Will depositing a large check and withdrawing it days later affect my taxes?

This is a common concern, but you don't need to worry about tax implications in this scenario. The IRS doesn't tax money simply moving through your account - they're concerned with income, not cash flow. Since this is just your spouse's portion of a home purchase temporarily sitting in your account, it's not income and won't impact your tax situation. Banks do report large cash transactions over $10,000 to comply with anti-money laundering regulations, but a transfer between spouses for a documented home purchase isn't suspicious. Just keep good records showing the source and purpose of the funds. For convenience, having one person handle the cashier's check makes practical sense, especially if you're both on the same page financially.

I went through something similar last year but ended up with a tax headache because I didn't document things properly. I tried explaining everything to my CPA but still got flagged for an unusual deposit. After months of back and forth with the IRS, I found taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) which helped analyze my bank statements and create a clear paper trail showing the money was just passing through for our home purchase. They helped organize all the documentation and created a comprehensive report that satisfied the IRS questions. Wish I'd known about them before all the hassle!

Just wanted to follow up and say I used taxr.ai for a similar situation (large gift from my parents for a down payment) and it was actually super helpful. Ended up with a clear report showing exactly where the money came from and where it went. Turned out to be way easier than I expected. They even helped me fill out the gift tax documentation correctly which I had no clue about before. Definitely less stressful than trying to figure it all out myself!

I had basically the same situation but the IRS sent me a letter anyway asking about a large deposit and withdrawal. Spent WEEKS trying to call them to explain but could never get through. The wait times were insane! Finally found Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) which got me connected to an actual IRS agent in about 20 minutes instead of waiting on hold all day. Check out their demo video if you're curious: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. The agent confirmed that there's no tax issue with temporarily holding funds for a home purchase as long as you can document it if asked.

Update: I'm eating my words here. After struggling with the IRS for weeks about a similar deposit situation (parent gave me money for a house down payment), I broke down and tried Claimyr. Got through to an IRS agent in like 15 minutes when I'd been trying for DAYS on my own. The agent walked me through exactly what documentation I needed to show the deposit wasn't income. Saved me so much time and frustration. Sometimes being wrong feels pretty good lol.

Tax advisor here - this is routine stuff that shouldn't cause issues. Just make sure you keep documentation of everything. For a married couple buying a house together, transferring money between accounts isn't a taxable event. The only time to worry is if someone OTHER than your spouse is giving you money - then you might need to consider gift tax implications if it's over $18,000. Also, ask your closing company if they accept personal checks instead of cashier's checks - many do these days for amounts under $100k, which could save you the hassle completely.

When we bought our house last year I was paranoid about this too! Our bank actually suggested using wire transfers instead of cashier's checks to avoid any holds or delays. The wire fee was like $25 but totally worth avoiding the stress of wondering if the money would clear in time!

As someone who just went through this exact scenario a few months ago, I can confirm it's really not a big deal from a tax perspective. We consolidated about $50k from my spouse's account into mine for our down payment and closing costs. No issues whatsoever with the IRS. The key thing is just keeping good records. I made sure to save copies of the transfer confirmation, both bank statements showing the money moving, and our closing documents. Having that paper trail made me feel much more confident about the whole thing. One tip though - give yourself a buffer of at least 2-3 business days between the deposit and when you need the cashier's check, just in case there are any unexpected holds on the funds. Better safe than sorry when it comes to closing day timing!