7 Did they send you any kind of notification when the IRS actually accepted it? Or just confirmation that you submitted?

21 Yes, they sent two emails. The first was immediate confirmation that my form was submitted through their system. The second email came about 24 hours later confirming the IRS had accepted my extension. They also had a status tracker on their website where I could log in and check if anything had changed.

11 Not all tax software includes Form 7004 in their basic packages though. I tried using TaxAct last year and discovered I needed to upgrade to their business package just to file an extension, which was like $70+ more than I wanted to spend just for the extension form.

Does your mom know if there's any way to check if you've been certified as seriously delinquent? Or do you just have to wait and see if your passport gets approved?

The IRS is required to send you a Notice CP508C if they certify your tax debt to the State Department. It's a specific notice just for passport certification. If you haven't received that notice, you haven't been certified. You can also call the IRS and specifically ask if your account has been certified for passport denial. They also cannot certify you if you're making payments under an approved installment agreement, have a pending offer in compromise, or have requested innocent spouse relief. So those are all protective measures even for people who owe more than the threshold amount.

Did your online account update right away after you paid? Mine still shows the full amount even after making payments and it's been 3 weeks.

I'm open to alternatives for sure! Did TaxAct handle all the rental property stuff well? Like depreciation and splitting expenses between properties? I've just been using TurboTax for so long I'm kinda afraid to switch and miss deductions.

TaxAct definitely handled all the rental property features well. The depreciation calculator is actually more detailed than TurboTax's in my opinion, and I was able to track expenses separately for each property without any issues. You won't miss deductions - if anything, I found TaxAct was more thorough in asking about potential deductions specific to rental properties. The interview process asks about things like travel to inspect properties, home office use for property management, and even partial business use of vehicles for property maintenance. The learning curve isn't bad at all if you're already familiar with tax concepts.

Also check your employee benefits portal if you work for a medium-large company! My employer offers a corporate discount code for TurboTax that saved me like $40 last year, and I had no idea until I randomly checked our benefits site.

Do you need to know all the tax forms and which ones to fill out when using the software? That's what intimidates me - not knowing which forms I need.

You don't need to know any of the tax forms beforehand! That's the beauty of tax software. It asks you simple questions like "Did you own a home?" or "How many dependents do you have?" and then determines all the necessary forms for you automatically. The software fills out all the right forms behind the scenes based on your answers. You'll never need to decide "do I need Schedule A or Schedule C?" - it handles all of that. You just answer questions about your life situation and it does the technical part. It's designed for regular people, not tax experts.

I tried Cash App Taxes last year and it messed up my mortgage interest deduction somehow. Ended up having to file an amendment. Maybe they've fixed it for this year?

Is there a way to do a quick check for these hidden characters across my whole return? I'm using TaxAct and now I'm worried there might be backslashes I'm not seeing.

The best way to check your entire return is to create the PDF preview (usually there's a "Preview" or "Print Preview" option) and then use the search function (Ctrl+F on Windows or Command+F on Mac) to search for the backslash character. Just type \ in the search box and it will highlight any instances throughout the document. TaxAct also has a built-in error checker that runs before you file. While it might not specifically call out backslashes, it should catch most formatting issues that would cause rejection. If you're still concerned, you can also print the entire return and visually scan the fields where you entered text (like name, address, occupation) for any unexpected characters.

Forward slashes can definitely cause similar problems. The IRS systems interpret them as date separators or division operators in some contexts. I'd recommend removing them from any text fields like addresses. Only use them where they're expected (like in dates formatted as MM/DD/YYYY).