Something to consider - if one of you makes significantly more than the other, you might want to adjust your withholding differently. When my wife and I got married, we found that we needed to withhold extra from the higher-earning spouse to avoid owing at tax time. Also, don't forget about that side job with tips! Tips are taxable income and if they're not withholding enough for those, you could end up with a surprise tax bill. I'd recommend putting a little extra withholding on that job's W-4.

One thing nobody's mentioned - you can always adjust your W-4 throughout the year if you find the withholding isn't right! My husband and I got married last year and had to tweak our withholding twice before we got it right. You might consider starting conservative (slightly higher withholding) and then after a few months, use the IRS Withholding Estimator again to see if you're on track. Many people don't realize you can submit a new W-4 to your employer anytime your situation changes.

I'm in my 3rd year as an agent and I don't even bother with the clothing deductions anymore. Focus on the big stuff instead: - Mileage (huge deduction, track EVERY showing) - Home office (if you have dedicated space) - Marketing (social media ads, flyers, photography) - Continuing education - E&O insurance - Desk fees - Technology (portion of phone, laptop, internet) These add up to WAY more than dry cleaning ever would, and they're all clearly allowed. Why risk an audit over dry cleaning when there are so many legitimate deductions available?

Great thread everyone! As someone who's been in real estate for about 5 years now, I can confirm what others have said - skip the dry cleaning deduction and focus on the big ones that actually matter. I learned this the hard way my first year when I spent hours trying to justify clothing expenses, only to have my CPA tell me it wasn't worth the risk. Now I focus on tracking: - Every single mile driven for business (this alone saved me about $4,000 last year) - All my marketing expenses including professional photos for listings - My MLS fees, lockbox fees, and board dues - Portion of my cell phone and internet since I use them for business - Business meals with clients (50% deductible) The mileage tracking especially adds up fast when you're showing properties all over town. I use an app that automatically tracks my trips and I just mark which ones were business-related at the end of each day. Don't get hung up on the small stuff like dry cleaning - there are so many legitimate deductions available to real estate agents that you'll easily make up for it with the safer options.

Has anyone tried contacting the Taxpayer Advocate Service about this issue? They're supposed to help with systemic problems in the tax code, and the outdated $5/sq ft rate seems to qualify.

This is such a frustrating issue! I've been dealing with the same problem - using about 250 sq ft of my home office and watching my actual costs climb year after year while stuck with that same $1,250 deduction. What really gets me is that they adjust tax brackets, standard deductions, and plenty of other tax provisions for inflation, but somehow this one got forgotten. I think the key is getting more taxpayers to speak up about this. The Taxpayer Advocate Service suggestion is great - if enough people submit complaints about the same issue, it's more likely to get attention in their annual report to Congress. We could also try reaching out to small business organizations like NFIB or local chambers of commerce, since this affects so many self-employed people and small business owners who work from home. In the meantime, I'm definitely going to run the numbers on the regular method. If housing costs have doubled in many areas since 2013, it seems like a no-brainer that the actual expense method would come out ahead for most homeowners, even with the depreciation complications.

One thing to know about MFS that I learned the hard way - you both have to take standard deduction or both itemize, but you also both have to use the same method for itemizing. If one of you itemizes "the regular way" and the other itemizes "by detailed expenses," that's not allowed. The IRS website can be really confusing on this, so I recommend checking out the official instructions for Form 1040 and look at the MFS section specifically.

This thread has been incredibly enlightening! I've been in a similar MFS situation for three years and have been making the same mistake. Like many others here, I assumed that any deductions my spouse claimed meant we both had to itemize. After reading through all these responses, I realize I need to carefully review what my spouse is actually deducting. She has a small consulting business and has been putting those expenses on Schedule A as itemized deductions when they should probably be business expenses on Schedule C instead. The distinction between business expenses (Schedule C) and personal itemized deductions (Schedule A) seems to be the key that everyone was missing, including us. If her business expenses are properly categorized on Schedule C, then we might both be able to take the standard deduction and save thousands. I'm definitely going to look into some of the tools mentioned here to make sure we're categorizing everything correctly for our 2024 filing. This could be a game-changer for our tax situation!

Had this happen. Got confused too. Called my preparer. They explained it's not their check. It's from Treasury. Mail date means mail date. No early pickup. Mine took 6 days after mail date. Was driving me crazy. Needed it for rent. Next year doing direct deposit. Much faster. Hope yours comes quickly.

I understand the frustration with the timing! As someone who's dealt with quarterly estimated payments myself, here's what I've learned about managing this situation: The "check printed" status combined with a future mail date is actually the IRS giving you advance notice of when your refund will be mailed. This is helpful for planning purposes, even though you can't accelerate the process. For your quarterly payments as an independent contractor, consider these options: • If your refund arrives after the quarterly deadline, you can still make the payment and potentially qualify for a penalty waiver if you meet safe harbor rules • You could make the quarterly payment from other funds now and reimburse yourself when the refund arrives • Many tax software programs and preparers can help calculate if you'll owe penalties for late quarterly payments The Treasury's direct mail system is secure but inflexible - there's simply no mechanism for early pickup. I switched to direct deposit after experiencing similar timing issues, and it's made quarterly payment planning much more predictable. The refund typically hits your account 1-2 days after the "sent" status appears. Hope your check arrives promptly on the 26th!