Is my accountant wrong about my tax return calculations?

Thanks for the explanation. My freelance income was only about $12,000 for the year, so that would be around $1,800 in self-employment tax, right? And I actually went from a higher-paying job to a slightly lower one. My W-4 at both jobs claimed the standard single filing status with no adjustments.

Yes, about $1,800 would be the self-employment tax on $12,000 of freelance income. That still leaves about $1,000 of the additional tax to explain. If you went from a higher to lower-paying job, that makes the situation more unusual. Did you receive any severance package, cashed out vacation time, or retirement distributions when leaving the previous job? Sometimes these create additional taxable income that might not be obvious. Also, did you have any investment income or capital gains this year that might be different from previous years?

Does taxr.ai handle state taxes too or just federal? My situation is complicated because I worked in two different states last year.

I'm skeptical about these online tools. How accurate is it compared to talking with an actual tax professional? And what about security concerns with uploading all your tax docs to some random website?

It handles both federal and state taxes, which was super helpful for me since I had income from multiple sources that affected both. The state tax calculations were actually where I found the biggest discrepancy with what my accountant had prepared. Regarding accuracy versus professionals, I found it to be very precise because it's using the same tax rules but just explaining them more clearly. As for security, they use bank-level encryption and don't store your documents after analysis - I was concerned about that too but researched their security practices before uploading anything.

How does this actually work? I thought it was impossible to get through to the IRS. Do they just keep calling for you or something?

Sounds like a scam honestly. The IRS is notorious for not answering calls. I've been trying for months to resolve an issue with them with no luck. I doubt any service can magically get through when millions of people can't.

They use technology that holds your place in the IRS phone queue so you don't have to stay on the line for hours. When an agent is about to pick up, they call and connect you directly. It's not that they have a special line to the IRS - they're just handling the waiting part for you. I was really skeptical at first too, which is why I mentioned the video link so you can see exactly how it works. I had been trying to reach the IRS for three weeks with no success before using this. When you consider the value of your time and the stress of dealing with tax issues, it was completely worth it.

Did you find the new accountant through a referral or did you just search online? I'm thinking I might need to do the same thing but I'm not sure how to find someone reliable.

I got a referral from a coworker who also does freelance work on the side. Personal referrals are definitely the way to go if possible since online reviews for tax professionals can be hard to trust. If you don't have any personal referrals, I'd recommend looking for an Enrolled Agent (EA) rather than just any tax preparer. They're specifically licensed by the IRS and tend to be more knowledgeable about tax code than the seasonal preparers at big chain tax services. Local small business associations sometimes have lists of reputable tax pros who work with self-employed individuals.

QBI is so confusing! My accountant says I don't qualify because my business is a "specified service business" (I'm a consultant) and my income is too high. Is there a simple way to know if I should be getting this?