Your tax software should have a list of assets and their current status! When I used turbotax it gave me a nice "asset list" PDF with all my business equipment and showed how much was left to depreciate each year. Check if you can download an "asset list" or "depreciation report" from whatever software you used.

For QuickBooks Online specifically, there's a helpful workaround if you're struggling with the manual depreciation entry process. You can create a "catch-up" journal entry to record all the accumulated depreciation from 2022-2024, then set up the assets going forward with their remaining basis. Here's what worked for me: Go to the "+" menu > Journal Entry, then debit your Depreciation Expense account and credit Accumulated Depreciation for each asset. Use the memo field to note "Catch-up depreciation 2022-2024 for [asset name]" so it's clear in your records. Once that's done, you can set up the depreciation schedule in QBO for the remaining book value going forward. For your equipment ($12,500) and lighting ($4,200), you'll need to calculate how much depreciation you've already taken based on the method used (5-year MACRS is common for equipment, 7-year for fixtures). The remaining undepreciated amount is what QBO will work with for future years. This approach keeps your books clean and makes the 2025 tax prep much easier since everything will be properly tracked going forward.

As a newcomer to this community, I have to say reading through all these experiences is both eye-opening and deeply concerning. I'm dealing with my first amended return situation - filed in August to correct a missed education credit, and I'm currently at the 15-week mark with zero movement on the "Where's My Amended Return" tool. What strikes me most about all these stories is how consistent the dysfunction appears to be across the board. Whether it's simple calculation errors, missed deductions, or education credits, everyone seems to be facing the same 6-8 month nightmare regardless of how straightforward their correction should be. The fact that multiple people have found success through congressional intervention really says something about how broken the normal customer service channels have become. It shouldn't require political pressure just to get basic information about the status of your own tax return. I'm definitely going to start implementing some of the strategies mentioned here - checking my transcript regularly for specific codes, documenting all my interactions with IRS customer service, and potentially reaching out to my representative's office if I hit the 20+ week mark with no progress. Thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences and solutions. It's frustrating that we need to become amateur tax code investigators and political advocates just to get our own money back from the government, but at least we're not navigating this mess alone.

As someone new to this community, I'm both grateful and horrified to find this thread. I filed my amended return in September to correct a missed dependent exemption, and I'm currently at the 12-week mark. After reading everyone's experiences here, I'm already preparing myself for what looks like it could be a 6-8 month ordeal instead of the "standard" 20 weeks the IRS advertises. What's particularly frustrating is that this should be a straightforward correction - I have all the proper documentation for my dependent, but somehow missed including them on my original return. It's not a complex tax situation requiring extensive investigation, yet based on what I'm seeing here, I should expect the same bureaucratic nightmare everyone else is facing. I'm definitely going to start implementing the strategies mentioned throughout this thread right away: checking my transcript regularly for specific processing codes, keeping a detailed log of every interaction with IRS customer service, and having my congressional representative's contact information ready for when (not if) I need to escalate. It's absolutely insane that taxpayers need to become amateur investigators and political advocates just to get basic customer service from a federal agency, but thank you all for sharing your experiences and solutions. At least now I know what I'm up against and have a roadmap for navigating this broken system.

Has anyone with a similar situation looked into how the QBI phase-out thresholds might affect this decision? As a physician, OP is in a specified service trade or business, so QBI phases out at higher income levels. Wondering if structuring as S-corp vs sole prop affects how those thresholds are calculated.

This is a great discussion! I'm actually a tax professional who works with a lot of physicians in similar situations. A few additional considerations that might help with your decision: 1. **State taxes matter**: If you're in a state with high income taxes, the S-corp structure might provide additional benefits since you'll avoid state income tax on the self-employment tax portion. 2. **Bookkeeping complexity**: S-corps require more formal bookkeeping, payroll processing, and quarterly filings. Make sure to factor in these additional costs when comparing structures. 3. **Timing flexibility**: With a sole prop, you have more flexibility in when you recognize income and expenses. With an S-corp, you're locked into paying yourself that reasonable compensation throughout the year. 4. **Future scalability**: If you plan to expand your moonlighting or add employees, an S-corp structure might be easier to scale. Given your numbers ($200k W-2 + $150k business income), you're likely in the QBI phase-out range, which actually makes the S-corp structure more attractive since you'll get less QBI benefit anyway. The self-employment tax savings of roughly $11,475 on $75k of distributions would probably outweigh the reduced QBI deduction. Have you considered whether your employer has any restrictions on outside business activities that might affect your choice of structure?

What tax software are you guys using for business + personal combo situations? I've been using TurboTax but it seems to get confused when I try to offset my business losses against capital gains.

One thing to keep in mind is the timing of when you can actually use those business losses. If your business is subject to the "at-risk" rules or "passive activity loss" limitations, you might not be able to use all the losses in the current tax year, even if they would otherwise offset your capital gains. Also, make sure you're properly categorizing your capital gains - long-term vs short-term makes a difference for tax rates, but both can generally be offset by ordinary business losses. Short-term capital gains are taxed as ordinary income anyway, so the offset is straightforward. Long-term gains get preferential rates, but business losses can still reduce them dollar-for-dollar. Since you mentioned significant gains and losses, you might want to consider whether it makes sense to realize additional gains or losses before year-end to optimize your tax situation. Just be careful about wash sale rules if you're thinking about selling and repurchasing similar securities.

Not sure if anyone mentioned this, but there are some exceptions to the estimated tax penalty! If your total tax minus withholding is less than $1,000, you won't face a penalty. Also, if you had no tax liability last year (a 12-month period), you can avoid penalties regardless of this year's situation. And sometimes the IRS will waive penalties for reasonable cause like natural disasters or other unusual circumstances.

Just wanted to add my experience here! I was in almost the exact same situation last year - both my spouse and I are W2 employees and we underpaid significantly. We ended up making a January 15th estimated payment, but honestly wish we had known about the W-4 strategy earlier. The January payment did help reduce our penalty, but we still owed some because the IRS calculates penalties quarterly. If you still have paychecks coming before year-end, definitely consider increasing your withholding through a new W-4 first - that's the best way to completely avoid penalties since it's treated as paid evenly throughout the year. Also, double-check if you qualify for any of the safe harbors mentioned. We found out we could have paid just 100% of our prior year's tax liability (since our AGI was under $150k) rather than trying to estimate our current year's liability, which made the calculation much simpler.