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@Redcross48 Phone support is not provided with the Free Edition.  If you are using a paid version of the software or if you purchased PLUS you can get phone support when customer support is there.  Otherwise, post your question here and someone will try to help.   To call TurboTax customer support https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/account-management/contact-turbotax/L2y9ZKpQB_US_en_US?uid=m5s9l2vh  

No.  Taking actual expenses does not have a down side other than not being able to switch back and forth as some years one works out better than the other.  But for the first year, the bonus depreciation can be worth more now than the concern for being able to use mileage in the future. 

It depends. You can always add more to your 401(k)s or HSA. The maximums for 2025 are shown below. The 401(k) contribution limit for 2025 is $23,500 for employee salary deferrals, and $70,000 for the combined employee and employer contributions. If you're age 50 to 59 or 64 or older, you're eligible for an additional $7,500 in catch-up contributions. For 2025, the maximum HSA contribution limit is $4,300 for self-only coverage and $8,550 for family coverage, with an additional $1,000 catch-up contribution allowed for those age 55 and older.  It doesn't hurt to have an additional amount withheld just to get you close to even based on the following formula. Take the balance due for 2024, divide it by the number of pay periods remaining in 2025 (split it for each of you or have only one of you add it to your W-4. Enter the amount on Line 4(c) of the W-4 form.   Key Point: Eliminate any underpayment penalty by using the following information if necessary.   Generally, you can avoid the penalty if your total timely estimated payments and withholdings are greater than or equal to the lesser of: 90% of the total tax after credits for the current year, or 100% of the total tax after credits in the prior year See one exception below. You can also avoid the penalty if the amount you owe is less than $1,000 as long as any estimated tax payments you made are timely.   Note: High-income taxpayers. If your adjusted gross income (line 11 of your 2023 Form 1040) is greater than $150,000 (or $75,000 if you're married and file a separate return from your spouse), you can avoid a penalty by paying at least 110% of your total tax from the prior year.

If you prepared your prior year return in TurboTax but did not file it, you can still finish it and file.  For information on how to do so see the following:   How do I finish a prior-year return that I started in TurboTax Online?    

This is a nice summary of how to manually input all of the separate 1099 info (Div, Int, Misc).  But it does not address the core issue of why TurboTax does not recognize and automatically the separate types of income into the different areas.  I uploaded 1099-MISC documents from Fidelity and M Lynch. Are you saying there is no way to have Turbotax populate the correct fields and combine these separate documents into the amount I need to report on the 1040 forms and schedules?    Then why upload them in the first place?

Correct- with a sole proprietorship (Schedule C) you and the business are the same, so you do not have to have the formal loan agreements and documentation.  Of course, you do need to keep track of the receipts and payments, which is why a separate business bank account is best.  @kguadagno1 

Tell the software you were a student in 2024 and it will disqualify you for the savers credit that you do not want to upgrade for.     Or—-Use this IRS site for other ways to file for free.  There are 8  free software versions available from the IRS Free File site   https://apps.irs.gov/app/freeFile/   Or—if you live in certain states you may be eligible to use the new IRS Direct File     In Filing Season 2025, Direct File will be available in Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.    https://directfile.irs.gov/   https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy2629    

In TurboTax Desktop you can switch to Form mode to view Form 5329.    In TurboTax Online:   Select Tax Tools on the left while in the 2023 tax return and then Print Center  Select Print, save or preview return   You could request the withdrawal of excess contribution plus earnings of part of your 2024 contribution to be able to apply the 2023 excess to 2024. This way you avoid paying the 6% penalty on your 2024 return. If you are in the phaseout range you might have to withdraw a little extra since the earnings will be taxable on your 2024 return and will increase your MAGI.   If you do this then please follow these steps on your 2024 return:   Click on “Jump to IRA contributions" Select “Roth IRA” Enter the Roth IRA contribution for 2024 left in the account (Roth IRA contribution made minus excess contribution amount withdrawn to apply the 2023 excess towards 2024) On the "Do you have any Excess Roth Contributions" answer "Yes" On the "Enter Excess Contributions" screen enter the total excess contribution from 2023 ( from line 24 of your 2023 Form 5329). On the "How Much Excess to 2024?" screen enter how much you want to apply to 2024.    

Thanks!  After doing some research, I feel that "actual expenses" might be a more defensible method as claiming the milage deduction when I do not pay for gas doesn't make much sense to me.  I can still claim certain expenses like oil changes, tires, etc. It appears that those expenses are then automatically prorated by the software by the % of miles "driven for business".   The vehicle in question is a used vehicle and "entered service" (was first listed on platform) in 2024. It seems that the most advantageous deduction in this case is the bonus depreciation in the first year. Apart from not being able to shift back to milage deduction (which is fine), are there any other concerns about taking that deduction in this case?

When you mail a tax return you should use a mailing service like certified mail so that you will know the IRS received it.   If you are not getting a refund, nothing is going to show up on the IRS refund site.    You can check on the IRS site a few weeks after mailing the return to see what they show for a transcript for your 2024 return. https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript