Congrats on getting married! 🎉 I just wanted to chime in as someone who went through this exact same situation about 6 months ago. The overwhelm is so real - my spouse and I kept putting it off because it felt impossibly complicated. But honestly, after reading through this thread, you've gotten some absolutely fantastic advice here! The IRS withholding estimator really is a game-changer for multiple job situations like yours. One thing I'd add from my experience: don't beat yourself up if you don't get it perfectly right the first time. We were so worried about getting the "perfect" withholding that we delayed for months. In the end, we aimed for breaking even and ended up with a $200 refund - not perfect, but totally acceptable and way better than the stress of continuing to put it off. Also, your tip tracking situation is super relatable. I used to just estimate randomly, but now I use a simple app on my phone to log tips after each shift. Takes literally 10 seconds but makes such a difference when you need real numbers for tax stuff. The biggest thing that helped us was just scheduling a specific time to sit down together with all our paystubs and tackle the estimator. Once we actually started, it took way less time than we'd built it up to be in our heads. You've got this! 💪

Hey Zainab! Congrats on getting married! 🎉 This thread has been amazing to read through - so much great advice from people who've been exactly where you are. I'm in a similar situation (got married 3 months ago) and finally tackled our W-4s last month after putting it off forever. Just wanted to add one practical tip that really helped us: when you sit down to do the IRS withholding estimator, have EVERYTHING ready before you start. We made the mistake of starting it the first time without all our info and had to stop halfway through, which made it feel even more overwhelming. Here's what we gathered beforehand: - Most recent paystubs from ALL jobs (yours and your spouse's) - Your estimated annual tips (even a rough estimate is better than nothing) - Info about any deductions you plan to claim (mortgage interest, student loans, etc.) - Last year's tax return if you have it (helps with comparison) The whole process took us about 40 minutes once we had everything organized, and we aimed to break even just like you. We ended up owing $89 this year - pretty much perfect! One thing that surprised me was how much the estimator helped with the coordination between multiple jobs. It literally tells you exactly what to put on each W-4 form, so there's no guesswork about which job should handle the extra withholding. You've gotten such solid advice here - the team approach really works. My spouse and I both understand our tax strategy now instead of one of us trying to figure it out alone. Good luck! 💪

I can share some insight from working in tax preparation - the 846 code with 2/26 date means your refund was authorized for release on that date, but paper checks typically take 3-5 business days after that to actually get printed and mailed out. So your check was likely mailed around March 3rd-5th. From there, USPS delivery usually takes another 5-10 business days depending on your location. If you haven't received it by March 12th, I'd start getting concerned. One thing that might help is setting up USPS Informed Delivery if you haven't already - you'll get a preview of your mail each morning so you'll know exactly when that Treasury Department envelope is coming your way.

I've been through this exact situation before! The 846 code with 2/26 date means your refund was processed and authorized for payment on that date. For paper checks, there's usually a 2-3 day delay between the 846 date and when it actually gets mailed out, so your check was probably sent around February 28th or March 1st. From there, USPS typically takes 5-10 business days for delivery. Since it's been over a week now, I'd expect it to arrive any day. If you don't see it by March 10th, definitely start checking with neighbors or consider setting up a payment trace. The waiting is the worst part, but paper checks almost always show up eventually - just takes longer than we'd like!

I'm dealing with this exact same situation! Filed my return in early February, completed ID verification on March 15th, and WMR has been stuck on "Action Required" for weeks now. Called the IRS and they confirmed my verification was processed successfully on March 18th, but WMR still hasn't updated. It's been so stressful not knowing what's happening with my refund! But after reading through all these responses, I feel so much better knowing this is completely normal. Sounds like the WMR system is just incredibly slow to update after verification - some people waited 3+ weeks before seeing any change. I'm going to try to stop checking it obsessively and maybe look into getting my transcript access set up for more accurate information. Thanks for posting this question and thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences - it's such a relief to know we're all going through the same frustrating wait!

I'm going through the exact same thing right now! Filed in early February, completed my ID verification on March 20th, and WMR is still stuck on "Action Required" even though I called and they confirmed it was successfully processed on March 23rd. Reading through everyone's experiences here has been so reassuring - it sounds like 2-3 weeks (or even longer) is completely normal for WMR to update after verification. I was checking it obsessively every day and driving myself crazy, but I'm going to try to follow the advice here about being more patient and maybe checking my transcript instead for more accurate updates. It's such a relief to know we're all in this waiting game together! Hopefully we'll start seeing some movement soon.

Has anyone had issues with FreeTaxUSA specifically not showing HSA contributions correctly in the adjustment section? I'm wondering if this is a software issue rather than an employer reporting problem.

I've been dealing with HSA reporting confusion myself and found that the key is understanding the difference between employer contributions and employee contributions. If your employer makes contributions to your HSA (which would show up in Box 12 with code W), those are already excluded from your taxable income and shouldn't appear as an adjustment on your tax return. However, if YOU made contributions directly to your HSA account (not through payroll deduction), then those would need to be entered as an adjustment to income. Also worth checking: some employers split HSA contributions between payroll deduction (pre-tax) and direct deposits to your HSA account. The direct deposits would need to be claimed as a deduction even if they show up on your W-2. The IRS Publication 969 has a great flowchart that helped me figure out exactly which HSA contributions I could deduct versus which ones were already excluded from my taxable wages.

I had this exact same issue a few weeks ago! What finally worked for me was doing it on a desktop browser instead of mobile, and making sure I had ALL my documents ready before starting (ID, SSN card, proof of address). Also try doing it during off-peak hours like early morning - seems like their servers get overloaded during busy times. The verification process is super finicky but once you get through it works fine. Don't give up!

Having dealt with similar verification issues before, here's what I'd recommend: 1) Make sure you're using the same phone number and email that's associated with your existing Credit Karma account, 2) Double-check that your personal info matches exactly what's on your tax return (especially address formatting), and 3) If you've moved recently, the address verification might be tripping you up - try using your previous address if that's what's still on your credit file. Also, sometimes these systems have daily attempt limits, so if you've been trying multiple times each day, you might need to wait 24-48 hours between attempts. The VPN suggestion from @3f0be25a403b is spot on too - financial verification systems often flag VPN traffic as suspicious. Hope this helps!