Just a heads up - make sure you communicate clearly with your son about who's claiming who. My daughter and I had a huge mess last year because she filed her taxes first and claimed herself without telling me, then I tried to claim her as a dependent. We both got letters from the IRS and had to file amended returns. The IRS does check for this!

This is such a common situation with college graduates! Based on what you've described, it sounds like you should be able to claim your son as a dependent. The key factors working in your favor are: 1. He was a full-time student for nearly half the year (through May) 2. You likely provided more than half his total support for the year (tuition, housing, food through May vs. his earnings from June onward) 3. Dorm time counts as living with you for the residency test One important thing to keep in mind - since he earned $35,000 from his new job, definitely run the numbers both ways as someone mentioned. Sometimes the family comes out ahead when the child claims themselves, especially if there are education credits involved from his final semester. Also, make sure you coordinate with your son before either of you files! You don't want to both claim/not claim him and trigger IRS letters. Been there with my own kids and it's a headache to fix. The IRS has a helpful interactive tool called the "Interactive Tax Assistant" on their website that can walk you through the dependency tests if you want an official confirmation before filing.

I'm dealing with a similar situation with my restaurant's ERC claim. Paid 28% to a firm that promised "specialized expertise" but it turned out they just had me fill out basic forms and submit payroll records. The whole process took them maybe 3 hours total for a $45,000 claim. What's really frustrating is that I later discovered my CPA could have handled the entire filing for a flat $2,500 fee, but the ERC company made it sound like it required some kind of specialized tax law knowledge that only they possessed. I'm definitely interested in exploring legal options, especially after reading about the class action mentioned here. Has anyone found success getting partial refunds from these companies outside of lawsuits? I'm wondering if it's worth trying to negotiate directly with them first before going the legal route.

I'm in a very similar boat with my accounting practice - I've been helping several clients navigate the aftermath of working with these ERC mills. What I've seen consistently is that legitimate ERC claims typically require 8-15 hours of work when done properly, including eligibility analysis, documentation review, and form preparation. The problem is many of these contingency firms were essentially running claim factories, processing hundreds of applications with minimal individual attention. A 25% fee on a properly vetted claim might be reasonable, but not when they're just plugging numbers into software and hoping for the best. One thing I'd strongly recommend is getting a second opinion on your claim's legitimacy before your refund comes through. With the IRS crackdown, they're auditing a significant percentage of ERC claims now, and if your original firm cut corners on documentation, you could face penalties that far exceed any contingency fee dispute. I've been referring clients to services like taxr.ai for post-submission reviews to make sure everything is properly documented. Better to identify potential issues now than during an audit later.

This thread has been incredibly helpful! I'm dealing with a similar situation as a freelance graphic designer working from my home office. One thing I wanted to add that hasn't been mentioned yet - if you're using a personal vehicle for business travel, make sure you're also tracking your total annual mileage (both business and personal). The IRS can ask for this during an audit to verify that your business mileage percentage is reasonable. I keep a simple annual mileage log where I record my odometer reading on January 1st and December 31st, plus note my business miles throughout the year. This helps show that my business travel claims are legitimate relative to my total driving. Also, for those using mileage tracking apps, I'd recommend occasionally cross-checking the app's calculations with manual odometer readings on longer trips. Technology is great, but having some manual verification gives you extra confidence in your records. The peace of mind is worth the few extra minutes of documentation!

This has been such an informative discussion! As someone who's been hesitant to claim mileage deductions because I wasn't sure about the rules, this thread has given me the confidence to start tracking properly. One question I haven't seen addressed - what about mileage for business errands that aren't client visits? For example, if I drive from my home office to the bank to make business deposits, or to Office Depot to buy supplies for my consulting work, or to meet my accountant - are those trips deductible too? I've been assuming only client-related travel counts, but it sounds like any legitimate business purpose might qualify. I'm just worried about being too aggressive with what I claim since the IRS seems to scrutinize mileage deductions pretty carefully. Also, thank you to everyone who shared their audit experiences - it's really helpful to hear what the IRS actually looks for rather than just worrying about worst-case scenarios!

I've been through this exact anxiety spiral! Filed my 2023 return thinking I had everything, then found a random 1099-INT for $34 from a CD that auto-renewed at a credit union I barely use anymore. Here's what actually happened: Got a CP2000 notice about 8 months later. It was honestly anticlimactic - just a simple letter saying "we think you missed $34 in interest income, which means you owe an additional $7.48 in tax plus $0.23 in interest." Total bill was under $8. I could either agree and pay online, or dispute it if I thought they were wrong. Took me 5 minutes to pay it online. No penalties, no fraud accusations, no threatening letters - just a straightforward "hey, you missed this small thing." The worst part was honestly the months of worrying beforehand. The IRS deals with millions of these tiny discrepancies every year. They have bigger fish to fry than people who accidentally missed reporting $30 in bank interest. Your anxiety is totally understandable, but the reality is much more mundane than the scary scenarios in your head!

I totally understand this anxiety! I went through something similar two years ago when I moved and changed banks mid-year. I was convinced I'd missed something and spent weeks double-checking everything. One thing that really helped me was creating a simple checklist of all my financial accounts from the previous year and systematically going through each one to make sure I had the corresponding tax documents. I also set up a dedicated email folder just for tax documents so they wouldn't get lost in my regular inbox. The reality is that banks and financial institutions are required to send you copies of any 1099s by January 31st, and they also have to send copies to the IRS. If you moved or changed addresses, you can usually log into your online banking and download PDF copies of any tax documents you might have missed in the mail. For those small interest payments you're worried about - honestly, even if you did miss one or two, the additional tax owed would be so minimal that the IRS might not even bother sending a notice unless it's part of a larger pattern. But if they do, it's exactly like others have described - just a simple letter asking for the small additional amount. Your extension was a smart move to give yourself time to get organized. Use that time to systematically go through everything, and you'll probably find you have more documentation than you think you do!

I just wanted to add another perspective here since I've seen this situation from the employer side. I work in payroll for a mid-sized company and we actually generate split W2s intentionally in several situations: 1. When employees move between states during the tax year 2. When we switch payroll providers mid-year (like Hannah mentioned) 3. When there are different state tax requirements that need separate tracking 4. For employees who work remotely in different states than our headquarters The key thing to remember is that both W2s are completely legitimate and required for accurate filing. The IRS expects you to report both forms - the federal wages/taxes from the complete W2 and the state wages/taxes from the state-only W2. From a technical standpoint, your employer is required to issue separate forms when the payroll system can't consolidate the information properly due to timing or system constraints. It's not an error - it's actually the correct way to handle certain situations to ensure compliance with both federal and state tax requirements. So definitely don't worry that you're doing something wrong by entering both W2s. The split format is an accepted practice and tax software is designed to handle it, even if the interface isn't always intuitive about it.

This thread has been incredibly helpful! I'm dealing with this exact same issue right now - two W2s from my employer, one complete and one with only boxes 18-20 filled out. I was panicking thinking something was wrong with my tax documents. After reading through everyone's experiences, I feel much more confident about how to handle this. It sounds like the key steps are: 1. Confirm with employer that the split W2s are intentional (not a mistake) 2. Enter the complete W2 first, then the state-only W2 second in your tax software 3. Look for the "Special Situations" or "W-2 has limited information" option in TurboTax, or consider switching to FreeTaxUSA if the interface is clearer 4. Both forms are legitimate and need to be reported separately Miguel's explanation from the payroll perspective was especially reassuring - knowing that this is actually the correct compliance procedure rather than an error makes me feel much better about proceeding. Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences and solutions. This community is amazing for navigating these confusing tax situations!