The system is broken af. took 6 months to get my refund last year

I'm in the exact same situation! Filed on January 12th with EITC and still stuck on "Received" status. The waiting is killing me because I really need that money for rent and other bills. What's really frustrating is that the app keeps saying to check back daily but nothing ever changes. I've been obsessively checking WMR and IRS2Go multiple times a day hoping to see it move to "Approved" but nope, still the same PATH Act message. At least we know we're not alone in this. Seems like everyone who claimed EITC or ACTC is in the same boat. I'm trying to stay positive and remind myself that mid-February isn't that far away, but when you're stressed about money it feels like forever. Hang in there! Hopefully we'll start seeing some movement in the next week or two.

I had this exact confusion on my taxes last year! What helped me figure it out was looking at the specific wording in IRS Publication 503. It says employer-provided on-site childcare means "services provided by a qualifying childcare facility of the employer." For it to be a "qualifying childcare facility," your employer must actually be operating the facility primarily for employees' children. The fact that anyone can send their kids there (even with your discount) means it's NOT employer-provided on-site childcare for tax purposes. The $5k in Box 10 is almost certainly from a Dependent Care FSA or other benefit program, which is totally separate. So you'd answer "No" to the on-site childcare question.

I dealt with this exact situation two years ago and made the mistake of answering "Yes" initially, which caused some headaches later. The IRS definition is pretty strict - for childcare to count as "employer-provided on-site," your employer needs to actually own and operate the facility specifically for employees' children. Just having a partnership, discount arrangement, or even priority enrollment at a nearby daycare doesn't qualify. I learned this the hard way when the IRS questioned my return. They explained that if the facility serves the general public (even if employees get perks), it's not considered employer-provided for tax purposes. The key test is: would the facility exist without your employer running it? If yes, then it's probably not qualifying on-site childcare. Your Box 10 amount is likely from a Dependent Care FSA or similar benefit, which is already getting proper tax treatment. Definitely stick with "No" on the on-site childcare question - it'll save you potential complications down the road.

Has anyone tried just asking for a specific additional dollar amount to be withheld instead of trying to fix the underlying calculation? I had the same problem and just put $25 extra per paycheck on line 4(c) of my W-4. Ended up with a small refund instead of owing. Seemed easier than trying to get payroll to understand the proper way to calculate server withholding.

As someone who works in tax preparation, I see this exact issue constantly with restaurant workers. The core problem is that most payroll systems are set up to handle either hourly wages OR salary, but they struggle with the hybrid income that servers have. Here's what's likely happening: Your employer is correctly withholding Social Security and Medicare taxes on both your wages and tips (6.2% + 1.45%), but the federal income tax calculation is probably only considering your base hourly wages when determining your withholding rate. So you're being taxed as if you make $47k, but at filing time, your actual income is $52k. The easiest fix is usually what others mentioned - just add extra withholding on line 4(c) of your W-4. Take what you owed last year, divide by your number of paychecks, and add maybe 10% buffer. So if you owed $800 and get paid weekly, request about $17 extra per check. You could also try changing your filing status to "Single" instead of any other option, or claim fewer allowances, but the extra dollar amount is more precise. The IRS withholding calculator is helpful, but for tipped income it sometimes underestimates.

Quick tip for anyone using FreeTaxUSA with Schedule D issues - if you enter everything and then preview your actual 8949 form (not just the input screens), you'll see that they do actually organize it correctly on the final form in most cases! So even though you might enter Box C transactions in the Box B input section, when you generate the actual PDF of your return, it often shows up correctly categorized on the official 8949 form. I was pleasantly surprised when I checked this on my return after worrying about the same issue.

This is really helpful information! I'm a newcomer to filing taxes with investment transactions and was getting overwhelmed by all the different boxes on Schedule D/8949. I've been using TurboTax but honestly finding it confusing for my crypto transactions from smaller exchanges. Based on what everyone's saying here about FreeTaxUSA being more straightforward (and cheaper), I might consider switching next year. The tip about checking the final PDF form is gold - I never would have thought to verify that the software correctly categorizes things on the actual form versus the input screens. Going to double-check my current return now to make sure everything looks right. Thanks for sharing your experiences with the different software options. It's reassuring to know that as long as all transactions are reported accurately, the IRS cares more about the numbers being right than perfect box categorization.

Something no one's mentioned yet - if your survey income is substantialish (like over $1k yearly), you might want to keep records of expenses related to the survey work. This includes: - Portion of internet bill (calculate % used for surveys) - Computer/tablet/phone used primarily for surveys - Software subscriptions used for survey work - Home office space if you have a dedicated area I've been doing surveys for 3+ years and treating it as self-employment. Yes, I pay self-employment tax, but the deductions make it worthwhile. Just make sure you have documentation for everything in case of audit.

Great question! I've been dealing with this exact situation for the past couple years. Just to add some clarity to what others have shared: The key thing to remember is that ALL income is taxable, regardless of whether you receive a 1099-K or any other form. The 1099-K is just for the IRS to track payments - it doesn't determine whether something is taxable. For survey rewards specifically, I've found that most legitimate survey sites will send you a 1099-MISC (not 1099-K) if you earn over $600 with them in a year. The 1099-K threshold of $5,000 applies to payment processors like PayPal when they aggregate all your payments from various sources. One thing to watch out for - if you're doing surveys through multiple platforms but all getting paid through the same PayPal account, those payments could add up toward the $5,000 threshold even if no individual survey site pays you that much. My advice: keep detailed records of which sites you earned from and how much, regardless of what forms you receive. It makes tax time much easier and shows good faith effort if there are ever any questions.