I'm dealing with a very similar situation right now! I was on an F-1 visa doing OPT in 2022 and my employer withheld about $2,800 in FICA taxes that I shouldn't have paid as a non-resident alien. After reading through all these responses, I'm getting confused about which service or approach to try first. It sounds like there are multiple ways to tackle this - calling the IRS directly (possibly through Claimyr to get through faster), using a service like taxr.ai to prepare the forms correctly, or just doing it myself with certified mail to the right address. For those who successfully got their refunds - what would you recommend as the best first step? Should I start by calling the IRS to confirm the correct mailing address, or go straight to resubmitting with all the documentation mentioned here? Also, has anyone had success getting their refund for 2022 tax year specifically? I want to make sure I'm still within the time limits before I invest too much effort into this process. Thanks for all the detailed advice in this thread - it's been incredibly helpful to see others who went through the same frustrating experience!

I'm also dealing with a FICA refund situation and wanted to share what I learned from my tax attorney. One thing that hasn't been mentioned here is that you should check if your employer actually remitted those FICA taxes to the IRS or if they're still holding them. Some employers, especially smaller companies, don't immediately send withheld taxes to the IRS - they might remit quarterly. If your employer still has the money, you can potentially get it back directly from them, which is much faster than going through the IRS refund process. You can request a "wage and income transcript" from the IRS for the tax year in question (Form 4506-T) to see exactly what was reported. This will show you whether the employer actually sent the FICA taxes to the IRS or not. If the taxes were indeed sent to the IRS, then you're on the right track with Forms 843 and 8316. But if they weren't, you might be able to resolve this directly with your former employer, which could save you months of waiting. Also, make sure you understand the difference between being exempt from FICA as a non-resident alien versus being in the US on a treaty-exempt visa. The process and required documentation can be slightly different depending on your specific visa type and country of origin.

10 Has anyone used H&R Block instead of TurboTax for handling backdoor Roth IRAs and Form 8606? I've been thinking about switching tax software this year and wonder if one handles this situation better than the other.

I went through this exact same situation last year and can confirm the advice about amending your 2023 return is spot on. One thing to add - make sure you keep really good records of your non-deductible contribution confirmation from your IRA custodian (like Fidelity, Vanguard, etc.). When you do the conversion part later, you'll need to show that these funds have already been taxed, so the conversion should be essentially tax-free. The Form 8606 creates a paper trail that proves your basis in the traditional IRA. Without properly filing it for 2023, you could end up paying taxes twice on the same money when you convert. Also, if you're planning to do backdoor Roth conversions regularly, consider setting up a system to track this annually. It becomes much easier once you have the process down and are consistent about filing Form 8606 each year you make non-deductible contributions.

Has anyone here used the RMD method instead of amortization? I've heard it can result in lower initial payments but they increase over time.

I'm dealing with a similar situation and want to add some perspective based on my recent experience. The key thing to understand is that while there's no explicit minimum interest rate in the tax code, the IRS requires the rate be "reasonable" - which creates a practical floor based on current market conditions. I was also trying to get my withdrawals down from around $38k to closer to $25k annually. After consulting with a tax attorney who specializes in retirement distributions, I learned that you can generally use rates in the 2.5-3.5% range safely, especially if you can tie them to published rates like Treasury bonds or high-grade corporate bonds. The attorney also suggested looking into the account splitting strategy mentioned by Paolo - this was actually the most effective approach for me. I moved about 65% of my IRA balance to a separate account and only set up the 72(t) on the smaller portion. This got my required distribution down to exactly where I needed it without having to push the interest rate to questionable levels. One word of caution: make sure you get professional help with the calculations and documentation. The penalties for messing up a 72(t) plan are severe - you'll owe the 10% penalty on all distributions you've taken PLUS interest. It's worth paying for proper guidance upfront rather than risking an expensive mistake later.

I completely understand your frustration - I went through almost the exact same situation about 6 months ago when I had to resell tickets to a Broadway show due to a family emergency. What Ticketmaster is asking for is absolutely legitimate. They need your Social Security Number (SSN), which serves as your tax ID. This is required under new IRS rules that went into effect in 2023 - any payment platform that processes over $600 for an individual during the tax year must collect this information and report it to the IRS via Form 1099-K. Here's the important part for your situation: since you sold your tickets at a loss (for $45 less than you paid), you won't owe any additional taxes on this money. When you file your taxes next year, you'll report the sale income but can also document your original purchase price as your cost basis, showing the IRS that this was actually a personal loss. A few tips to make the process go smoothly: - Make absolutely sure your name on your Ticketmaster account matches your bank account exactly (including middle initials, spacing, etc.) - Keep your original purchase receipts - you'll need them for tax documentation - The verification process typically takes 2-3 business days once you submit your SSN - You should get an email confirmation once they start processing I know it feels uncomfortable sharing your SSN, but Ticketmaster processes thousands of these daily and has proper security measures. Unfortunately, there's no way around it if you want your $200 back. Once I provided mine, I had my payment within 3 business days with no further issues. Hang in there - this is becoming very routine even though it's new and stressful for occasional sellers like us!

I went through this exact same situation last year and can completely understand your frustration! The SSN requirement caught me off guard too when I had to resell some concert tickets due to a work conflict. What Ticketmaster is asking for is legitimate - they need your Social Security Number as your tax ID due to IRS reporting requirements that took effect in 2023. Any payment platform processing over $600 for someone during the tax year must collect this information, even for one-time personal sales like yours. The good news is that since you sold at a loss (like I did - lost about $35 on mine), you won't owe any taxes on this transaction. You'll just need to keep your original purchase receipt to document the loss when filing taxes next year. Here's what helped me get through the process quickly: - Made sure my name on Ticketmaster matched my bank account exactly (including middle initials) - Submitted my SSN through their secure portal - Got my payment within 4 business days after verification I know sharing your SSN feels uncomfortable, but unfortunately it's the only way to get your money. Ticketmaster handles this for thousands of sellers and has proper security measures in place. Once you complete the verification, you should get your $200 without any further hassles. It's frustrating that they don't explain this upfront, but the process itself is pretty straightforward once you know what they need!

This is exactly the kind of confusion that trips up so many partnership tax filers! You're right to question this - having both Box 14A and 14C filled out with such different amounts (net vs gross) is a major red flag. From what you've described, your partnership accountant likely made an error. Box 14C should only contain an amount if you're specifically electing the nonfarm optional method, which has a maximum of $6,120 for 2024 - not your $78k gross revenue figure. The sudden tax increase you're seeing is because TurboTax is calculating self-employment tax on that $78k amount in addition to your regular income tax. That's an extra $11,934 in SE tax (15.3% x $78k) that you shouldn't owe if the form was prepared correctly. Here's what I'd recommend: 1. Contact your partnership accountant immediately to clarify why they filled Box 14C 2. For now, only enter the Box 14A amount in TurboTax and leave 14C blank 3. If your accountant can't provide a valid reason for using the optional method, request a corrected K-1 Most profitable partnerships should only use Box 14A. Don't let this mistake cost you thousands in unnecessary taxes!

This exact scenario happened to my business partner and me two years ago! We had a very similar setup - 50/50 partnership, profitable year, but our K-1 had both boxes filled out incorrectly. The key thing to understand is that Box 14C is specifically for the "nonfarm optional method" which has a statutory maximum of $6,120 for 2024 (and was lower in previous years). Your accountant putting $78k in there is definitely wrong - that's not how the optional method works at all. What's happening is TurboTax is treating that $78k as additional self-employment income on top of your regular partnership income, hence the massive tax increase. You're essentially being double-taxed on a large portion of your income. Here's what worked for us: We contacted our accountant with the specific IRS regulations (found in Publication 533) showing that the optional method has strict limits and specific use cases. Our accountant admitted the error and issued corrected K-1s with only Box 14A filled out. The corrected return saved us about $8,400 in unnecessary self-employment taxes. Don't let your accountant brush this off - the regulations are very clear that most profitable partnerships should only use Box 14A.