Is that still true? I thought they changed that rule recently?

The PATH Act requirements are still in effect for the 2025 filing season. There have been no changes to this law. If you claim EITC or ACTC, the earliest you would see your refund is around February 15th, regardless of when you file. The IRS uses this time to verify income reported on W-2s and 1099s against the credits claimed to prevent fraudulent refunds. While there are occasionally discussions about modifying these rules, no actual changes have been implemented yet.

That timing makes sense - returns filed closer to the deadline take longer because the IRS gets swamped. I always aim for early February once I have all my documents. Just make sure you have EVERYTHING before filing!

Is that seriously true that both spouses have to choose the same deduction method?? I had no idea! We were planning to have my husband itemize since he has tons of deductible expenses while I'd take the standard deduction. Will this really not work?

Yes, it's absolutely true and it's one of the biggest "gotchas" with married filing separately. If one spouse itemizes, the other MUST also itemize - even if they have very few deductions. This often means the second spouse ends up with a very small itemized deduction amount that would have been much better served by taking the standard deduction. This requirement often wipes out much of the potential benefit of filing separately, which is why it's so important to run the numbers both ways. The tax code deliberately makes MFS less advantageous in most situations to encourage joint filing.

I've had similar experiences with TurboTax too. These programs often show "refund estimates" before they've calculated everything. Sometimes they don't include state taxes or certain penalties until the very end of the process.

That's actually a really good point that I hadn't considered! My income is definitely below the Roth limits (about $95k for 2023), but maybe my advisor was assuming I'd be doing a backdoor Roth? I'll ask them specifically if that's what they were suggesting. If they were just mistaken about regular Roth contributions needing Form 8606, it might be time to find a new advisor...

Definitely worth a clarifying conversation with them. If your income is $95k, you're well within the limits for direct Roth contributions ($138,000 for single filers in 2023), so backdoor wouldn't be necessary. Some tax advisors who deal primarily with higher-income clients get so used to recommending backdoor Roth strategies that they sometimes default to that advice without checking if a direct contribution is possible. Or they might just be confusing the reporting requirements between traditional and Roth IRAs.

This happened to me too! Fidelity assumed my April contribution was for the current year not the previous year. Took forever to get fixed and they had to generate corrected tax forms.

How would I know if the basis wasn't reported? Is there something specific to look for on the form? Because I think this might be exactly my issue.

Look at your 1099-B form from your brokerage - there should be a column that indicates whether the cost basis was reported to the IRS. Sometimes there's a checkbox, other times it might say "Covered" versus "Noncovered" transactions, or it might explicitly state "Cost basis not reported to IRS" for certain transactions. Noncovered securities (typically those acquired before certain dates or transferred from other brokerages) don't have their cost basis automatically reported to the IRS, so the IRS only sees the sale proceeds. In those cases, they might assume your entire proceeds are gains unless you properly report the cost basis on Form 8949.

Will the IRS just cancel the debt if I can show the broker's forms match what I reported? Or will I need to prove something more?

I think I'm over the income limit for direct Roth contributions too. Do you know if I'd run into any issues if I go with the backdoor Roth approach mentioned above? I'm wondering if there's a timing issue since I already made the Traditional contribution a few months ago.

The timing shouldn't be an issue for the backdoor Roth approach. You can convert Traditional IRA funds to Roth at any time - there's no deadline for that part of the process. The only timing concern is getting your contribution classified correctly (as non-deductible) on your tax return. Just make sure you file Form 8606 with your taxes to document the non-deductible contribution, then do the conversion whenever you're ready. Some people prefer to wait a bit between contribution and conversion, while others do it immediately. Either way works fine from a tax perspective.

You're on the right track! When both spouses are over the income limit and covered by workplace plans, backdoor Roth is typically the way to go. Just make sure you're keeping separate IRAs (never combine them) and each filing Form 8606 annually.