A warning from someone who learned the hard way - if you're selling on multiple platforms, they ALL count toward that $600 threshold! I was selling on eBay, Mercari, and Facebook Marketplace thinking each platform had its own separate $600 limit. Nope! You have to combine all your sales across all platforms. Also, some payment processors like PayPal or Venmo might send separate 1099-Ks too. I ended up with THREE different 1099 forms for what I thought was a small selling hobby. The IRS computer systems match these forms to your tax ID, so don't forget to report all of them!

I totally get the frustration @Rebecca! I was in the same boat last year - just wanted to declutter and make a few bucks, then suddenly I'm drowning in tax forms. Here's what I wish someone had told me from the start: keep it simple but organized. Create one spreadsheet with columns for: item sold, what you paid for it originally, sale price, shipping costs, and platform fees. That's literally all you need. The good news is you're only taxed on actual profit, not gross sales. So if you bought something for $20, sold it for $35, and paid $3 in fees, you only owe taxes on $12 profit. All those scary 1099 forms just show gross sales - they don't tell the full story of what you actually made. Don't let the complexity scare you away from selling! Just start tracking everything now and you'll be fine next tax season.

Everyone's talking about the app, but has anyone mentioned that international filers often get flagged for additional review? I've seen this happen repeatedly with my clients. The verification is just step one - after that, you might be in the standard processing queue or you might be in a separate international review queue. Did they specifically tell you which verification path you completed?

I went through ID verification about 3 weeks ago and my IRS2GO app just updated yesterday! Like others mentioned, checking the transcript was definitely the way to go - it showed movement about 5 days before the app caught up. One thing I noticed is that the verification confirmation email I got was pretty generic and didn't give me much confidence it actually worked. But I kept checking my account transcript every few days and saw the codes change before anything showed up in the mobile app. For what it's worth, I completed the online ID.me process on a Tuesday morning and my transcript first showed processing updates the following Monday. The app took until this past Wednesday to reflect the same information. So roughly 2 weeks total from verification to seeing real movement in the app.

Has anyone noticed that the IRS letters this year are super delayed? I just got my Letter 6475 last week even though they were supposed to mail them out in January!!!

I had the exact same confusion with Letter 6475 last year! The key thing to understand is that when you're married filing jointly, you DO need to add both amounts together. Each spouse gets their own letter showing their individual portion of the Economic Impact Payment, but since you're filing as one household, you report the total combined amount. So if both your letters show the same dollar amount, that means you each received that amount individually - add them together for your joint return. This is totally normal and the IRS expects married couples to combine these amounts when filing jointly. One tip: keep both letters with your tax records in case the IRS ever asks for documentation. And don't worry about triggering an audit over this - as long as you report the correct total amount you actually received, you'll be fine!

Has anyone considered solar panels with battery backup instead of a generator? We installed a system last year and there are way better tax benefits - 30% federal tax CREDIT (not just a deduction) plus possible state incentives. And then you get lower electric bills forever after.

Great discussion here! I'm a CPA and wanted to add some clarification on a few points that came up. First, for the original question about the $12,000 whole house generator - you're on the right track thinking about business use percentage, but be careful about the "exclusive use" requirement. The IRS requires that business deductions for home expenses relate to spaces used EXCLUSIVELY for business. A whole house generator benefits your entire home, so you'd need to calculate the deduction based strictly on the square footage of spaces used only for business. Also, don't forget about depreciation! A generator would be considered business equipment with a useful life of several years, so you can't deduct the full cost in year one. You'd typically depreciate it over 5-7 years using MACRS. One more thing - make sure you're documenting the business necessity. Keep records of how power outages specifically impact your business income, like the $2,500 loss you mentioned. This helps justify the expense as ordinary and necessary for your business operations. The solar + battery suggestions are interesting too - just remember that residential solar credits are separate from business deductions, so you'd need to allocate costs appropriately if the system serves both personal and business use.

just fyi transcripts update every tuesday morning if ur checking refund status

Another option if you're having trouble with online access - many public libraries and tax prep offices have computers set up specifically for accessing IRS transcripts. The librarians are usually pretty helpful if you get stuck on the verification steps!