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Something else to consider - since you're a SAHM with 2 kids, make sure your husband is claiming the right filing status and claiming the Child Tax Credit for both children. Also look into the Child and Dependent Care Credit if you have any qualifying expenses. These can significantly reduce what you owe. Also, if your husband is truly self-employed (getting 1099s, not W-2s), he should absolutely be making quarterly estimated tax payments going forward. This will prevent this problem next year. The IRS has a worksheet to figure out how much he should pay each quarter.
Thanks for bringing this up! We are claiming the Child Tax Credit for both kids, but I'm not sure if we've maxed it out. My husband does get 1099s and I know he needs to do the quarterly payments but honestly we never knew how to calculate them properly. Is there a simple formula to figure out roughly how much we should set aside from each check?
A simple rule of thumb is to set aside about 25-30% of his 1099 income for taxes. This covers both income tax and self-employment tax (which is roughly 15.3% alone). For proper quarterly payments, you can use the IRS Form 1040-ES worksheet, which helps calculate your required payments based on expected income. The due dates are April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15 of the following year. Setting up a separate savings account just for taxes can be really helpful - deposit that percentage from each check immediately before you're tempted to spend it.
Has anyone mentioned that as a contractor, your husband could possibly open a SEP IRA or Solo 401k? Contributing to retirement can lower your taxable income significantly. It might be too late for last year, but definitely something to consider for this year to avoid a repeat situation!
This is great advice! I'm a contractor too and opened a SEP IRA last year. Was able to contribute almost 20% of my income and it dropped me into a lower tax bracket. Saved me thousands.
Just be aware that SEP IRAs have an earlier deadline than traditional IRAs! For 2024 taxes, you need to set up and contribute to a SEP IRA by the tax filing deadline (including extensions) in 2025. Don't wait until last minute like I did!
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Just wanted to add - NEVER pay money to the IRS that you don't actually owe! Once you give them money it's incredibly hard to get it back. What you should do: 1) Call the IRS using the number on your notice 2) Explain that you agree with their correction but haven't received any refund yet 3) Ask them to process the correct refund amount without requiring an amendment 4) Get a confirmation number and the name of who you spoke with Also, ignore the urge to file an amended return in this case - it will only delay things further. The IRS knows there was an error and has already identified the correct amount. An amendment would just confuse matters more.
Thank you for this clear advice! I've been stressing about this for weeks. Do you know if there's any downside to just waiting for them to process the corrected refund? I'm worried about penalties or something if I don't respond fast enough.
There's no downside to waiting for them to process the corrected refund, but there is a time limit for responding to their notice - usually 30 days from the date on the letter. So you should definitely call them before that deadline passes. As long as you respond within the timeframe specified on the notice, you won't face any penalties for this type of correction.
Make sure you keep checking your transcript on the IRS website to see what's happening with your return. Just go to irs.gov and create an account if you don't have one. The transcript will show if they've processed your return and when to expect your refund. Much more reliable than the "Where's My Refund" tool which often doesn't update for these kinds of special situations.
Is the transcript different from the "Where's My Refund" tool? I've been checking that for weeks with no updates about my amended return.
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Don't overlook the free options before paying for services! I run a small plumbing business and use Wave Accounting which is completely free for invoicing, receipt tracking, and bookkeeping. They make money from payment processing if you choose to use that feature. For payroll, I use OnPay which is much cheaper than most options at around $40/month plus $6 per employee. The combination has worked perfectly for my 3-employee business for years. Just wanted to throw out a budget-friendly alternative!
Have you had any issues with Wave at tax time? I tried it last year and my accountant complained that the reports weren't detailed enough for some of the deductions we wanted to take. Did you add any paid features to make it work better?
I did have some limitations with Wave during my first tax season, particularly around categorizing certain business expenses properly. I ended up using their paid receipt scanning feature ($8/month) which helped tremendously with organization and made my accountant much happier. For detailed job costing and tracking profitability by service type, Wave definitely has limitations. I supplement with a simple spreadsheet for that analysis. The payroll integration with OnPay has been flawless though - all my quarterly filings have gone through without issues and the reports are accepted by my accountant without complaints.
Has anyone tried Xero? My sister-in-law uses it for her bakery and swears by it, but I'm wondering if it would work well for a service business like landscaping too.
I switched from QuickBooks to Xero last year for my pool service company (5 employees) and it's been excellent. The inventory tracking is better for tracking chemicals and supplies, and the mobile app is way more user-friendly for entering expenses on the go. Their project tracking feature works well for tracking costs by customer property too.
Thanks for sharing your experience! That's helpful to know about the mobile app and project tracking - both would be really useful for my lawn care business. How was the transition from QuickBooks? Did you lose any historical data in the switch?
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16 Just to add another perspective - my tax preparer advised me to have my non-working spouse file a separate return last year specifically to reconcile the Child Tax Credit payments she received, even though I claimed the kids. This was apparently because the payments were in her name and tied to her SSN. This seems to contradict what others are saying here, so now I'm confused about what's actually correct!
9 I think your tax preparer might have been wrong. I had the same situation and called the IRS directly (using that Claimyr service someone mentioned) and they told me the preparer was incorrect. The advance payments need to be reconciled on the return of whoever is claiming the children as dependents, regardless of who received the payments. You might have unnecessarily complicated your taxes.
16 You might be right. After reading all these responses, I looked into it more and it seems like my preparer may have been overly cautious or mistaken. According to IRS Publication 1054 (which I just looked up), the person claiming the qualifying child should report the advance payments. Looking back at our returns, we may have done it wrong and I'm going to ask about filing an amended return. Thanks for bringing this up - sometimes even paid preparers make mistakes with unusual situations.
2 Has anyone used TurboTax to handle this specific situation with the Form 6419? I'm wondering if it has specific prompts for this scenario or if it gets confused when the form is in someone else's name.
17 I used TurboTax last year for this exact scenario. It actually handles it pretty well - there's a specific section where it asks if you or your spouse received advance Child Tax Credit payments. It then asks you to enter the amount from Form 6419 regardless of whose name is on the form, as long as you're claiming those children as dependents. It was surprisingly straightforward!
Kolton Murphy
Anyone tried FreeTaxUSA? After using TurboTax for years and feeling ripped off by their constant upselling, I switched last year and it handled my rental property and side business perfectly. Federal filing is free and state was only $15. Just wondering if others have had good experiences with it for situations like OP's.
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Evelyn Rivera
•I've used FreeTaxUSA for the last three years including for my small business (Etsy shop) and rental property. It's handled everything perfectly and I've never had an issue. The interface isn't as pretty as TurboTax but it asks all the same questions and I've gotten identical results when I've compared them side by side. Saved me like $120 each year.
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Julia Hall
Another thing to consider is timing. CPAs get absolutely slammed during tax season and many won't take new clients after February. If you're considering going the CPA route, start calling around NOW to get on someone's calendar, especially with your small business component. The good ones book up extremely early.
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