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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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Really made a difference, save me time and energy from going to a local office for making the call.
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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!
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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.
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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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One thing nobody's mentioned yet is business insurance. I'm a mobile dev contractor too, and I deduct my E&O (errors and omissions) insurance as well as general liability insurance. Both are 100% deductible business expenses, and they protect you if a client ever claims your app caused them financial damage or has security issues. Also look into SEP IRA or Solo 401(k) - as a 1099 contractor you can contribute WAY more to retirement than you could as a W-2 employee, and those contributions are tax-deductible. I put about 20% of my contract income into my Solo 401(k) last year and saved a ton on taxes.
I hadn't even thought about insurance or retirement accounts! Do you have recommendations for affordable E&O insurance for a solo developer? And for the Solo 401(k), can I set that up myself or do I need to go through a special provider?
For E&O insurance, I use Hiscox which has reasonable rates for solo developers - usually $500-1000/year depending on your projects. Some clients actually require this in contracts, so it's worth having anyway. For the Solo 401(k), you can set it up yourself through providers like Fidelity, Vanguard, or Charles Schwab for free. The paperwork is a bit involved but not terrible. The huge advantage is you can contribute both as the "employee" (up to $22,500 in 2023) AND as the "employer" (up to 25% of your net earnings) for a much higher total than regular IRAs allow. Just make sure you set it up before December 31st of the tax year you want to use it for.
Don't forget about the QBI deduction (Qualified Business Income)! As a self-employed person, you might qualify for an additional 20% deduction on your business income. It's on top of all your regular business deductions. The rules are complicated based on income thresholds, but most developers I know qualify. This is literally free money that a lot of first-time contractors miss. I almost overlooked it my first year until my accountant caught it - saved me about $5,800 in taxes!
Adding to this - make sure you're accounting for self-employment tax (15.3%) on top of regular income tax. It catches a lot of first-time contractors off guard. You pay both the employer and employee portions of Medicare and Social Security taxes. You can deduct the employer half though.
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11 Another tip for handling mixed receipts: I've started asking cashiers to ring up my business purchases separately from personal items. It takes an extra minute at checkout, but saves me so much headache later. Most stores are totally fine with it!
23 That's smart but what about online orders? I do most of my shopping on Amazon and often mix personal and business items in the same order to save on shipping.
11 For online orders, especially Amazon, I've found a couple workable solutions. First, if you have Amazon Business, you can actually mark certain items as business purchases within a single order and it will generate separate receipt documentation for those items. If you don't have that, another approach is to maintain separate accounts - one for business and one for personal. Yes, you might occasionally pay extra shipping, but the time saved in accounting and the clarity it provides is often worth it. Some business credit cards also provide spending reports that can help categorize your purchases after the fact.
4 Has anyone tried using a dedicated business credit card? I just started doing this last month and it's been a game changer for keeping expenses separate.
16 Dedicated business card was the best decision I ever made for my side hustle! I use Chase Ink and it automatically categorizes everything in their reporting portal. Only downside is you still need to split those mixed receipt purchases somehow.
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One thing that nobody mentioned yet - check your final pay stubs from both jobs! They won't replace your W-2s, but they can help you verify that the information on your W-2s is correct, or give you estimates if you're missing a form. Your last pay stub of the year often has year-to-date totals for: - Total wages earned - Federal tax withheld - State tax withheld - Social Security and Medicare taxes I've caught mistakes on W-2s before by comparing to my pay stubs. It happens more often than you'd think, especially with smaller employers!
What happens if the numbers don't match between my last pay stub and W-2? My retail job's W-2 shows about $200 less in income than my December pay stub indicated for the year.
If there's a discrepancy between your W-2 and pay stubs, first check if there's a logical explanation. Sometimes the last paycheck of December might be paid in January, which would explain why the W-2 total is lower than your December pay stub shows. If there's no clear explanation, contact your employer's payroll department directly. They can check their records and issue a corrected W-2 (called a W-2c) if needed. Small differences might occur due to non-taxable benefits or other adjustments, but anything significant should definitely be investigated before you file.
I made a huge mistake my first time filing with multiple W-2s. I only reported one of them thinking I could just do the other one later or something? Anyway, I got a scary letter from the IRS months later saying I underreported my income and owed more taxes plus interest. Don't be like me!! Make absolutely certain you include BOTH W-2s when you file. The IRS already knows about all your jobs because your employers report that info directly to them. If what you report doesn't match what they already know, it triggers automatic flags in their system.
Did you have to pay a penalty too or just the interest? I'm worried because I just realized I forgot about a small job I had last year (only made like $600).
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8 Just a tip from someone who had to mail returns for the past three years - make absolutely sure you have the correct mailing address for your return. The IRS has different processing centers depending on your state and whether you're enclosing a payment. Google "where to file paper tax returns IRS" and you'll find the page with all the addresses. Sending to the wrong one can add weeks to your processing time!
10 Do you need to use certified mail? I'm worried about my return getting lost.
8 Yes, absolutely use certified mail with return receipt requested. It costs a bit more at the post office, but you'll get proof of delivery that the IRS received your return. This is crucial if there's ever any question about whether you filed on time. I also recommend making a complete photocopy of everything you're sending before you mail it, including W-2s and other documents. Store these copies somewhere safe in case you need to reference them later or if the IRS claims something was missing.
13 Has anyone tried using a tax professional to efile past the deadline? I heard some practitioners have access to year-round efiling.
6 Tax pros have the same October 16th deadline for individual returns. They can efile business returns and some other forms year-round, but Form 1040 (individual returns) are subject to the same cutoff date for everyone.
Donna Cline
One thing nobody has mentioned is that contribution limits for HSAs in 2025 are going up to $4,150 for individual coverage and $8,300 for family coverage. If you're under 55, that is. There's an extra $1,000 catch-up contribution allowed if you're 55+. Make sure you don't go over these limits or you'll have to deal with excess contribution penalties (6% tax on the excess amount). Your employer contributions COUNT toward these limits too! That tripped me up my first year.
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Harper Collins
•Do you know if converting from an FSA to HSA mid-year affects the contribution limits? My company is switching our health plans in July and I already contributed to an FSA.
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Donna Cline
•Yes, it definitely affects your contribution limits. When you switch from an FSA to HSA mid-year, you generally have to prorate the HSA contribution limit based on the number of months you're eligible. If you make a mid-year switch, you can only contribute 1/12 of the annual limit for each month you're HSA-eligible. However, there's something called the "last-month rule" that might help - if you're HSA-eligible on December 1, you can potentially contribute the full year's limit, but you must remain HSA-eligible through December of the following year (called the testing period) or face penalties on the accelerated portion.
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Kelsey Hawkins
I think people are overcomplicating this. I use FreeTaxUSA for my taxes and it asks simple questions about my HSA that make it super easy. No need to manually fill out Form 8889 or anything like that. The software does it automatically based on your W-2 info and any additional contributions you made outside your payroll.
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Dylan Fisher
•Does FreeTaxUSA handle situations where you've changed jobs mid-year and have HSA contributions from two different employers? That's what I'm dealing with now.
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