r/taxhelp

So I was a wage employee at a smoke shop and the owner of the shop gave me a 1099 form. I was a cashier, not a contractor. When I try to file my taxes online they ask what business I own when I don't own one and never have. My former boss said he won't fix it and to just send all my receipts from the year to get deductions. I've called the IRS 3 times and they said they can't do anything on their end but if I don't file my taxes then I'll be penalized and they'll do it for me. I don't have the money to go to a tax pro, so I was wondering if there's anything I can do about this? I feel like I can't do my taxes without committing fraud at this point which I don't want to do.

Is there any way I can get this corrected without my employer fixing this? How would the IRS even file my taxes for me if I'm not a contractor and they don't even know what I'm supposed to do to fix this?

Any help is very appreciated!

Hi,

I am a bit confused by how to handle wash sales with respect to the sales of my RSUs. I typically get three or four blocks of RSUs per year and usually sell them within a few days of them becoming available. This almost always results in some wash sales. (aside: for the last couple of years, the RSUs have come in a number of smaller transactions, so that the three or blocks actually generate thirtiesh transactions on my 1099B) The 1099B proper lists the basis for the RSU as 0, there is a supplement that includes the adjusted cost basis based on the reported income.

This supplement includes the following columng: 'Proceeds', 'Ordinary Income Reported' 'Adjusted Cost or Other Basis', 'Wash Sale Loss Disallowed', and 'Adjusted Gain/Loss'. A number of the transactions include values in the 'Wash Sale' column. Here is what the first three rows look like:

Proceeds Ordinary Income Adjusted Cost Basis Wash Sale Loss Adjusted Gain / Loss

516.34 533.12 533.12 16.78 -16.78

516.24 533.12 549.90 0.00 -33.66

7614.54 7863.52 7863.52 0.00 -248.98

So, the 'Adjusted Cost Basis' in the second row is bumped up by 16.78 (from the Ordinary Income) to account for the wash sale. The transactions generally follow this pattern. The 'Adjusted Cost Basis' is the same as the 'Ordinary Income Reported' except when there is a wash sale to offset. This all makes sense to me. What I don't understand is why the total wash sale loss is then deducted from my capital losses. Isn't it already accounted for in the 'Adjusted Cost Bases'? The software asks me if I have wash sales and I answer 'yes'. Then is asks me for the amount and I enter the total (which is calculated in the supplement). Should I be answering zero here? If I enter the total (say, $300), it feels like I'm being penalized for the wash sales twice. Can anyone set me straight here?

Thanks!

I just learned that I need to file a Form 1096. I know I’m late and will likely be fined. I have joint accounts (1099-Div, 1099-B) with a sibling split 50/50. I’m the primary acct holder.

We are using FreeTaxUSA. They don’t electronically transmit this form.

I’ve been researching online and can’t find the exact process for our situation. I don’t want to miss anything since I’m already late.

Besides for trying to:

1. find official forms near me (will have to order through Amz, tried calling all the office stores, libraries near me) since we can’t just print them out per the IRS site;

2. gathering the original 1099 forms to send with Form 1096;

What other forms are required to send to the IRS?

Do I have to give my sibling a 1099 form? Which form?

How can my sibling submit their tax return if I have not submitted Form 1096/1099s to the IRS or given them a 1099 yet?

Can I report the Nominee Distribution in FreeTaxUSA as the primary acct holder and still submit my taxes after sending the Form 1096/1099s to the IRS? If so, how does my sibling report this on their taxes?

Do we both need to file for an extension at this point? Would prefer not if possible.

What else can I do to streamline and submit asap?

Is there another option to electronically submit vs sending via USPS? I checked the IRS site and researched IRIS but looks like I’ll need an EIN (don’t have) to use IRIS to upload….

Once Form 1096/1099s are submitted to the IRS do we have to wait until they respond back to me in order to file?

Please help :(

Back in September, just before the clean vehicle tax credit was eliminated by the Big Beautiful Bill, I bought a used, 2022 Volkswagen ID.4. This car qualifies for the $4000 used vehicle credit. When I was at the dealer at the time of purchase, I was assured repeatedly by both the sales person and finance manager that they participated in the clean vehicle tax credit program, that they had done this all before, and that they would assist me when it came time to file my taxes.

Well it's tax season now and I have come to find out they never registered the car on the IRS Eco portal or filed a 15400 form. I tried filling myself on FreetaxUSA, but was rejected twice due to mismatched VIN and SS#. When I called the dealer to ask them about this, they were extremely rude and insisted that the 15400 form and the Eco portal are only required for new, not pre-owned vehicles. I tried explaining to them that, as far as I am aware, this is not true. They doubled down and told me I had to talk to a "qualified tax professional."

So I did. I made an appointment this afternoon with H&R block, paid $350 for them to file my taxes, just for my return to be rejected again and told that the dealer needs to submit a 15400 on the Eco portal.

Am I screwed? the IRS reject code H&R block has given me is SA-f8936-030-01. The people at H&R block were very nice and supportive, but they clearly have not had to process this tax credit before and were all kind of clueless. As far as they could tell, I was right, but they seemed to mostly be relying on Google AI for answers. Is there any work around for this? Do I file for an extension, or file without the credit and amend my return later? I will be calling the dealer again tomorrow and telling them that H&R Block came to the same conclusion as me.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Can a grandparent claim HOH with a "qualifying dependent" and not actually claim the dependent, and the parent claim the dependent as single filing?

It seems like HOH rules are just a qualifying dependent but FreeTaxUSA is not letting me do HOH without actually claiming the dependent

I am utterly confused and don't know why this is so hard for me to figure out. I made an excess contribution to my Roth IRA for 2025 of 7000 because I earned too much. I submitted an excess contribution and earnings withdrawal form with Vanguard in March 2026 for tax year 2025 and I see transactions that suggest they removed the contribution (7000) + earnings (~9k) + federal withholding (~1.2 k). I understand that I won't actually receive a 1099-R for this until next year 2027 but everything I'm reading online suggests I still do a makeshift 1099-R in TurboTax. I've filled it out to report gross distribution of ~17k (contribution + earnings + withholding) and earnings (9k) in the first two boxes but do I report the federal tax withholding of 1.2k I see in vanguard as well? or does this get reported next year?

I feel like I'm not seeing a consistent answer on this and I don't understand it well enough to reason my way to it.

I am a graduate student receiving a stipend in New Jersey. The stipend consists of a fellowship that is untaxed and a ”research assistant” portion that is federally and state taxed. I understand how to pay taxes for NJ: I need to pay federal income tax on the fellowship portion, and federal and state tax for the research assistant portion. However, the complication comes from living in NYC. I believe I am legally considered a NY resident because my domicile is there. Do I pay state taxes in NY for the fellowship even though it comes from NJ? Do I need to pay NY state taxes for the research assistant portion as well? Does either portion of the stipend qualify for the nonresident return for NJ (Form NJ-1040NR) and a resident return for NY (Form IT-201) to avoid double taxation?

Hello,

I am an UberEats driver, and am doing my year-end taxes, and am pretty much done (i.e. completed all my deductions, like commissions & fees, as well as mileage & expenses). My only point of confusion is with tips. The tax software that I'm using (freetaxusa) only asks about my "qualified tips" on the 1099-NEC section.

The problem is that my NEC income is about 15% of my total gross UberEats income, while my tip income is much higher than that (nearing 50% of my gross income). As a result, I cannot put my full tip amount as it is about 3X more than the NEC amount (i.e. the tax software simply does not allow me to). I'd appreciate any input here.

Thanks.

Hi all, We live in CA and teachers get paid decently, however I seem to have messed up our tax withholding quite a bit after filing 2025.

For reference:

Myself: (wages- 65,992) (federal withheld- 4181.71) (Medicare wages- 73,383.50) (Medicare tax withheld: 1,064)

Husband: (wages: 68,063) (fed- 7,313) (Medicare- 74,834) (Medicare tax- 1085)

Did our taxes and have a combined wages of 140,386. No kids or dedications to speak of.

We ended up owing 3,000. This is the first time ever owing and it is stressful.

So I’m trying to fix this.

Next year, my husband is going to get a significant raise of +5,000$ yearly, and technically I will get +3,000. Here’s where it’s sticky. Im going on maternity at a pay of about 40% my normal salary for 4 months. So also, new baby!

Im trying to figure out the tax withholding, and the calculator on IRS I am absolutely lost on. Can anyone help give an idea of how much we should be withholding monthly per paycheck?

I appreciate any support, we dont have a village and live in the boonies so accountants are few and far between.

I'm trying to understand the big beautiful bill and car interest deductions. I've read a post here that says the loan length has to be under so many years but I'm not finding that in any other publications, is that incorrect? The only qualifications I see is the car has to be 2025 or higher, under 14k lbs and after single income of 100k the deductions drops in phases. The deductions are only good till tax year 2029.

Am I missing anything?

Mid 2025 I went through a layoff. I signed an agreement that defined my last work day and included a payout. The agreement was titled, separation agreement. Employer intentionally did not use the word severance because terms were outside of terms in union contractual severance. [Adding this, in case it matters]

I anticipated completing a Schedule C for this final payout. However, I did not receive a 1099 (in any form) from my former employer. I am pretty sure they said I would get one.

Now today I am attempting to complete Schedule C for the payout income in addition to my W-2 wages. However, when I look at the separation check stub, the payment description (written by former employer) states, "Payroll Regular Staff."

This income is not included in my total W-2 wages (from same employer) and the check was issued after my last day of work. Is my former employer being shady? Should I ask them to correct my W-2 since they put "payroll"? Can I add the amount into my W-2 totals without a correction to the actual w-2? Or should I proceed with completing a Schedule C as I planned, even though no 1099-NEC? I really don't want to contact former employer again unless absolutely necessary.

How should I move forward?

Is the W-2G they sent me the only form I need? I thought I needed to report all winnings even though I have a net loss?? I’m very confused and hardly know what I’m talking about so please bear with me…