Don't forget to check if your state has a tax relief program too! I owed the feds $21k and my state another $7k. I qualified for my state's Hardship Program which actually forgave about half of what I owed them. The federal payment plan was still rough but that state relief made a huge difference. Just google "[your state] tax relief program" and see what comes up.

I'm sorry you're going through this - the stress of owing that much to the IRS is overwhelming, but you do have options. First, definitely don't ignore this or let it spiral further. One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is requesting penalty abatement for reasonable cause. Since you mentioned you lost your job 6 months ago and are struggling financially, you might qualify to have some of the penalties removed if you can show the failure to file/pay was due to circumstances beyond your control. Also, make sure you're getting proper representation. The IRS has a Low Income Taxpayer Clinic (LITC) program that provides free or low-cost assistance to people who can't afford professional help. You can find one in your area on the IRS website. These clinics have attorneys and CPAs who specialize in tax debt resolution. Given your current income situation, you'll likely qualify for Currently Not Collectible status while you get back on your feet. Yes, interest still accrues, but it stops the immediate collection pressure and gives you breathing room to stabilize your finances. Document everything about your financial hardship - job loss, medical bills, basic living expenses. This will be crucial for any hardship-based relief programs you apply for.

I had almost the exact same situation with my 2021 return! The "Return Not Present" message with an 810 freeze code is actually more common than you'd think during heavy processing periods. What's happening is your return was received and assigned the freeze code, but it hasn't been fully processed into their main database yet - that's why it shows as "not present" even though they clearly have some record of it (hence the freeze). The 810 code usually means they're doing additional verification or your return got flagged for manual review. Since you e-filed through TurboTax in February, the good news is it's definitely in their system somewhere. I'd recommend calling the practitioner priority line if you have access, or try calling early morning (7-8 AM) for shorter wait times. In my case, it took about 6 weeks after the 810 appeared for everything to update properly and show my actual return info. Keep checking weekly - once it processes fully, all those blank fields will populate with your actual tax info and the freeze should lift automatically.

I'm dealing with something very similar right now with my 2022 return! Filed in late January through FreeTaxUSA and my transcript has been showing the exact same thing - "RETURN NOT PRESENT" but with an 810 freeze code from February 28th. It's so frustrating because you know you filed but the system acts like it doesn't exist. From what I've researched, the 810 code often gets applied when they need to do manual verification of certain items on your return - things like the Child Tax Credit, Earned Income Credit, or if you claimed any recovery rebate credits. The "not present" status just means it hasn't been fully processed through their main system yet, but the freeze code proves they definitely have it. I've been checking my transcript every Monday and it's been the same for about 6 weeks now. Planning to call this week since it's been so long. Have you tried using the "Where's My Refund" tool to see if it gives you any different information than the transcript?

This has been such a helpful discussion! As someone who works in benefits administration, I wanted to add one more potential source of confusion. Sometimes when companies switch payroll providers or accounting firms, the new provider will flag "missing" pre-tax elections and make it sound urgent or required. If your company recently changed payroll companies or got a new accountant, they might have noticed that employee health insurance premiums are being processed as post-tax deductions when they should be pre-tax. From their perspective, this looks like a compliance issue that needs immediate attention - hence the stressed tone about "requirements" and potential penalties. The reality is that while you're not breaking any laws by processing premiums post-tax, you and your employees are missing out on tax savings that most people expect. A simple Premium Only Plan would fix this, but it's more of an optimization than a legal requirement. Definitely worth getting clarification on exactly what the accountant meant - but at least now you know it's not some mysterious IRS mandate hanging over your heads!

Thank you all for this incredibly thorough discussion! As a newcomer to this community, I'm amazed at how helpful everyone has been in breaking down what seemed like a confusing situation. Reading through all these responses, it's clear that @LunarLegend's boss likely received advice that got lost in translation somewhere between the accountant and the meeting. The most probable scenarios seem to be: 1. The accountant was recommending a Premium Only Plan for upcoming health insurance benefits (as @Diego Flores and others suggested) 2. There might be COBRA compliance requirements that got mixed up with Cafeteria Plan requirements (@Sean Flanagan's point) 3. A new payroll provider or accounting review flagged the missing pre-tax benefit elections (@Gianni Serpent's excellent insight) What I find most reassuring is the consensus that there are NO IRS requirements for small businesses to offer Cafeteria Plans - they're purely optional tax-saving tools. The stress and confusion could have been avoided with clearer communication, but at least now there's a clear path forward. For anyone else facing similar confusion, this thread is a perfect example of why it's worth getting multiple perspectives and asking for clarification when something doesn't sound quite right. The resources people shared (like the IRS connection services) also seem genuinely helpful for getting authoritative answers directly from the source. Great community discussion - exactly what I hoped to find when I joined this group!

I'm dealing with this exact same frustrating issue! Just wanted to add another potential cause - I discovered that if you imported data from last year's return and your business circumstances changed (like if you switched from having employees to being solo, or changed your business type), TurboTax might carry over old settings that trigger the daycare fields. What worked for me was going to the Business Profile section and completely clearing out all the imported business information, then re-entering it fresh. Sometimes the import process brings over conflicting data that causes these weird form validation errors. Also, double-check that your business code (NAICS code) is correct for your actual business type. I had accidentally kept a childcare-related code from when I was helping a friend with their taxes last year, and that was making TurboTax think I needed daycare-specific fields on Form 8829. The Daycare Wks field should definitely be blank for regular home offices - it's only for licensed daycare providers who need to calculate time-space percentages differently than other home businesses.

I've been following this thread because I had the exact same "Daycare Wks should be blank" error last week! After trying several of the suggestions here, I found that my issue was actually in the TurboTax interview process - I had answered "Yes" to a question about whether I provided services to children in my home business, thinking it was asking about my online tutoring business. That single answer triggered TurboTax to classify my business as childcare-related, which automatically enabled all the daycare-specific fields on Form 8829. Once I went back and corrected that answer to reflect that I don't provide in-person childcare services, the Daycare Wks field disappeared entirely and I could complete the form normally. For anyone still stuck on this: try searching for "child" or "daycare" in your business interview answers and make sure you haven't accidentally indicated you provide childcare services. Sometimes the questions are worded in a way that makes it easy to give the wrong answer if you work with kids in any capacity (tutoring, coaching, etc.) but don't actually run a daycare from your home.

Just wanted to add my experience as someone who's been dealing with K-1s for several years now. The advice about Schedule E is spot-on - the investment interest expense from your K-1 will indeed offset the interest income directly on Schedule E, completely separate from your standard deduction decision. One additional tip: make sure you keep good records of any investment interest expense that exceeds the investment income in a given year. While your situation shows a net positive income, if you ever have a year where the investment interest expense exceeds the investment income from the partnership, the excess can be carried forward to future years. This carryforward happens automatically on Form 4952 (Investment Interest Expense Deduction), which gets filed along with your return when you have investment interest expense. Also, since this is your first K-1, be prepared for it to arrive much later than your other tax documents. Partnerships often don't send out K-1s until mid-March or even later, which can delay your tax filing. The mid-year estimate you received is helpful for planning, but the final K-1 numbers might be different.

I've been through this exact situation with my first K-1 investment, and I want to emphasize something that might not be obvious - even though the investment interest expense from your K-1 flows through Schedule E (as correctly explained above), you should still keep detailed records of all the investment interest expenses reported on your K-1. The reason is that there are annual limitations on how much investment interest expense you can deduct, and these limitations are calculated on Form 4952. While your current situation shows net positive income, if you make additional investments or if market conditions change, you might hit scenarios where your total investment interest expense across all investments exceeds your investment income. Also, since you mentioned this is totally new territory, I'd recommend reviewing the partnership agreement or offering documents to understand what type of investment this is. Some partnerships are structured as publicly traded partnerships (PTPs), which have special tax rules, while others might be private placements with different implications for things like passive activity rules. The good news is that your tax software should handle most of this automatically once you enter the K-1 data, but understanding the underlying mechanics will help you make better investment decisions going forward.