Pro tip: If you're waiting for the 2025 forms to appear on payusatax.com, you can also use EFTPS.gov (Electronic Federal Tax Payment System). It's free and run directly by the Treasury. The downside is you have to enroll ahead of time and they mail you a PIN, which takes about a week. But they usually update for the new tax year by January 2nd, sometimes even before New Year's. I switched from payusatax to EFTPS three years ago and never looked back. No more fees!

Has anyone had issues with payusatax.com payments not being properly credited to their account? Last year I made my payment on January 12th and the IRS didn't show it as received until February 3rd. Caused me a bunch of headaches.

Be really careful with writing off your flip materials from your landscaping business! I did this exact thing and got audited. The IRS reclassified everything, disallowed my deductions, and hit me with penalties and interest. My $12k tax savings turned into a $20k+ nightmare. The IRS is pretty strict about keeping these activities separate. For flips, you should be tracking all costs (materials, labor, permits, etc.) and adding them to the property's basis. You'll recoup these when you sell. If you've already been writing these off as landscaping business expenses, consider filing amended returns before they catch it.

I'm a rental property owner and wanted to add: while you can't immediately deduct the materials for building your rentals, consider exploring the BRRRP strategy (Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat). This lets you pull cash out after establishing equity, which is untaxed since it's debt, not income. Also, look into Qualified Business Income deductions for your rental activity if you can qualify as a "real estate professional" for tax purposes. With your construction background, you might meet the hours requirement. For your specific question about the flip materials you already deducted - that's problematic. Those should have been capitalized to the property's basis. Consider talking to a tax attorney about amendment options before an audit happens.

Has anyone used the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator on the official IRS website? I found it helpful for a similar situation.

Just to be clear, you're DEFINITELY not paying your employer's portion of payroll taxes. That's a completely separate thing that never shows up on your tax return. What you're experiencing is just the result of our progressive tax system when you have multiple incomes in a household. Each dollar of your income is essentially taxed at your highest marginal rate when added to your husband's income. So if his income put you in the 22% bracket, your additional income gets taxed at 22% (minus deductions). That's completely normal and how the system is designed to work, even though it can feel unfair.

One thing nobody mentioned yet - if your son gets financial aid, be careful about how you handle 529 distributions. If the non-custodial parent (you) takes a distribution from YOUR 529 when your ex claims him as a dependent, it can be counted as untaxed income to the student on next year's FAFSA, which could reduce aid eligibility. Sometimes it's better to coordinate which parent pays which expenses rather than just alternating years. Maybe your ex uses her 529 for freshman and junior year, while you use your savings bonds for sophomore and senior year.

Make sure you understand the rules for "support" with college students! My ex and I got audited because we misunderstood this. For kids in college, their scholarships, grants and student loans in THEIR name count toward THEIR contribution to their own support. If your son gets enough scholarships/loans, he might actually be providing more than half of his own support (room, board, etc), which means NEITHER of you could claim him!

One thing nobody mentioned yet - check if you actually did receive prior notices. The IRS is required to send multiple notices before sending debt to collections. Pull your IRS account transcripts (can be done online) and it will show all notices sent to you. If they sent notices to an old address or there's no record of prior notices, that strengthens your case for abatement. Also, 1065 penalties are especially harsh because they're designed to enforce timely filing for information returns. The $195/month/partner can add up quickly, which explains your $4950 penalty for what seems like a simple mistake.

I hate to be the pessimist, but be prepared for this to take multiple attempts. I had almost identical partnership penalties last year and the first abatement request was denied despite having a clean record. Had to call back, escalate to a supervisor, and be very persistent. Eventually got it abated, but it wasn't the easy one-call fix some people are suggesting. The IRS is incredibly backlogged right now.