountants before tax season starts. I've found that some CPAs get complacent with long-term clients or are just too overworked to give proper attention. When I switched to a new CPA two years ago, she found nearly $4k in tax savings my previous guy had missed over the years. One tip: ask potential CPAs specific questions about your situation (self-employment tax, home office, medical expenses) and see how detailed their answers are. The good ones will take time to explain rather than dismissing your questions.
Thank you for this advice. I've been hesitant to "break up" with my CPA because we have history, but you're right that I should at least talk to other professionals. Do you have any suggestions for the best time to interview new CPAs? I'm guessing they're all super busy during actual tax season.
November to early December is the ideal time to interview new CPAs. Most have wrapped up extension filings from the previous season but haven't yet been swamped with year-end planning and new tax season work. They'll have more time to thoroughly review your situation and answer questions. October can also work, but by January they're starting to get busy, and by February they're usually not taking new clients until after April 15th. If you wait until actual tax season, you'll likely end up with whoever has availability, not necessarily the best fit for your needs.
Has your CPA explained WHY they don't think you need to make quarterly payments? There are some exceptions. For instance, if your withholding from your W-2 job covers at least 90% of your total tax liability or 100% of your previous year's tax (110% if your AGI was over $150k), you might be exempt from making estimated payments despite the self-employment income.
This is really important! My wife and I had a similar situation, but our CPA had us increase our W-2 withholding instead of making quarterly payments. It accomplished the same thing (meeting our tax obligations) but with less paperwork. Worth asking if that's what your CPA was thinking.
Join the conversation
Don't forget to look into penalty abatement! If this is your first time having tax issues (sounds like it is), you can request what's called "First-Time Penalty Abatement" which can reduce your total by removing the failure-to-pay penalties. This won't eliminate your tax debt, but it could knock off a significant chunk of what you owe. You'll still need to pay the actual tax amount and interest, but removing penalties helps a lot. Also, make sure you've fixed your W-4 with your employer immediately so you don't keep digging a deeper hole!
I haven't heard about the penalty abatement before! That would be amazing if I could reduce the amount at all. And yes, I fixed my W-4 immediately when I discovered the issue - now they're withholding the correct amount (actually a bit extra to try to make up some ground). Is the penalty abatement something I can apply for myself or do I need to hire someone?
You can absolutely request penalty abatement yourself! Call the IRS (or use that Claimyr service someone mentioned if you're having trouble getting through) and specifically ask for "First-Time Penalty Abatement." Explain that you've had a good compliance history before this mistake, and that you've already fixed your W-4 to prevent it from happening again. Be polite and straightforward with the IRS agent. They can often approve this over the phone. If they do deny you for some reason, you can also submit a written request. Just make sure you're specific about requesting the First-Time Abatement provision - sometimes less experienced agents aren't familiar with it.
Just wanted to add that I went through almost this exact situation last year! I accidentally claimed exempt when I started a new job and ended up owing around $10K. I panicked too. I ended up calling the IRS directly and setting up a payment plan. My monthly payment is $178 for 72 months. They were actually really understanding about the whole thing. The person I spoke with explained that this happens WAY more often than you'd think. Don't waste your money on one of those tax relief companies you see advertising on TV. Most of them charge thousands of dollars to do exactly what you can do yourself for free.
Did you get hit with a lot of penalties and interest? I'm curious how much extra you ended up paying because of the mistake.
Esteban Tate
Something important nobody's mentioned yet - make sure you're calculating the loss correctly. It's not just what it costs to replace the stolen/damaged items. For tax purposes, casualty loss is the lesser of: 1) Your adjusted basis in the property (usually what you paid plus improvements) 2) The decrease in fair market value caused by the casualty/theft So if you bought a couch 5 years ago for $1000 that's now only worth $400 (before theft), your casualty loss would be $400, not $1000. This catches a lot of people off guard.
0 coins
Ivanna St. Pierre
•So does that mean if something old gets stolen, you basically get no deduction because it was already depreciated in value? Like if thieves take a 10-year-old TV that's practically worthless now but costs $500 to replace?
0 coins
Esteban Tate
•That's exactly right - and it's why casualty losses often end up being less than people expect. If your 10-year-old TV had depreciated to a fair market value of only $50 before it was stolen, that's your deduction amount (not the $500 replacement cost). However, for the business/rental portion of your property, you've likely been taking depreciation deductions already, so your adjusted basis should align more closely with the current value. This is actually one advantage of the business portion of casualty losses - they're generally calculated based on the depreciated value that you've been reporting for tax purposes all along.
0 coins
Elin Robinson
Random but important tip: if your deductible exceeds your loss so you don't file an insurance claim, still document EVERYTHING as if you were filing. Take dated photos, get written repair estimates, and keep all receipts. The IRS is super picky about casualty loss documentation. I got audited for a rental property casualty loss and they wanted proof I tried to recover through insurance first before claiming the tax deduction. Luckily I had emails with my insurance agent discussing the claim and how it was below my deductible.
0 coins
Atticus Domingo
•What if you don't have before photos of everything? My storage shed at my rental got broken into last month and I honestly don't have pictures of what was in there before.
0 coins