I completely understand your stress about this situation! As others have mentioned, you definitely need to report all W-2s - the IRS already has copies from the employers so leaving one out will cause bigger problems down the road. The good news is there are several strategies that might help reduce what you owe. First, double-check that you're claiming all available credits - things like the Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit (if you have kids), or education credits if either of you took classes. You mentioned this is your first year filing married - make sure you're using the right filing status. Sometimes "Married Filing Separately" can be better than "Married Filing Jointly" depending on your income levels, though usually joint is better. Also consider making a traditional IRA contribution before the tax deadline - you can still contribute for the previous tax year and it directly reduces your taxable income. Even a small contribution might help bridge the gap between owing and breaking even. Don't panic! Owing $787 isn't the end of the world, and the IRS offers payment plans if you can't pay it all at once. Focus on making sure your withholdings are adjusted going forward so this doesn't happen again next year.

I feel your pain on this - my wife and I went through almost the exact same thing our first year married! The shock of going from expecting a refund to owing money is really tough. One thing that helped us was checking if we qualified for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). With multiple lower-paying jobs, you might be right in that sweet spot where it applies. Also, if you're under 25 and don't have kids, there's a smaller EITC for childless workers that many people don't know about. Another suggestion - look into whether you can still contribute to traditional IRAs for last year. Even if your husband's part-time jobs don't offer retirement plans, you can usually still make IRA contributions that reduce your taxable income dollar-for-dollar. If you can swing even a $1,000 contribution, that could save you $100-200 in taxes depending on your bracket. The silver lining is that you've learned this lesson early in your marriage! Going forward, you can adjust withholdings or make quarterly payments to avoid this surprise. We now have extra taxes withheld from my main job to cover my husband's freelance work, and it's made tax time much less stressful. Hang in there - you'll get through this! 💪

mine cleared after 6 weeks. hang in there!

Looking at your transcript, the good news is your refund amount is solid at $15,621 - all your credits and withholdings add up correctly. The 570/971 combo usually means they're verifying some of your credits, possibly the large ones totaling $10,846. Since your 971 notice was issued 03-27-2023, you should have received or will receive mail explaining what they need. Sometimes it's just identity verification or documentation for certain credits. The April 16th dates you're seeing are just processing cycle dates, not your actual refund date. With a cycle code ending in 05, you're on a weekly cycle which is actually better for getting updates. Keep checking your transcript weekly for changes - once that 570 drops off, you should see an 846 refund date code pretty quickly after. Have you received any mail from the IRS yet? That 971 notice will tell you exactly what's holding things up.

I'm a restaurant manager too, and this happened at our place last year because of a software update in our payroll system. Check your paystubs against your bank deposits to make sure you're actually getting paid correctly first. Sometimes when boxes 1-6 are empty, it means you've been miscategorized in the system. Our payroll company had accidentally marked several managers as "statutory employees" which messed up their W-2s. Took about 2 weeks to get corrected W-2s issued. Definitely don't file with the empty W-2!

This is definitely a red flag that needs immediate attention! Empty boxes 1-6 on a W-2 essentially means the IRS has no record of your wages or tax withholdings for 2024, which could create serious problems down the line. Since you mentioned you're a restaurant manager making $45K with regular tax deductions on your paystubs, this is almost certainly an error in your employer's payroll system setup. Before filing anything, I'd strongly recommend: 1. Gather your final 2024 paystub showing year-to-date totals 2. Contact your employer immediately (not just the payroll person) - the owner needs to know about this 3. If they can't fix it quickly, you may need to file Form 4852 as others mentioned Don't file with the blank W-2 - it will likely trigger an IRS inquiry later. The good news is this type of payroll error is usually fixable once the employer realizes what happened. Most payroll companies can issue corrected W-2s within a few days once they identify the problem. Keep detailed records of all your communications with your employer about this issue. If they're unresponsive, you'll need that documentation when you contact the IRS for guidance.

I went through this exact same situation last year with my Shareworks ESPP account! The key thing that helped me figure it out was looking at my actual account statements more carefully. In the fine print of my quarterly statements, I found language that specifically mentioned "Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC" as the custodian, which is clearly a US entity. Even though the mailing address and some correspondence showed Canadian addresses, the actual legal entity holding my shares was US-based. You can also check your account opening documents or look in the "Important Disclosures" section of your online account. There should be clear language about which Morgan Stanley entity is your account custodian. If it says something like "Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC" or another US LLC/Corp designation, you're dealing with a US account and no FBAR required. If you're still not 100% sure after checking these documents, definitely call their customer service line and ask them directly to confirm which legal entity is the custodian of your account. They should be able to give you a definitive answer. Better to spend 20 minutes on the phone than worry about potential FBAR penalties!

I've been dealing with this exact Shareworks/FBAR question for months and finally got clarity from my CPA. The bottom line is that most Shareworks ESPP accounts maintained through Morgan Stanley are actually US accounts, even with the Canadian address confusion. Here's what I learned: When Solium was acquired by Morgan Stanley, most existing US participant accounts were transferred to Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC, which is a US entity. However, some accounts might still be held by Morgan Stanley Canada depending on when your account was established and your company's specific arrangement. The easiest way to determine this is to log into your Shareworks account online and look for the "Account Details" or "Legal Information" section. It should clearly state which Morgan Stanley entity is the custodian. If it shows any US LLC or Corp designation, you're dealing with a domestic account and no FBAR is required. One thing to be careful about - even if you determine no FBAR is needed now, keep monitoring this if Morgan Stanley makes any changes to how they hold accounts in the future. Corporate restructuring can sometimes change the legal status of where accounts are maintained. Also worth noting: the $10,000 FBAR threshold is based on the highest balance at any point during the year, not just year-end balance. So if your account briefly hit $10,001 in March but was back down to $8,000 by December, you'd still need to file if it were indeed a foreign account.

I've been following this thread as someone who went through a similar nightmare with my Texas return last year, and I wanted to add one more potential issue that hasn't been mentioned yet - state withholding discrepancies. My federal return was accepted immediately, but Texas kept rejecting my state return (yes, I know Texas doesn't have income tax, but I had moved from California mid-year and had to file a part-year CA return). The rejection turned out to be because I had California state tax withheld from my paycheck even after moving to Texas, and the CA system flagged a mismatch between my reported withholding and what my employer had actually sent to the state. What made it even more confusing is that my W-2 showed the correct withholding amounts, but apparently my employer had made an error in their electronic filing to California that didn't show up on my physical W-2. I only discovered this when I got the specific reject code and the CA rep explained that their records showed different withholding amounts than what I had entered from my W-2. The fix was getting a corrected W-2 from my employer and then refiling with the updated information. It was a pain, but it explained why federal processed fine (they go off the W-2) while state rejected (they cross-reference with employer filings). So if you have any state withholding shown on your W-2, it might be worth asking the Michigan rep if there's a withholding mismatch when you get your reject code. Sometimes the issue isn't with what you entered, but with what your employer reported to the state separately.

This thread has been absolutely incredible to read through - I'm dealing with the exact same issue with my Illinois return right now! Federal went through without a hitch, but state got rejected instantly with zero useful information from TurboTax. Reading through everyone's detailed experiences and solutions has given me so much hope and a clear action plan. I'm going to call Illinois Department of Revenue first thing tomorrow morning (seems like the early morning strategy really works for everyone) and get that specific reject code. Based on all the great advice here, I'm preparing to ask for: the exact error message word-for-word, whether it's a data entry issue vs. missing forms, if there are any withholding discrepancies, and what my options are for electronic resubmission after corrections. I'm also going to do that character-by-character comparison someone mentioned between my federal and state returns, plus check Illinois's online portal to see if there are any additional details posted there. It's so frustrating that TurboTax can't provide this level of detail, but seeing how everyone here was able to track down their specific issues and get them resolved gives me confidence that there's definitely a solution hiding in there somewhere. Will update once I figure out what's causing my rejection - hopefully it helps the next person dealing with this same nightmare! Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences and troubleshooting strategies. This community support has been way more valuable than any official help I've gotten so far!