One thing nobody's mentioning - make sure you check your state's requirements separately! I'm in California and answered "no" to full-year coverage (had a 3-month gap). Had to pay a $450 state penalty even though there's no federal penalty anymore. Each state has different rules.

Has anyone used the IRS2Go app to check on their refund after filing with health insurance gaps? I marked "no" for full year coverage since I had a 2-month gap, but my refund status has been stuck on "processing" for 3 weeks now. Worried they're reviewing my health insurance info.

Another workaround: fill out Form 8889 through the IRS Free File Fillable Forms system instead of downloading the PDF. You can save your progress there, and it automatically attaches to your 1040 when you file. It's free for everyone regardless of income.

I've been fighting with this same Form 8889 issue for months! What finally worked for me was a combination of approaches mentioned here. I used the Print to PDF method that Charlie suggested, but I also discovered that if you have Google Chrome, you can open the PDF in Chrome's built-in PDF viewer instead of Adobe Reader. Chrome sometimes lets you save forms that Adobe blocks. The key is to right-click on the PDF link and select "Open with Chrome" instead of letting it default to Adobe Reader. Then fill out the form and use Chrome's print function to save as PDF. This has worked for me on several IRS forms that had saving restrictions. Also, for anyone still struggling with IRS phone wait times - I can confirm the Claimyr service works. Used it last month for a different issue and got connected to an agent in under 2 hours instead of the usual all-day phone marathon.

Something else to consider - the de minimis safe harbor doesn't apply to improvements that are part of a larger project. So if you're doing a kitchen remodel and buy 5 cabinet pulls for $15 each, you can't use de minimis for those even though individually they're under the threshold, because they're part of a larger improvement. I learned this the hard way when I got audited last year. The IRS made me recapture a bunch of small expenses I had deducted under de minimis because they were actually part of a bathroom renovation project that should have been capitalized.

This is really helpful discussion! I'm a new rental property owner and just discovered I need to be more strategic about the de minimis election. Reading through all these comments, it sounds like the key things I need to do are: 1. Create a written accounting policy before the tax year starts 2. Attach the election statement to my tax return 3. Be careful about what counts as "part of a larger project" vs individual items 4. Keep detailed records of everything One question I have - if I'm buying materials throughout the year for various small repairs and maintenance, should I be tracking each individual item against the $2,500 threshold, or does it matter how they're invoiced? Like if I buy $200 worth of supplies in one Home Depot trip, is that one "item" or do I need to break it down by individual products? Also wondering if anyone has experience with how this election affects state taxes - does it automatically carry over or do I need to make separate elections at the state level?

Can we talk about how ridiculous it is that married filing separately has such restrictive IRA limits? $10,000 MAGI cutoff is insanely low. I'm in the same boat - filing separately because of student loans, and it basically prevents me from using any retirement accounts effectively. Traditional IRA deductions phase out at super low income levels for MFS, and Roth has the $10k cliff. It's like they're punishing people with student loans who are trying to save for retirement.

I'm dealing with a similar recharacterization situation and wanted to add a few practical tips from my experience last year: When you contact your IRA provider, ask specifically for their "recharacterization department" or use the exact term "recharacterization" - some customer service reps aren't familiar with this process and might try to help you with a regular transfer instead. Also, make sure to get documentation showing the exact date the recharacterization was completed. The IRS requires that it be done by your tax filing deadline (including extensions), so having that paper trail is important. One thing that caught me off guard - if your Roth IRA has lost value since you made the contributions, you'll actually recharacterize less money than you originally contributed. Conversely, if it gained value, you'll move more. Your provider should calculate this automatically, but it's worth understanding going in. For your specific situation with the 403(b) conversion mixed in, definitely emphasize to your provider that you're recharacterizing BOTH the conversion and the direct contributions. Some providers might need to handle these as separate transactions. Good luck with the process - it's more common than you might think, especially with the MFS income limits being so restrictive!

Has anyone here actually gone over the $10k SALT cap? I'm wondering if it's even worth the effort to time my payments since I'm probably only going to hit about $9,700 with both property tax payments. Would the extra few hundred in deductions even make a significant difference?

Great question about the SALT cap timing! I was in a similar situation last year with my supplemental property tax bill. One thing I learned is that even if you're close to the $10k limit, it's worth doing the math on your total itemized deductions vs. the standard deduction. In my case, I was at about $9,800 in SALT taxes, but when I added mortgage interest, charitable donations, and some medical expenses, my total itemized deductions were still higher than the standard deduction. So that extra $200 in property tax deductions actually did save me money. Also, don't forget that the SALT cap includes both property taxes AND state income taxes (or sales tax if you choose that). So if you paid estimated state taxes or had withholding, those count toward your $10k limit too. I almost missed that and would have been over the cap without realizing it!