TurboTax prompting me to file form SS-8 with IRS - help needed
My husband is a scientific researcher at a university. He received his H1B visa in July 2024. Before getting the H1B visa, he was receiving payments from a research fellowship, so he got a stipend letter from the university covering the first 5 months of 2024. For the rest of the year (7 months), the university reported his income on a W2. I've entered the W2 information into TurboTax as regular wages, and I put the stipend letter amount under miscellaneous income (1099-A, 1099-C) based on some stuff I found online. Here's my issue: TurboTax is now telling me that my husband should submit an SS-8 form to the IRS. I looked at the IRS website about this but I'm confused about whether we actually need to file this form or not. Has anyone dealt with this situation before? Is the SS-8 form really necessary here, or is TurboTax just being overly cautious?
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Josef Tearle
This comes up because TurboTax sees the combination of regular W2 income and the fellowship stipend (which you entered as miscellaneous income) and thinks there might be a worker classification issue. The SS-8 form is used to determine whether someone is an employee or independent contractor for tax purposes. In your case, you likely don't need to file the SS-8. Your husband was legitimately receiving a fellowship stipend for part of the year (which is typically not considered wages but still taxable income), and then became a regular W2 employee when his visa status changed. This is a common situation for foreign researchers and academics. Instead of entering the stipend as 1099-A/1099-C miscellaneous income, you should report it as "Other Income" on Schedule 1, Line 8. Label it as "Fellowship Stipend" or "Research Fellowship." This should prevent TurboTax from prompting for the SS-8 form.
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Charity Cohan
•Thank you so much for the explanation! That makes so much more sense now. So I should remove the stipend from the 1099 section and just add it as "Other Income" on Schedule 1, right? Will this affect how much tax we owe or is it just about proper classification?
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Josef Tearle
•Yes, you should remove it from the 1099 section and enter it as "Other Income" on Schedule 1. In TurboTax, you can find this under "Less Common Income" or something similar. This likely won't change your total tax owed since the income is still being reported and taxed, but it will be properly classified which should prevent the SS-8 prompt. Fellowship stipends are treated differently than contractor payments - they're still taxable income but don't typically trigger self-employment tax, which might be happening with your current classification. Your husband was neither an employee nor a contractor during that fellowship period, but rather a funded student or researcher.
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Shelby Bauman
After going through a similar issue with our taxes last year, I found this amazing resource called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that specifically helps with complex tax situations like yours. My partner was also on an F1 visa that changed to H1B mid-year, and we had the same stipend/W2 combo that confused TurboTax. I uploaded our stipend letter and visa documents to taxr.ai and it analyzed everything and gave me the exact instructions on how to properly report the fellowship income. It saved us from incorrectly filing an SS-8 form which would have been completely unnecessary and potentially delayed our refund. Their system understood the visa transition and tax implications way better than TurboTax's standard prompts.
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Quinn Herbert
•How does taxr.ai work exactly? Is it just another tax preparation software or something different? I'm in a somewhat similar situation with my spouse's OPT to H1B transition and fellowship income.
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Salim Nasir
•I've heard about taxr.ai but I'm a bit skeptical. Does it actually interface with IRS systems or is it just giving general advice? Also, how do they handle privacy with all those sensitive documents you're uploading?
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Shelby Bauman
•It's not another tax prep software - it's specifically designed to analyze tax documents and situations that regular tax software struggles with. You upload your documents and it uses AI to extract all the relevant information and provide specific guidance on how to handle it in your tax software. It's like having a tax expert review your specific situation. They use bank-level encryption for all document uploads and their privacy policy is very strict about not sharing your information. They only use the documents to provide you with analysis and guidance, and you can request deletion of your data afterward. I was concerned about privacy too, but they have a really solid security setup.
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Quinn Herbert
Just wanted to update that I tried taxr.ai after seeing the recommendation here. My situation with the fellowship stipend and visa change was driving me crazy in TurboTax! The document analysis was super helpful - it properly identified my wife's fellowship as qualified scholarship income rather than miscellaneous income and explained exactly how to enter it in TurboTax. The best part was it specifically addressed the SS-8 form question and confirmed we definitely didn't need to file it. Saved me hours of research and probably prevented a filing error. They also explained which parts of the fellowship were taxable vs. non-taxable which I had no idea about before. Definitely worth checking out if you're dealing with these complex international student/researcher tax situations!
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Hazel Garcia
For those struggling to get answers directly from the IRS about form SS-8 requirements (which I was for weeks), I finally got through using Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). I was stuck in the same situation with fellowship/stipend income and W2 wages, and TurboTax kept insisting on the SS-8 form. After trying to call the IRS directly multiple times and never getting through, I used Claimyr's service and got connected to an actual IRS representative in about 15 minutes. The agent confirmed that in cases like this where there's a clear transition from fellowship to employment (especially with visa status changes), the SS-8 determination is unnecessary. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c It saved me from potentially filing an incorrect form and delaying my return processing. The IRS agent gave me specific instructions for my tax situation.
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Laila Fury
•How does this Claimyr thing actually work? Do they just call the IRS for you or what? I've been trying to reach someone at the IRS for days about a different issue.
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Salim Nasir
•This sounds too good to be true honestly. The IRS has notoriously long wait times. I've tried calling at all times of day and never get through. Are you saying this service somehow jumps the queue? I'm skeptical.
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Hazel Garcia
•They don't call the IRS for you - they use technology to navigate the IRS phone system and wait on hold in your place. When they reach a live person, they call you and connect you directly to the IRS agent. It's basically like having someone wait on hold for you so you don't have to waste hours with your phone to your ear. It definitely doesn't "jump the queue" - you still wait your proper turn, but their system does the waiting instead of you personally being on hold. I was skeptical too until I tried it. The IRS phone systems are actually programmed to disconnect after certain wait times in some cases, but their system knows how to navigate that. I had tried for days at different times before using it, so I was pretty impressed when I actually got through.
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Salim Nasir
Alright, I need to apologize for my skepticism about Claimyr in my earlier comment. After getting absolutely nowhere with the IRS for almost two weeks trying to resolve my own fellowship/W2 combination issue, I broke down and tried it. I got connected to an IRS representative in about 25 minutes (on a Monday morning, which is apparently their busiest time). The agent confirmed that we do NOT need to file form SS-8 in situations where there's a clear transition from fellowship to employment due to visa status changes. She even gave me specific notes to add to my return to explain the situation and avoid potential review flags. I'm usually very skeptical of these types of services, but I have to admit it worked exactly as advertised. Saved me countless hours of frustration and gave me peace of mind that I'm filing correctly.
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Geoff Richards
I dealt with this exact situation last year (spouse with fellowship stipend + W2). Don't file the SS-8! It's completely unnecessary in your case and will just delay your refund. TurboTax gets confused by the combination and assumes there might be a misclassification issue, but there isn't one. The fellowship is not employment - it's a grant/award, and then once your husband got his H1B, he became a regular employee. These are two different types of income, not a misclassification. If you want to be extra safe, have your husband get a letter from the university confirming the fellowship was not an employment relationship. We did this and had zero issues with our return.
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Charity Cohan
•Thanks for sharing your experience! Did you also report the fellowship stipend as "Other Income" like someone suggested above? And did you need to provide any additional documentation with your tax return?
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Geoff Richards
•Yes, we reported it as "Other Income" on Schedule 1 and labeled it as "Research Fellowship Stipend" in the description. This is the correct way to report it. We didn't need to attach any additional documentation to the tax return itself, but we did keep the letter from the university in our records in case of any questions. Most universities that regularly deal with international students and researchers have standard language they use for these letters that clearly explain the fellowship is not an employment relationship. Your husband should be able to request this from the international student/scholar office if you want extra peace of mind.
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Simon White
Just wondering - did TurboTax give you any option to override the SS-8 recommendation? I'm using H&R Block software and had a similar situation (though not visa-related), and was able to just check a box saying "I've determined this form is not needed" and continue with my filing.
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Hugo Kass
•I used TurboTax last year for a similar situation and there was definitely an option to override. It's usually something like "I understand but want to continue without filing this form" somewhere on that screen. They make these warnings look scary but many are just precautionary.
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