Remember that being taxed on scholarship money doesn't mean you'll necessarily owe anything if your total income is low enough. If the $4,500 for housing is your only income for the year, you'll likely be under the standard deduction ($12,950 for 2025 for single filers), meaning you'd owe $0 in federal income tax. You still need to file if your unearned income is above $1,100, but you probably won't actually owe anything unless you have other income sources too.

This is such a common source of confusion for students! I went through the exact same thing my sophomore year. What really helped me was creating a simple spreadsheet tracking exactly what each scholarship dollar was used for. I'd recommend going back through your financial aid disbursement records and bank statements to document precisely what was paid directly to the school for tuition/fees versus what went to your student account for living expenses. Sometimes schools lump everything together on their billing statements, but you can usually request a more detailed breakdown from the bursar's office. Also, don't forget that required textbooks and course supplies count as qualified expenses! If you bought any required materials with your own money (even if the scholarship covered room and board), you can effectively "reassign" some of the scholarship money to those qualified expenses instead, which could reduce your taxable amount. The system definitely feels unfair, especially as a first-gen student figuring this out on your own. But understanding it now will help you plan better for future years - you might be able to request that more of your aid goes directly toward tuition and qualified expenses rather than room and board.

I'm going through this exact same nightmare right now! Mailed my return to the Austin processing center on February 15th and it's been complete radio silence from the IRS. Reading through all these experiences has been both reassuring and eye-opening - I had no idea the paper filing system was this broken. After seeing so many success stories with Claimyr in this thread, I'm definitely going to try that today. The peace of mind of just knowing they actually received my return would be worth it. I've been losing sleep checking "Where's My Refund" every day hoping to see something, anything, show up. It's incredibly frustrating that in 2025 we're still dealing with this antiquated system where you can mail something as important as your tax return and have absolutely no way to confirm it arrived. The IRS really needs to implement some kind of basic tracking system for paper submissions - even a simple "received but not processed" status would eliminate so much anxiety for taxpayers. Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences here - this thread has been more informative than hours of trying to navigate the official IRS website!

I'm dealing with this exact same frustrating situation! Mailed my return to the Ogden processing center on January 30th and have been checking the IRS website daily with absolutely no results. This thread has been incredibly helpful - I had no idea that different processing centers had such varying timelines or that paper returns could take 6-10 weeks just to show up in their system. After reading all the positive experiences with Claimyr here, I'm definitely going to give that a try today. The peace of mind of just knowing they actually received my return would be huge. I've been wondering if my return got lost in the mail or is just sitting in some processing queue, and the uncertainty is honestly worse than just knowing I have to wait. It's really eye-opening to learn about the different tools like taxr.ai for checking return formatting and Claimyr for actually reaching IRS agents. The fact that we need third-party services to get basic information about our own tax returns really highlights how broken the current system is. Has anyone had experience with the Ogden processing center specifically? I'm curious how their processing times compare to Austin and the other centers mentioned here. Thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences - this community discussion has been more valuable than anything I could find through official IRS channels!

I think everyone is overlooking the major issue here - the business OWNS VANS! If you have company vehicles and employees, you should probably be looking at a more formal business setup beyond just home office deductions. Have you considered renting a small commercial space for your business? The tax benefits might actually be better, especially as you grow. When I expanded my pet business beyond just a home office, my accountant showed me that commercial rent was 100% deductible as a business expense, whereas home office has all these complicated calculations and limitations. Plus, with a separate location, I avoided bringing business liability onto my personal property.

Definitely form that LLC ASAP! With employees, company vehicles, and clients bringing their pets to your property, you're exposed to significant liability risks. An LLC will protect your personal assets if something goes wrong - dog bite, employee injury, vehicle accident, etc. Also, once you have the LLC, you might want to look into the Augusta Rule (Section 280A(g)). If your LLC "rents" your home for business meetings, client consultations, or employee training sessions, you can pay yourself up to 14 days of fair market rental value completely tax-free. This could be more advantageous than the home office deduction in some cases. For your current situation though, yes, that dedicated backyard space absolutely qualifies for the home office deduction as long as you maintain exclusive business use. Just make sure you're calculating based on total property square footage (house + entire yard) and keep meticulous records. The IRS loves to challenge home-based businesses with unusual setups, so documentation is everything.

Has anyone successfully e-filed with split W2s using TurboTax? I'm trying to avoid paper filing but running into the same issue.

I just went through this exact same situation last month! I was so confused when I got two W2s from my employer - one normal and one with only the state boxes filled in. After reading through all these comments, I tried the TurboTax "Special Situations" option that Beth mentioned and it worked perfectly. When you're entering the second W2 (the one with only boxes 18-20 filled), make sure to look for that checkbox that says "This W-2 has state information only" - it's kind of hidden but once you check it, TurboTax stops giving you the error about box 1 being blank. My return was e-filed successfully and I got my refund in about 10 days. Don't stress too much about it - it's more common than you'd think, especially if you moved states during the year or your employer changed payroll systems.

Just wanted to jump in as someone who's been through this exact situation! I made the same mistake when I started my current job about 8 months ago - completely overlooked the withholding section during onboarding and had been having taxes withheld at the single rate even though I've been married for 3 years. Like everyone else has said, you're definitely not going to get in trouble with the IRS. If anything, they're happy to hold onto your extra money throughout the year! When I realized my mistake, I was initially panicked too, but it turned out to be a non-issue. I ended up getting a nice refund when I filed my taxes. One thing that really helped me was using the IRS withholding calculator that @Zara mentioned. It helped me figure out exactly how much extra I was having withheld each month and what my refund would look like. Made the whole situation much less stressful when I had actual numbers to work with. For getting HR to fix it, I had the best luck when I went directly to payroll instead of general HR. Payroll departments usually handle W-4 changes more regularly and know the process better. Worth trying if you're still getting the runaround from HR! Good luck getting it sorted out - you'll be fine either way!

I went through this exact same situation last year and can confirm what everyone else is saying - you're absolutely not going to get in trouble! The IRS actually prefers when people overpay through withholding rather than underpay. What really helped me was keeping documentation of my attempts to fix it with HR. I started emailing my requests so I had a paper trail showing I was trying to correct the issue. That way if anyone ever questioned it, I could show I made good faith efforts to fix the withholding once I discovered the problem. Also, don't forget that when you do get that refund next year, you can use it strategically - maybe put it toward an emergency fund or retirement savings rather than just spending it, since it's essentially money you already earned that was just held by the government. Think of it as forced savings with a 0% return! The stress you're feeling about this is totally normal, but you can breathe easy knowing this is one of those "good problems" to have in the tax world.