Omg I didn't even think of this! I usually toss anything that looks like junk mail right away. I'm gonna go through my mail pile tonight to double check. Do you remember what the envelope looked like exactly? Was it white or brown or what?

It's usually a plain white envelope with a very official looking "Department of the Treasury" return address from Kansas City or Philadelphia. Nothing flashy at all - it's actually designed to not look like it contains something valuable for security reasons. The tax refund debit cards are even worse - they come in white envelopes with "Money Network Cardholder Services" as the sender, which looks exactly like credit card spam. Check your mail pile carefully and maybe even look through your recycling if you can!

This happened to me 2 years ago. Filed with my old address by mistake and my check got sent back to the IRS. Took another 2 months to get it sorted out! Always double-check your address on the tax forms.

Did you actually use the review service with TurboTax MAX? I'm wondering if they just glance over everything quickly or if they actually do a thorough job looking for missed deductions and credits?

I did use it, but honestly was a bit disappointed. The "review" seemed pretty superficial - they mostly just verified that I had documentation for everything I claimed rather than proactively looking for things I might have missed. For basic returns it's probably fine, but if you have investments, self-employment income, or other complex situations like it sounds like you do, you'd likely benefit from a more thorough review by someone who's looking specifically for missed opportunities.

Good point. Do amended returns really trigger audits more often? I'm finding conflicting info online about this.

What exactly is "adjusted basis" in this context? Is that like what I originally paid for the house?

Adjusted basis is basically what you paid for the house (original basis) plus improvements you've made that add value, minus any depreciation you've taken on the property. For example, if you bought your home for $300,000 and later added a $50,000 kitchen renovation, your adjusted basis would be $350,000. If you're using your home purely as a personal residence (not for business), you typically don't take depreciation, so that part wouldn't apply to most homeowners.

You might still be able to get the certification directly from the shingle manufacturer. Most major brands have downloadable certification statements on their websites. Just look up the exact model of shingles you installed. Receipts showing the specific type of shingles purchased are also crucial.

Would this still work if both jobs have widely different pay? My main job is about $75k but my weekend job only brings in like $9k. I'm worried about being in different tax brackets.

Yes, it still works with different pay levels! The important thing is to calculate based on your highest marginal tax bracket when combining all income. At $75k for your main job, you're already in the 22% federal bracket (assuming single filing status). The additional $9k from your weekend job would also be taxed at 22% federally. So you'd take $9,000 × 0.22 = $1,980 in additional tax for the year. Then divide that by your remaining pay periods to get the per-paycheck additional withholding amount. Just remember this is a simplified approach. If you're close to moving into a higher bracket with the combined income, you might want to use the IRS calculator for more precision.

This is a really good point. Does the social security cap apply per employer or across all your jobs combined? I work three part-time jobs and I'm nowhere near the cap with any single one.

I actually tried that first! We used Workday, but my login stopped working shortly after I left the company. I called about getting it reactivated but that just led me back to the same HR department that never answers. Frustrating because I know the W-2 is probably sitting right there in the system.

That's unfortunately pretty common - companies often disable access but don't communicate how former employees should get their tax documents. One thing you could try is reaching out to your former manager or even colleagues still at the company. Sometimes they can put internal pressure on HR that gets better results than calling from the outside. If that doesn't work, a former coworker might be able to tell you who specifically in HR handles tax documents, so you could email them directly instead of calling the general HR line. Large companies often have dedicated tax specialists who are separate from the regular HR team.

This actually worked for me last year! I filed a complaint with my state labor board and they contacted my former employer. Got my W-2 within a week after months of trying on my own.