Congrats on finally seeing movement! I'm in a similar situation - filed my Michigan return in late January and been stuck on "no match found" for weeks. This gives me hope that mine might update soon too. Question though - when you say it shows "Return is completed" as of Feb 4th, have you actually received the refund yet or is it still just showing that status? Trying to figure out if there's another waiting period after the completed status.

Thanks for sharing this update! I've been stuck on "no match found" for my Michigan return too and was starting to worry something was wrong. Seeing that yours went from no match to processing to completed gives me hope that they're just working through a backlog. Did you have to do anything special or did it just update on its own? I've been checking the eServices portal daily like a crazy person lol

Another thing to consider is the de minimis safe harbor election which lets u deduct items that cost less than $2,500 per invoice/item instead of depreciating them. So like if ur buying several fixtures and each one is under that amount, u might be able to deduct them immediately even if technically they're "improvements." You make this election every year with ur tax return.

Great question about rental property improvements during vacancy! I went through something similar last year. The key thing to remember is that as long as you're holding the property with the intent to generate rental income, you can start depreciating improvements even during vacant periods. Your timeline looks reasonable - 4 months of improvements followed by finding new tenants shows clear rental intent. However, if your mother-in-law moves in rent-free, that changes everything for 2025. The IRS considers rent-free family use as personal use, not rental use. This means you'd need to stop claiming rental deductions (including depreciation) for the time she's living there. The improvements you made in 2024 during the legitimate vacancy period would still be valid for depreciation, but you'd have to suspend that depreciation during any personal use periods. My advice: keep detailed records of your improvement timeline and costs, and if you do decide to let family live there rent-free, make sure to properly adjust your tax treatment for that period. You might want to consider charging at least fair market rent to keep it as a legitimate rental property for tax purposes.

I'm currently going through this EXACT situation with my husband's employer in Cincinnati. His boss "forgot" to withhold federal taxes for SIX MONTHS!!! We're looking at owing like $7k we don't have. 😭 We consulted with a tax attorney who said we should: 1. Send a certified letter to the employer formally requesting they start withholding correctly 2. If they don't fix it in 2 pay periods, file Form 3949-A with the IRS to report them 3. Start making estimated tax payments NOW to reduce penalties later Has anyone actually gone through with filing Form 3949-A? Did the IRS actually do anything?

I'm really sorry you're dealing with this stressful situation! Based on what others have shared here, it sounds like you have several solid options to protect yourself. First, your employer is 100% legally required to withhold federal income tax and FICA taxes from W-2 employees - there's no debate about that. The fact that they're brushing this off as "your responsibility" shows they either don't understand basic payroll law or are trying to avoid accountability. Here's what I'd recommend doing immediately: 1. **Document everything** - Save all paystubs, your original W-4, and any communications with your employer about this issue 2. **Calculate what you'll owe** - Use the IRS withholding calculator to estimate your tax liability and start setting money aside if possible 3. **Put your employer on notice** - Send an email (so you have it in writing) explaining the issue and requesting they fix it immediately Don't quit your job over this! You have rights, and there are protections against retaliation for reporting tax violations. If they don't fix it within a couple pay periods, definitely consider filing Form 3949-A with the IRS as others have mentioned. The good news is that while you'll still owe the taxes, you won't face criminal penalties since this was your employer's error, not intentional tax evasion on your part. The IRS has payment plans available if you can't pay everything at once. Stay strong - you've got this! 💪

I'm so sorry you're going through this difficult time. Divorce is stressful enough without having to worry about tax implications too. Based on what you've shared, it sounds like you're in a pretty good position tax-wise, which should be one less thing to stress about. From the numbers you provided, your capital gain would be around $300,000 ($620,000 sale price minus $320,000 purchase price). But as others have mentioned, don't forget to add any qualifying home improvements to your cost basis - that kitchen reno and HVAC replacement you mentioned could reduce your taxable gain significantly. One thing I'd recommend is getting everything documented now while you still have access to all the records. Make copies of the original purchase documents, receipts for major improvements, and any other relevant paperwork. During my own divorce, things got scattered between lawyers and moving, and it was much harder to track everything down later. The good news is that with the capital gains exclusions available and the improvements you've made, you'll likely owe little to no capital gains tax regardless of whether you finalize the divorce before or after the sale. Focus on what makes the most sense for your overall settlement rather than just the tax implications. Wishing you the best through this process!

I went through this exact situation about 18 months ago, and I wanted to share what I learned since you're dealing with so many of the same issues I faced. The stress of managing divorce proceedings while trying to understand tax implications is overwhelming, but you're asking all the right questions. From my experience, the timing decision really came down to our overall financial picture rather than just the capital gains tax. We ended up finalizing the divorce before the sale because it simplified other aspects of our settlement, and we each claimed the $250k exclusion on our respective halves. Given your numbers and the improvements you've mentioned, you should be well within the exclusion limits either way. One thing that really helped me was creating a simple spreadsheet with all the scenarios - married filing jointly vs. divorced filing separately, different timing options, etc. It made it much easier to see the actual dollar differences and discuss with both my divorce attorney and tax preparer. The most important thing I learned is that the capital gains exclusion is pretty forgiving for divorce situations. The IRS recognizes that people's living situations change during divorce proceedings, so as long as you both meet the basic ownership and use tests (which you clearly do after 9 years), you should be fine. Hang in there - this part of the process does get resolved, and it sounds like you're being very thoughtful about planning ahead. Having one less financial worry during this time will be a huge relief.

Does anyone know if there's a way to just check what my maximum SEP contribution is based on last year's tax return? I'm trying to max out my contribution for 2024 but don't want to over-contribute and deal with excess contribution penalties.

Just wanted to add my experience with this exact same confusion! I'm a freelance graphic designer and went through this same headache last year. The key breakthrough for me was understanding that the IRS uses "compensation" differently for employees vs. self-employed people. For employees, compensation is their salary BEFORE the employer makes SEP contributions (hence 25%). But for us self-employed folks, our "compensation" is net earnings AFTER we deduct our own SEP contribution, which creates that circular math nightmare you described. Here's what helped me: I used the worksheet in IRS Publication 560 (Worksheet 2-1) which walks through this step by step. It's still confusing, but at least it's official IRS guidance. For your $85K example, the actual max would be around $17,000 as others mentioned. The formula essentially works out to: Maximum = Net Profit ÷ 1.25, which gives you that ~20% effective rate. One tip: if you're planning quarterly estimated taxes, just budget around 18-20% of your net profit for SEP contributions to be safe. You can always true up at year end once you know your exact numbers.