Thank you all for this incredibly detailed and helpful discussion! As someone who's been lurking in this community for a while but never posted, I felt compelled to contribute after reading through everyone's experiences. I'm a certified public accountant who specializes in tax issues for people with disabilities, and I want to emphasize how impressed I am with the quality of advice being shared here. The distinction everyone's making between clinical measurements and functional limitations is absolutely crucial - this is something even many tax professionals don't fully understand. For the original poster with the albinism situation, I'd strongly recommend asking your wife's ophthalmologist to document her visual functioning in what the IRS calls "ordinary lighting conditions." The key phrase to request is that the doctor certify she is "legally blind under the definition in section 1.151-1(c) of the Income Tax Regulations." This specific regulatory reference carries more weight than general statements about legal blindness. Also, make sure the letter addresses both static measurements (like visual acuity and field testing) AND dynamic functional limitations (how her vision is affected by changes in lighting throughout a normal day). The IRS increasingly recognizes that some vision conditions create disability that can't be captured by standard eye chart testing alone. One final tip: keep detailed records of any adaptive equipment or accommodations your wife uses. While not required for the tax deduction, this documentation can be valuable if you ever need to demonstrate the severity of her condition to the IRS. The resources mentioned here like taxr.ai and Claimyr are legitimate options, but with proper documentation from the start, most people can successfully claim this deduction without additional services.

I wanted to add something that hasn't been mentioned yet but could be really important for your situation - make sure to ask your wife's ophthalmologist about getting a formal visual field test done specifically under different lighting conditions if she hasn't had one recently. Many people with albinism show dramatic differences in their visual field measurements between dim and bright lighting. While her corrected acuity might be better than 20/200 in controlled settings, her functional visual field could easily drop below the 20-degree threshold when exposed to normal lighting due to the photophobia and lack of pigmentation you described. I've seen cases where people assumed they didn't qualify for blind status because their standard eye exam results looked "too good," but when tested under realistic lighting conditions, they clearly met the visual field criteria. Since your wife's condition specifically involves light sensitivity that restricts her field of vision in bright environments, this type of testing could provide exactly the documentation you need. Also, if cost is a concern for additional testing, many ophthalmologists will include basic visual field measurements as part of a routine comprehensive exam when they understand it's needed for tax documentation purposes. Just explain the situation upfront when scheduling the appointment.

8 Has anyone used FreeTaxUSA for filing 1099-NEC income? Their NAICS code selection seems more limited than TurboTax and I'm not sure if that matters. My spouse also does admin work for an arts organization and we're using code 561110 but FreeTaxUSA keeps suggesting arts-related codes instead.

I went through this exact same headache last year! My sister does similar work - coordinating events and handling admin for a local arts council. After going back and forth with our tax preparer, we settled on 561110 (Office Administrative Services) because that's really what the work is - administrative support services. The fact that it's for an arts organization doesn't change the nature of the work itself. One thing that helped us decide was looking at it from the IRS perspective: they care more about accurately reporting the income than getting the perfect NAICS code. As long as you're in the right general category and not trying to claim deductions that don't make sense for your actual work, you should be fine. We've filed with 561110 for two years now with no issues.

Does anyone know if receiving a 1095-C affects your tax refund? I declined my employer's coverage because my spouse's plan was better, but my tax refund was way less than last year.

This is a really common source of confusion! The 1095-C form serves multiple purposes for the IRS, and one key thing to understand is that it's not just about what coverage you actually had - it's also about what coverage was available to you. Your employer is required to report the "Employee Required Contribution" (line 15) for the lowest-cost self-only coverage that meets minimum requirements, regardless of whether you enrolled or not. This information helps the IRS determine if you were offered "affordable" coverage, which can impact things like eligibility for premium tax credits if you got coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace instead. The $111 amount you're seeing is essentially a data point for tax calculations - it doesn't mean you were charged that amount. Since you declined coverage and aren't seeing payroll deductions, everything sounds correct on your end. Just keep the form with your tax records, as you may need to reference it when completing your tax return to answer questions about health coverage offers from your employer.

Has anyone dealt with the paperwork for this? My accountant says there's a form 8606 I need to fill out for the backdoor Roth even if I fix the pro rata issue by year-end. Is that right?

Just want to add a tip that saved me a lot of headaches - if you do decide to do the reverse rollover to your current 401k, make sure to ask your plan administrator about any restrictions on the money once it's in there. Some plans have waiting periods before you can take loans or hardship withdrawals from rollover funds, which might matter if you're counting on that flexibility. Also, double-check that your 401k investment options are decent - sometimes the fees and fund choices in employer plans aren't as good as what you had in your IRA. But for avoiding the pro rata rule, it's usually still worth it even if the investment options aren't perfect!

Just went through this exact situation last year with my own short-term disability claim. One thing that really helped me was keeping detailed records of everything - paystubs showing premium deductions, all correspondence with the insurance company, and any HR documents about the disability policy. Also wanted to mention that if you're getting conflicting information or missing tax forms, don't wait until the last minute to sort it out. The IRS can be pretty understanding about disability payment reporting issues if you're proactive about getting the right documents, but it becomes a bigger headache if you wait until after you've already filed. For your specific situation with the manufacturing injury - make sure you also check if any workers' compensation payments are involved, as those have completely different tax rules (usually not taxable at all). Sometimes there's overlap between disability and workers' comp that can complicate things.

This is such helpful information, everyone! I'm dealing with a similar situation and had no idea about the premium payment distinction. One thing I wanted to add - if you're still employed but on disability, check your paystubs carefully during the disability period. Sometimes employers continue certain deductions (like health insurance) but stop others (like disability premiums) while you're out on claim. This can actually affect the tax treatment if your premium payments were interrupted. Also, don't forget to check if your disability payments count toward your Social Security earnings record. Short-term disability usually doesn't, but some policies have provisions where a portion gets reported to SSA. This doesn't change the tax treatment but it's good to know for your future Social Security benefits calculation. Miguel, definitely call both your employer's benefits department AND the insurance companies directly. Get everything in writing about who paid what premiums and what tax forms you should expect. Better to over-document this stuff than scramble at tax time!