Whatever you do, don't try to update your direct deposit info through email if anyone suggests that! My cousin got scammed this way last year - got an email claiming to be from the IRS about updating bank info for his refund. Turned out to be identity thieves. The IRS NEVER initiates contact through email about refunds or personal info. Just wait for the paper check like others have suggested. It takes a bit longer but it's the safest option at this point.

Has anyone had luck with calling the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service instead of the main IRS number? I've heard they sometimes can help with refund issues if it's causing financial hardship.

FYI - Medicare tax (the other part of FICA) doesn't have a cap like OASDI does. You'll keep paying that 1.45% no matter how much you earn. And if you make over $200,000 ($250,000 for married filing jointly), there's an additional 0.9% Medicare surtax on earnings above that threshold. Just something to be aware of when you're looking at your paycheck and wondering why some deductions stop and others don't!

Quick tip: if you want to estimate when you'll hit the OASDI cap, take your gross pay per paycheck and multiply by 6.2%. That's your OASDI contribution per pay period. Then divide the annual max ($10,453.20 for 2025) by that amount to see how many full paychecks it'll take to reach the cap. If you get paid biweekly and make $150k, each paycheck would have about $403 in OASDI tax. You'd hit the cap after about 26 paychecks, right at the end of the year.

If you're just copying last year's return, be super careful about the tax brackets and standard deduction amounts! They change every year and using outdated numbers can really mess things up. I tried doing this last year and accidentally used the wrong standard deduction amount (I used $12,950 instead of the updated $13,850). Had to file an amended return which was a huge headache. Also double-check ALL your forms. I received a 1099-INT from a new bank account I opened that I almost forgot about. Little things like that can lead to nasty letters from the IRS later!

$800 seems crazy high unless you have a super complicated situation like multiple businesses, rental properties, or foreign income. I switched from an $350 tax preparer to doing it myself with TaxSlayer three years ago and my refund was actually HIGHER because the preparer had been missing some education credits I qualified for!

Regarding your Illinois/Texas situation - I moved from Texas to Illinois last year too! Here's what you need to know: 1. Texas has no state income tax, so you don't file anything for Texas. 2. For Illinois, you'll file a part-year resident return (IL-1040). You'll only pay Illinois tax on: - Income you earned while physically working in Illinois - Income you earned anywhere after becoming an Illinois resident There's a specific schedule (Schedule NR) where you allocate your income between the time you were a resident and non-resident. One thing to watch for: Illinois doesn't have reciprocity with any other states, so if you worked remotely for an Illinois company while living in Texas, Illinois might try to tax that income. Make sure you have documentation showing where you were physically located when working.

For your question about FBAR and Form 8938 - yes, you absolutely need to report your Mexican financial accounts to the US government if they meet certain thresholds! FBAR (FinCEN 114) is required if your combined foreign accounts exceeded $10,000 at any point during the year. This includes your Mexican checking account and any other financial accounts. The deadline is April 15 with an automatic extension to October 15. Form 8938 has different thresholds depending on whether you're filing single or married and whether you live in the US or abroad. For a single person living in the US, you'd file Form 8938 if your foreign assets exceeded $50,000 on the last day of the year OR $75,000 at any time during the year. Don't skip these filings! The penalties are insanely high - up to $10,000 for non-willful violations and potentially criminal penalties for willful violations. And one final thing: your Mexican SRL might require additional reporting on Form 5471 if you own a certain percentage. This form is incredibly complex - another reason to get professional help.

Just wanna add my experience as another small business partner. Our partnership agreement explicitly states that we handle healthcare individually, but we found a workaround. We amended our agreement to have the partnership reimburse each partner for their health insurance premiums and report it as guaranteed payments. This made the premiums clearly deductible as self-employed health insurance on our personal returns. The key is proper documentation and making sure your business and personal finances connect correctly for the deduction. Don't just pay from your personal account without the proper paper trail!

One thing nobody mentioned - check if your state has additional rules! Here in California, I could deduct my health insurance premiums on my federal return as self-employed, but the state had different requirements.