I'm in a similar situation with my Serve card and 3/22 DDD! Based on what everyone's sharing here, it sounds like we just need to be patient for a few more days. I've been checking my account constantly too, but it's good to know that Serve doesn't show pending deposits - that explains the radio silence. I'm going to follow the advice about setting up SMS alerts and try to stop obsessively refreshing the app. It's reassuring to hear from people who've been through this process multiple times with Serve. The consensus seems to be that refunds do arrive, just not always on the exact DDD. Fingers crossed we all see our deposits by mid-week!

I'm dealing with the exact same situation - 3/22 DDD to my Serve card and nothing yet! This is also my first year filing and I was starting to really worry. Reading through everyone's experiences here has been incredibly helpful though. It sounds like Serve consistently takes 1-4 business days after the DDD to actually post IRS refunds, which is way longer than I expected. I had no idea they don't show pending deposits either - I've been staring at my account balance thinking something was wrong! The fact that so many people here have gone through this same waiting period with Serve and eventually received their refunds is really reassuring. I'm going to follow the advice about setting up SMS alerts instead of constantly checking the app. Thanks Justin for posting this - it's good to know we're all in the same boat! Hopefully we'll all see our deposits by Wednesday.

Just wait for your regular refund date and skip all this advance nonsense. The IRS is actually pretty fast these days if you file electronically and use direct deposit.

I actually went through this exact situation last month. Yes, you definitely need to open a Credit Karma Money account - there's no way around it anymore since Intuit owns both companies. The good news is the account is completely free with no fees or minimum balance. The advance amount depends on your refund size but it's usually a decent chunk. Just be aware that once you get the advance, you're locked into keeping that account open until your full refund processes, otherwise they can hit you with penalties. Overall it worked fine for me but definitely feels like they're forcing you into their ecosystem.

Pro tip: set up your external account links before the refund hits so you can transfer immediately. Their daily transfer limit is like 10k btw

Just wanted to add - if you're comparing different refund advance options, also check out Jackson Hewitt and H&R Block. They sometimes have better approval rates depending on your tax situation. Credit Karma is solid but not always the best option for everyone. Also make sure you read the fine print on fees - some places charge for the advance even if it's "free

Has anyone had issues with FreeTaxUSA not calculating the correct deduction even after entering both 1098 forms? I did this last year and somehow my deduction was like $2000 less than it should have been. Wondering if there's a glitch or if I missed something.

I went through this exact same situation when I refinanced in August! The key thing that tripped me up initially was making sure I understood the timing correctly. When you have two 1098 forms from the same year due to refinancing, you want to make sure you're not double-counting any interest or missing any deductions. Here's what I learned: 1. The original lender's 1098 will show interest paid from January through the payoff date 2. The new lender's 1098 will show interest from the loan start date through December 3. Any prepaid interest or points from the refinance may be partially deductible in the current year Ryan's advice about using the "Add another mortgage interest statement" feature is spot on. But also double-check that the total interest amounts make sense when you add them up - it should roughly match what you'd expect to pay for the full year on your mortgage amount. One thing to watch out for: if you paid any loan origination fees or discount points on the refinance, those might be spread over the life of the loan for tax purposes rather than fully deductible in year one. FreeTaxUSA should handle this automatically, but it's worth verifying the calculation matches IRS rules.

Welcome to the US tax system! Your situation is actually pretty common for new green card holders. Just wanted to add a couple of practical tips from my own experience with international transfers: 1. When you do transfer the money, consider doing it in smaller chunks (like $7k-8k at a time) rather than all $21k at once. This won't change your tax obligations, but it can sometimes get you better exchange rates and lower transfer fees depending on your banks. 2. Make sure to get a detailed transfer receipt showing the exchange rate used and any fees charged. These can be useful for your records, especially if you need to document the transaction later. 3. If your German bank charges high fees for international transfers, definitely look into services like Wise or Remitly - they often save hundreds of dollars on large transfers like yours. The good news is that Germany has a tax treaty with the US, so if you did have any taxable income from interest on that account while you were a US resident, you could potentially claim foreign tax credits to avoid double taxation. But for the principal amount you earned while working there, you're all set - no US taxes owed on the transfer itself!

Just wanted to share my experience as someone who went through a very similar situation last year. I moved from Canada to the US with about $35k in savings and was equally confused about the tax implications. The key thing that helped me was understanding the difference between "pre-immigration assets" (money you earned before becoming a US tax resident) and income earned after you become subject to US taxation. Your $21k from working in Germany falls into that first category, so transferring it won't create a US tax liability. However, I'd strongly recommend keeping very detailed records of everything - not just for the FBAR filing, but also in case you ever need to prove the source of funds during future immigration processes or if the IRS has questions. I kept copies of my Canadian employment contracts, tax returns from Canada showing the income was properly reported there, and bank statements showing the money sitting in my account before I moved to the US. One practical tip: when I made my transfer, I used a combination of Wise for the bulk amount and kept about $5k in my Canadian account initially. This way I could test the process with a smaller amount first and also had some buffer time to make sure I understood all the US reporting requirements before moving everything over. The whole process ended up being much less scary than I initially thought, but having good documentation made me feel much more confident about everything!