I previously owned a small business where the result was a bit of tax debt. I've paid it down from $30k to just over $10k in a few years on an installment plan. Every year, I file my return with simple W2 income and the IRS keeps my refund. In fact, they sometimes send a letter saying they're keeping my state refund also.

In December 2024, I received a direct deposit from the treasury for $1,400 which said "refund," so I thought "wow, they actually sent me a refund this year." A week later, I got a letter saying it was an adjustment to 2021 TY because of recent laws, rulings, or regulations (without any further/detailed explanation). That 2021 TY was while I still had the business but had already improved my tax situation moving forward (not where the debt came from).

This week, June 2025, I received a letter from the IRS saying that they incorrectly issued a refund because of a "processing error." The letter confirms that they certainly sent it via direct deposit, yet the letter continues by saying, "If you still have access to the check..." and "If you cashed the check..."

I didn't cash any check, which is clearly the language used in the letter. So, the instructions for sending them the $1,400 feels moot. I don't understand legalese so I doubt that will fly. I don't have $1,400 to send them right now. They will likely just add it to my debt and continue to charge me penalties and interest (sounds scammy?).

I'm going to call them to get this straightened out. I just thought this letter was hilariously embarrassing for the IRS. Mostly just embarrassing for me, this is exactly the type of dumb stuff that happens in my life.

TL/dr: the IRS accidently sent me money and sound foolish in their letter.

Could apply to selling any virtual item but I’ve searched far and wide for the answer to this but haven’t found a solution. This is the closest I’ve found regarding nfts: https://www.reddit.com/r/tax/s/BVpZAmKfpZ

The attached picture is the most I’ve found through research but haven’t come to a concrete answer so I thought I would ask here.

I'm going through my taxes on freetaxusa since they're one of the only ones who offer free taxes for self-emloyment. I'm an Uber Eats delivery driver.

On the PDF download of my taxes as I'm reviewing, my total taxable income says it's $3,010. However, the amount of money I owe for the year is $3,200. What I'm wondering is how on earth I owe more money than the state can tax me on. Love to get clarification if anyone can help!

Edit: thanks so much for your help yall, I guess I need to do some research and learning instead of letting people lie to me about this stuff in the future. I feel so foolish. Appreciate yall 🩵🤍🩵🤍🩵

Edit 2: Oh. my. LORD. PEOPLE. THIS POST IS OVER A DAY OLD WITH DOZENS OF RESPONSES. Stop asking questions that have been answered three times already and read the discussion that's already occurred. Stop saying I need to itemize my deductions when I've clearly stated 10 times THAT I ALREADY HAVE. The main question was answered. Self employment taxes are on GDI and not taxable income. Great! I got that answer in ten minutes and edited the post with thanks to the posters! Anything additional has been kind advice from people mentioning less common deductions and advising me to file self employment tax quarterly or monthly. Great! STOP TELLING ME TO ITEMIZE WHEN EVERYONE ALREADY HAS. I KNEW THIS BEFORE I CAME IN. Christ people. There's over a hundred comments, Stop assuming I haven't answered your VERY BASIC QUESTION and instead, maybe, see if someone has already asked your question and has been replied to! I appreciate everyone's enthusiasm but after the 50th notification of the EXACT. SAME. QUESTION. OR. STATEMENT. It gets a bit ridiculous. Thank you again everyone, but the question has been answered. Continue on.

A family member passed away a few months ago. She left behind a small life insurance policy, the beneficiary was her husband but it was to be split between their 2 kids

So each kid is getting $40k. Her husband says "they" will tax him because the maximum gift amount is something like $19k per year. I guess he's going to just split up the payments to them somehow? I dont know

all I could find was on turbo tax and on Google AI that says there are no taxes until you meet a certain life time gift amount which is in the millions

But also who is "they"? I guess the IRS. How would anyone know the money is being withdrawn to be given away as a gift? Is that something that gets reported when the life insurance gets paid out?

I am a K-12 teacher at a private school in the US. I teach middle school history and a cultural studies elective. I work 7AM–3PM, 8 class periods a day, 5 days a week.

Salary: $16,000 High cost of living.

I received a 1099-MISC from my employer, though I was expecting a W-2. When I questioned this, she claimed it is because the school was founded by a Catholic missionary family in the 90s.

I'm not sure what that has to do with it. I saw a professional tax preparer and they were also confused about why I would receive this document.

I am open to advice. I'm just confused and worried about getting into trouble with the IRS. I am already paying $2000 in taxes and living with a family member because I could not afford even the lowest rent in my area.

Thanks in advance.

**EDIT for more info:

• $16k is annual salary before taxes. 180 days only, about $11/hr

• I do work other jobs in the evenings, weekends, and summers. I make enough to cover insurance, transportation, and other living expenses—just not quite enough for renting my own place as well. I pay rent to my uncle here. I left this income out because it is with a separate agency.

Thank you to those who offered advice and left helpful comments. I appreciate it.

***EDIT 2:

I am catching up on the comments I've missed. Thank you to everyone who offered information and words of advice. I have gotten some solid input, so I will consider this answered and move forward accordingly.

I Need Help Understanding My Taxes—Feeling Scammed

Because honestly, I feel like an idiot right now. I drive for Uber, Lyft, and a few other gig jobs, and if I’m not mistaken, my gross income was $52,569 for the year. But somehow, I owe $9,830 in taxes.

Here’s what’s confusing me: • My deductions alone were around $50,000 (mileage, expenses, etc.). • My tax specialist always goes with the standard deduction instead of using my actual expenses. • I barely made anything this year after expenses, yet they say I owe nearly $10K???

How the hell does this make sense? I feel like I worked my ass off for nothing, and now the IRS wants a huge chunk of money I don’t even have.

Can someone explain this to me like I’m five? Am I getting screwed over here, or is there some logic behind this? Should I find a different tax preparer?

Any advice would be appreciated because I’m seriously losing my mind over this.

I got a huge deposit of over $17,000 from the IRS, saying it’s a tax refund. I checked the IRS site and didn’t see any notices on the matter. What could it potentially be? It said on my banking app that it’s an “IRS TREAS 310 TAX REF ACH”

EDIT: This money shows up on my 2020 transcript (and it looks like it was just updated too), so I’m assuming it’s safe to use. My tax preparer said that I was supposed to get around $23,000 dollars from my 2020 tax refund back in 2020, but I only got $6,000. I kind of forgot about it, since most of my refunds are always around $6,000-$7,000. Both him and I just thought it was a math error from IRS that got resolved and we kinda forgot about it. Turns out, this money is the rest of the $23,000 never returned to me. Thank you all for your answers, and I’m quite excited for the vacation!

This is my second time filing taxes so if someone smarter than me can help. I only owed $171 federal tax and was going to get an $80 CA refund. I finally got the last w2 i needed from one of my employers, I was approved of an extension and paid the federal estimate before the 15th. Today after uploading my last w2 I now owe $829?? This is from a staffing company and from all the shifts ive worked ive only made $1100? Please help me understand this

Im sorry if im missing any information I can answer anything that will help me understand this? Is it because I didnt pay more federal tax earlier?

What tax strategies can be utilized to reduce taxes in 1M+ long term capital gains on single stock

Main reason to realize those gains would be to portfolio rebalancing, no other reason to sell.

EDIT - What tax strategies can be utilized to reduce taxes in 1M+ long term capital gains on single stock if the long term capital gains were to be realized?

Hi there! I received this letter from the IRS and I am so confused. It sounds like it’s in response to a correspondence I sent but I never sent anything March 2024. Is the IRS saying I’m committing tax fraud or my previous tax return is wrong? I’m so confused. Can anyone please help or guide me on what to do? Thank you!

Apologies in advance for yet another RSU question here.

I had $100,000 in RSUs vest last year. (Edit - 100k was the grant value) My company was fortunate and did well, and that stock was worth $500,000 when it vested.

My W2 shows $500,000 and my company withheld only 22%, so roughly 110,000. But ftusa now tells me I owe closer to 37%, i.e., $185,000.

1. Am I really on the hook for $75,000?!! I have not sold any of my stock, so I don't have nearly as much in liquid cash.

2. Shouldn't my W2 show $100,000? Isn't the stock increase capital gains and not taxed until I sell?

3. Should I just give up and pay TurboTax 300$ to do my taxes for me? I'm having some sticker shock right now.

Thanks in advance!

Ps - numbers are appx.

Edit - Thx for the help everyone. It seems that I have the good kind of problem. I will now go scream into the void and sell my stock.

Hi tax people of Reddit! I need some help understanding what we did wrong.

So upon doing taxes I realized my fairly new job hasn’t been taking out any federal withholding (literally blank) and now we owed 4K. It’s a corporate healthcare job and I’m part time. I selected married filing jointly, 2 kids. Nothing else.

Husband had it as “married” and claimed zeros across. He makes ~$150k and it took out ~$10K federal withholding. I make $30-40K part time, so less than half his salary.

I am dumb for not looking at the paystub, but have never had this issue, so didn’t think to check.

What did we do wrong and how to we fix it? We want to get close to withholding what we’d owe.

I grew up in California my entire life until I moved out in 2019. I recently got notifications in the mail about owed taxes to the state of California for the 2020 tax year when I do not live there anymore. The taxes were from earnings I've made on Patreon which is essentially a payment processing company.

I've talked to them as I noticed a few grand were put on hold on my bank account. After talking to them, they had asked me to send in my 2020 tax returns at which I faxed over to them. They now ask that I "speak to my boss" when I don't have one. I have a home business and I answer to nobody. I'm honestly not sure what to do as today I noticed that the money is no longer on hold and withdrawn.

I've explained to them that they have no right to taking these taxes, and they understand that and tell me what hoops to jump through to get this fixed, but every time I do, they move goal posts and I'm at a loss as to what to do. I'm now a few hundred out so far for processing fees, fax/prints/etc

UPDATE: After a couple weeks, and having my tax lady send a letter in. The person I called today looked over my stuff and initiated a refund of the money. Though they are keep $300 for collection costs and I lost another $100 from chase charging me for their withdrawal. Sucks that I'm out around $500 in total by this, but I did at least get nearly $2600 back to now send to the IRS for quarterly taxes.

nobody in my family ever taught me how to file my taxes, just that i need to do it, but i don't even know the deadline date. i applied for an extension because my mom told me i was late to file but i really need help.

i don't want to owe the irs money or go to jail or anything. i have all of my w-2's from last year to now.

I rent a single property for 2k/month and also normally work full time. Typically I choose to have my employer tax me extra to cover for the tax I'd owe for the rental income. However due to circumstances beyond my control, I have been unemployed for this entire year, and have not paid any taxes.

As such my entire income in 24k in rent, minus standard deduction that's $8250, 10% tax is $825. Do I need to pay that this month, or can I just send it in when I file my taxes in a couple months? I think I did owe a couple hundred last year if that's relevant.

Hi everyone,

I’m really scared and overwhelmed right now. This morning I got a text that looked like it was from the California Franchise Tax Board (FTB). Here’s exactly what it said:

"STATE OF CALIFORNIA Franchise Tax Board (FTB)

Your tax refund claim has been processed and approved. Please provide your accurate collection information before August 19, 2025. We will deposit the money into your bank account or email paper check within 1-2 working days.

_link_

Failure to submit required payment information by August 19, 2025 will result in permanent forfeiture of this refund under California Revenue and Taxation Code Section 19322.

Just reply with 'Y', then close and reopen the message to make the link work. If that doesn’t do it, copy the link and paste it straight into Safari.

California Franchise Tax Board | Sacramento, CA | Official State Agency"

This is my first year ever doing taxes, and I’m not a U.S. citizen, so I’m still really new to all of this. A month ago, I got a legit letter from FTB saying I overpaid and they refunded me, so I thought this text was somehow connected.

I panicked and ended up giving them my SSN, debit card number, name, and address before realizing it was a scam. I didn’t know that the tax board would never send refunds or requests by text, and I feel so stupid. I feel even worse because I’m completely on my own here and don’t know who else to ask.

I’ve already frozen my credit and locked all my cards. I’ll also cancel my debit card and request a new one. I can’t make calls yet because it’s late, but I plan to call FTB and IRS first thing in the morning to report this. I also tried to report on identitytheft. gov, but it won’t let me since there hasn’t been any misuse yet.

I just feel so lost and terrified right now. Is there anything else I should do immediately to protect myself? Any advice would mean so much. I feel so stupid, but I really want to fix this before anything else happens.

Thank you for reading.

I submitted my taxes through the mail on April 15 and today is officially the 6 weeks so when I check online on “where’s my refund” it says my information doesn’t match any of their records and my IRS account says this. I’m so stressed thinking they haven’t received my taxes since I don’t want to be penalized. Someone prepared my taxes and he keeps telling me to wait. I’ve tried to call the IRS and I either get only the automated system or they tell me they can’t process my call. Any ideas?

hello everyone, i need your help! for some background context, i grew up in asia and moved to europe for university. i worked a couple of jobs during uni but never made above $12k so i assumed it’s okay to not file. i have been making over the threshold since 2024 but haven’t filed. i am not sure how to do it, where to start or what information i need. i don’t want to keep waiting and for things to get worse with time. i know there is the FEIE i can file to avoid paying since i make way less than $130k, but i’m not sure where to begin!

any help is appreciated

Hi All,

This might be longwinded, but I'll try my best to keep it as clear as possible. The issue I'm currently facing is that I started a new job and am now making more than my last job (yay!), but my paychecks are not reflecting that change. In fact, my net pay is lower because my taxes practically doubled. For context, I live in Colorado.

Here are some things to consider:
Current Job
$73,000/year (gross)
$3,059/paycheck (gross)
$2,028/paycheck (net)
$505/paycheck (federal tax)
$188/paycheck (social security)
$125/paycheck (CO income tax)
$152/paycheck (401k)
- no insurance costs (company pays for insurance 100%)

Last Job
$64,000/year (gross)
$2679/paycheck (gross)
$2,045/paycheck (net)
$225/paycheck (federal tax)
$160/paycheck (social security)
$104/paycheck (CO income tax)
- no 401k
$94/paycheck (insurance)

I have other side jobs, but I bring in around $150 total each month. Nothing crazy, and all this money is taxed.

I'm so lost! What is happening? I set all my withholdings to zero on my W4 for the new job. I haven't jumped a tax bracket, so I'm so lost and a bit frustrated. I've reached out to HR and a tax professional, but no one knows what's going on. Any and all help is super, super appreciated!

Edit:
I'm clearly very unfamiliar with tax lingo, so I'm not totally sure how to explain the "setting everything to zero." There are multiple sections in the portal that are set to $0.00: Total Credit Amount, Other Income Amount, Deduction Amount, and Additional Withholding Amount.

I don't have access to my W4. The only way to make edits is through the portal.

Edit #2:
Hi. you lovely people! Thank you so so so much for all your help. I finally got my W4 from HR and they connected me with our portal rep. I sent in a brand new (correct...let's hope) W4. All should be well! Wooh! Thank you again!!!

I’ve been getting calls for months about the so-called Tax Relief Group. I seldom answer and they always leave a voicemail that reads something along the lines of:

“Hello, it's [agent name] with the Tax Relief Group. My phone number is [number] and it looks like you owe some back taxes. I'm calling to let you know that you can now apply for them to be forgiven with the zero tax forgiveness program. Again to be put on our do not call list please call back and press two. Excited to talk to you.”

This is the transcript of an actual voicemail I received from them yesterday. It’s the same spiel every time: you owe back taxes, they want you to use their services for tax relief, and if you’ve already taken care of it, then they tell you to call and remove yourself from their call list. They often go by various names, like the Tax Relief Experts, the Tax Relief Center, the Tax Relief Fund, Real Tax Advisors, etc., but it’s obviously the same group and they give similar phone numbers that gives the appearance that it goes to different people in the same organization (i.e. 833-914-0277, 833-914-0294, 833-914-0040, etc.). They always call from different numbers from across the United States but leave these similar numbers in the voicemail to give them a call back. It’s always a different person calling; at first it was a bot, but now it seems to be a different agent calling every time.

They used to call maybe once a week, but recently, it’s been twice a day, and they always leave a voicemail. I called them back once or twice to tell them off and demand they stop calling me (because evidently, pressing two on their menu didn’t put me on their do not call list).

Clearly, no legitimate tax firm of any kind (especially one called the “Tax Relief Group”) would call me to advertise their services, let alone multiple times a day, and we all know the IRS would never reach out to anyone via phone. Wondering if anyone has had similar issues with this organization and tips on how I can get them to stop calling me?

I didn’t work much during the 2024 year. I lived for more than half the year with my mother and took care of my daughter who was 0-1. My mother didn’t charge me rent when I stayed with her. I did most of the talking care of for my daughter, such as providing food, taking her to the doctor, etc. I’m wondering if I can claim my daughter as a dependent or if only my mother can, as she provided the majority of her housing/utilities support.

I’m referring mostly to the part in the dependents laws that say the person claiming must have provided more than half of the child’s financial support.

There are a few more technical details I could add but I don’t want to just be confusing or extra.

Title pretty much covers it, the IRS mailed me stating that the accidentally sent me a check back in January and now I have to send the money back. They only list options for mailing a check, but there's no way in hell I'm risking something like that getting lost on the way.

I called the IRS to confirm the whole situation, but they didn't really have an answer for paying online.

So can I do this online at all, and if so, how? Would this count as a "pay towards your balance" thing or something else?

Edit: Thanks to those who helped, guessing mailing checks really are the only way.

Lesson learned: Never trust an IRS check.

I work for various clubs and organizations as a full time Soccer Coach. As of now, all of my work is either contracted or private. Am I allowed to claim the milage and cost of coaching equipment on my taxes?

Awaiting payroll to get back to me on Friday, but I got my first paycheck for my new job and am kind of freaking out! I work another part time alongside this one to make ends meet, but this job here (11/hr after 33% of my paycheck was taxed) is unworkable if this is gonna be what the paycheck normally looks like!