Random but important question - are you deducting depreciation on your rental portion? My accountant told me I HAD to take depreciation on the rental portion of my property even if I didn't want to. Something about recapture taxes later?

This is exactly the kind of confusion I went through when I first started renting out part of my home! Here's what I've learned after dealing with this for a few years: For your basement-only expenses (blinds $175, faucet repair $95, repainting $300), these are all deductible as repairs since they maintain the existing condition of the rental unit. The thermostat ($120) - if it only controls the basement, it's fully deductible too. For shared expenses (porch light $65, garage door $220, re-keying $180), you'll need to calculate your rental percentage. Measure the square footage of the basement rental unit versus your total house square footage. Let's say it's 35% - then you can deduct 35% of those shared costs. Your personal upstairs expenses (bedroom carpet $1400, kitchen faucet $85) aren't deductible at all since they don't benefit the rental. One thing that really helped me was creating a simple spreadsheet to track everything by category: rental-only expenses, shared expenses, and personal expenses. Make sure to photograph all receipts and keep detailed records. The IRS loves documentation! Also, don't forget about the bigger deductions - you can deduct your rental percentage of mortgage interest, property taxes, and homeowner's insurance. These add up to much more than the repair costs you mentioned.

I completely understand the panic you're feeling right now - having your CPA admit they don't know how to handle a critical form just days before the deadline is absolutely maddening, especially when you're paying for their expertise. Based on the excellent advice already shared in this thread, it sounds like you have several good options to get this resolved quickly. The suggestions about using tools like taxr.ai to analyze your specific situation or claimyr.com to actually speak with an IRS specialist seem particularly valuable given your tight timeline. One additional thought - if you do end up needing to file an extension as others suggested, don't feel like it's a failure. Extensions are incredibly common for corporate returns, especially when complex forms like 5452 are involved. The key is making sure you pay any estimated taxes owed by the original deadline to avoid penalties. Also, once you get through this crisis, definitely take the advice about finding a new CPA who specializes in corporate tax work. Form 5452 and E&P calculations are fundamental for C-corporations that make distributions - this really should be basic knowledge for anyone handling corporate returns. You've got this! The community here has given you great resources to work with, and it sounds like you're being thorough about getting it right. Document everything you're doing and the sources you're using, and you'll be in good shape.

I've been through the exact same nightmare with a CPA who was in over their head on corporate tax issues. The stress is absolutely brutal when you're paying someone to be the expert and they're basically asking you to do their job for them. Since you're cutting it so close to the deadline, I'd strongly recommend filing Form 7004 for an automatic extension today if you haven't already. This gives you until October 15th to file the actual return and takes the immediate panic off the table. You'll still need to pay any estimated taxes owed by the original deadline, but at least you won't be scrambling to get Form 5452 perfect in the next few days. The community here has shared some incredible resources - the combination of AI analysis tools and direct IRS contact options should give you multiple paths to get this resolved properly. I used similar approaches last year when my CPA dropped the ball on a complex corporate issue, and it honestly worked better than relying on someone who clearly didn't know what they were doing. One silver lining - this experience is probably going to lead you to a much better CPA relationship. When you do find someone who actually specializes in corporate returns, you'll never have to deal with this kind of last-minute panic again. Document everything you're doing now so you can show the new CPA exactly what happened and how you resolved it. You've got the tools and knowledge from this thread to handle it. Take a deep breath and tackle it systematically!

One little trick I learned with H&R Block specifically - sometimes you need to go back and purposely change an answer then change it back again to get the education credits to "refresh" and show up. Try going back to the education section, change something minor, then change it back and continue forward. Stupid software glitch but it worked for me last year!

Hey Diego! I had the exact same issue last year with my MBA program. The problem ended up being that I was accidentally indicating my entire scholarship amount was for qualified expenses when part of it was actually for living stipends. Here's what fixed it for me: Go back to where you entered your 1098-T info and make sure you're only counting the scholarship portion that went toward tuition/fees as reducing your qualified expenses. If any of that scholarship money went toward housing, meals, or other living expenses, that portion shouldn't reduce your eligible education expenses for the credit. Also double-check that you're entering it in the right section - some software has separate places for "scholarships/grants" versus "education expenses" and if you mix them up, it can make the credit disappear entirely. With your $24k income, you're definitely eligible, so it's got to be a data entry issue somewhere. Try manually walking through the education section step by step rather than just importing the 1098-T directly. Sometimes the automatic import doesn't categorize things correctly.

For us regular people with normal jobs and no fancy investments or rental properties, FreeTaxUSA is pretty foolproof. I've used it for 5 years now without any issues. My main tip is to compare this year's return to last year's. If there are big differences in adjusted gross income, total tax, or refund amount that don't match up with life changes you've had (new job, bought house, had baby, etc), that's a red flag to investigate. Most years your tax situation doesn't change dramatically unless something major happened in your life.

As someone who's been doing my own taxes for years, I'd say your anxiety is totally normal - we've all been there! Beyond all the great technical advice already given, here's what helps me sleep better after filing: Keep copies of EVERYTHING - your completed return, all source documents (W-2s, 1099s, receipts), and screenshots of your final FreeTaxUSA summary. Store them both digitally and printed if possible. This way if the IRS ever asks questions, you have a paper trail of exactly what you submitted and why. Also, remember that honest mistakes happen and the IRS isn't trying to "get" regular people. If you accidentally transpose a number or miss a small 1099, they'll usually just send you a letter asking for clarification or additional payment with interest. It's not the end of the world. One last thing - if you're really unsure about a specific deduction or credit, err on the side of being conservative rather than aggressive. You can always amend your return later if you discover you missed something legitimate, but it's better to leave money on the table than to claim something incorrectly. You've got this! The fact that you're being so careful already puts you ahead of most people.

PSA: Topic 152 is actually a good thing! means ur return is being processed normally

As someone who's been through this process multiple times, I can confirm that 9 days is completely normal! The IRS processing times can vary significantly based on several factors - complexity of your return, current volume they're handling, and even random system delays. I've had returns that updated on day 6, others that took the full 18-19 days before showing "Approved." The key thing is that you're seeing Tax Topic 152, which is actually reassuring - it means your return is in the normal processing queue without any red flags or holds. Try not to stress about the timeline too much. The 21-day window is their commitment, and they're pretty good about meeting it. Your return is being processed, it's just moving through their system at their pace right now.