How do i calculate the number of days i worked for my first tax filing?
Hey everyone, I'm totally lost trying to figure out my taxes for the first time. The form is asking for the number of days I worked and I have no clue how to calculate this or how exact I need to be? I worked at a retail job that started in February last year, but my schedule was super irregular - sometimes 3 days a week, sometimes 5. I also took a few weeks off in the summer to help my mom after her surgery. Do I need to count every single day I physically showed up or is there some standard formula? I don't have all my schedules saved and I'm freaking out a bit. Help please!!
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Connor O'Brien
Don't worry, this is a common question for first-time filers! The "number of days worked" is typically asking for the actual days you physically performed work during the tax year. You have a few options to calculate this. The most accurate would be to review your pay stubs or timesheet records if you have access to them. Many employers provide online portals where you can view your work history. If you're paid biweekly, each stub should show the days worked in that period. If you don't have complete records, make a reasonable estimate. Count the weeks you worked (excluding your time off for your mom's surgery), then multiply by your typical days per week. For example, if you worked 40 weeks at an average of 4 days per week, that's approximately 160 days. The IRS generally expects you to make a good-faith effort to be accurate, but they understand estimates may be necessary when exact records aren't available.
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Amina Diallo
•Does it matter if some days were just like 4-hour shifts and others were 8-hour shifts? Do those count the same or do you have to convert everything to 8-hour days or something?
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Connor O'Brien
•For tax purposes, each day you worked counts as one day, regardless of how many hours you worked on that particular day. So yes, a 4-hour shift counts the same as an 8-hour shift when calculating the number of days worked. You don't need to convert everything to 8-hour equivalents. What matters is the number of calendar days you performed work, not the total hours or how those hours were distributed. This makes it much simpler to calculate!
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GamerGirl99
After struggling with this exact issue last year, I discovered a tool that saved me hours of frustration. I was trying to piece together my work days from memory and random text messages about my schedule when a friend suggested taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai). It analyzed my pay stubs and bank deposits to help me figure out my actual work days. The tool extracted the dates I was paid and matched it with my typical work pattern. It even flagged inconsistencies where my normal deposit pattern changed, which helped me remember that summer period when I switched to part-time. Honestly made my first-time filing way less stressful!
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Hiroshi Nakamura
•Wait does it actually look at your bank account? That seems kinda sketch. How does it know which deposits are from work vs like money from friends or something?
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Isabella Costa
•Can it handle multiple jobs? I worked at three different places last year and trying to piece together exactly which days I worked where is giving me a headache.
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GamerGirl99
•It doesn't directly connect to your bank account - you just upload statements or screenshots with the work deposits. It uses pattern recognition to identify regular deposits that match your pay schedule. You can label which ones are from work vs personal transfers. For multiple jobs, absolutely! You can categorize deposits by employer, and it'll track each one separately. It's especially helpful when you've worked at different places throughout the year since it organizes everything by date and source. I wish I'd had this when I was juggling my barista job and campus work-study position.
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Isabella Costa
Just wanted to update that I tried taxr.ai after asking about it here. It actually worked really well for my situation with multiple jobs! I uploaded my pay stubs and bank statements and it organized everything by employer. The coolest part was it showed me visual patterns of my work history throughout the year - I could literally see the weeks I worked more at my restaurant job during tourist season and when I picked up more hours at the campus bookstore during back-to-school time. Ended up with a much more accurate count than my original guess, which was way off. Definitely recommend if you're in a similar situation!
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Malik Jenkins
If you're really struggling to get your work days figured out and need to talk to someone at the IRS for guidance, I'd recommend Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). I was completely stuck last year trying to figure out how to report my gig work days, and spent DAYS trying to get through to the IRS phone line with no luck. Claimyr got me connected to an actual IRS agent in about 20 minutes when I'd been trying for literally hours on my own. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. The agent walked me through exactly what they consider a "work day" for tax purposes and how accurate I needed to be. Saved me from potentially filing incorrect information.
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Freya Andersen
•How exactly does this work? I thought it was impossible to get through to the IRS without waiting for hours. Is this some kind of premium line or something?
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Eduardo Silva
•Seems too good to be true. I've literally never gotten through to the IRS in less than an hour, even when calling right when they open. Why would this work when calling directly doesn't?
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Malik Jenkins
•It uses technology to navigate the IRS phone system and wait on hold for you. Once they reach a human, you get a call connecting you directly to that agent. It's the same IRS line everyone else is calling - they just handle the waiting part. The reason it works is that their system can efficiently manage the hold process while you go about your day. I was skeptical too, but after trying for 3 days to reach someone on my own, I was desperate. The system called me when it reached an agent, and suddenly I was talking to a helpful IRS person who answered all my questions about reporting work days.
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Eduardo Silva
Ok I need to eat my words about Claimyr. After posting that skeptical comment, I decided to try it the next day when I still couldn't get through to the IRS about my work days calculation question. It actually worked exactly as described. I went about my day, and about 45 minutes later got a call connecting me to an IRS agent. The agent confirmed that for my situation (I drive for multiple delivery apps), I should count each day I did at least one delivery as a work day, even if it was just a single 20-minute delivery. Got my question answered in like 5 minutes once I was connected. Definitely using this again next year instead of wasting hours on hold.
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Leila Haddad
One simple way I calculated my work days: look at your paystubs and check the "pay period." Each pay period usually lists the specific dates covered. If you worked during that period, count the number of weekdays (Mon-Fri) in that range, then subtract any days you know you took off. If you worked weekends regularly, make sure to count those too. It doesn't need to be perfect to the day, but try to be reasonably accurate.
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Emma Johnson
•But what if you have an irregular schedule? I work retail and my days change every week. Some weeks I work weekends and have weekdays off. Would this method still work?
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Leila Haddad
•For irregular retail schedules, you'd want to use a modified approach. Instead of assuming Monday-Friday, check if your paystubs show hours worked per pay period. If they do, divide total hours by your typical shift length to estimate days. Another option is checking work schedules if you have access to them through an employee portal or app. Some retail jobs keep those records for quite a while. Even an estimate based on your typical weekly pattern (like "usually 4 days a week for 30 weeks") is better than nothing. The IRS understands that not everyone has perfect records, especially for part-time or irregular work.
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Ravi Patel
Has anyone used TurboTax for this? I'm filing for the first time too and wondering if it asks for exact days or gives you some kinda calculator to figure it out.
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Astrid Bergström
•I used TurboTax last year and it does ask for days worked in some situations, especially if you moved between states or worked in multiple states. It doesn't have a built-in calculator, it just has a field where you input the number. I ended up counting days from my calendar where I'd marked my shifts.
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