Working on your own taxes can be frustrating no matter what software program you’re using.
First, full disclosure: I love Turbo Tax. I used to tell people that I’d do TV commercials for it. I even seriously considered going to work for the company. I have worked for one of their competitors – and I still like Turbo Tax better. So when I title this blog post as “Problems With Turbo Tax”, you’re not going to find an exposé of all things bad with the company. This is just a heads up for people using the number one tax software in America.
Problem number 1: “The program won’t let me…” This is the one I hear most often, “The program won’t let me change the number, it won’t let me delete my neighbor’s child.” Turbo Tax is great when you’re in the act of preparing your taxes, but it’s not as easy to go back in and make a change if you’ve done something wrong and need to correct it. For example: one of the things I do is review tax returns that people have prepared for themselves before they send them to the IRS. (I charge a fee for that but it’s much cheaper than paying me to do your taxes for you.) One year, I reviewed a woman’s return and she had put a $4,000 tax credit on her return. That was wrong; the $4,000 belonged someplace else. I explained the problem and where the $4,000 needed to go. Granted, she wasn’t going to get that big refund she was expecting, but her return would have been right. Anyway, a few months later she was in my office again. She had received a notice from the IRS stating that she wasn’t allowed to claim that $4,000 tax credit I had warned her about. I asked her, “Why didn’t you change it like I told you to?” “Because Turbo Tax wouldn’t let me,” she said.
Dealing with that problem: First, you need to know that “Turbo Tax wouldn’t let me,” is not an acceptable excuse in Tax Court. Second, one thing that Turbo Tax does well is that they have real people who can answer your questions. You call the phone number and you get to talk to an Enrolled Agent who understands tax issues and the Turbo Tax software. You can tell her you’ve got a number on line 53 but it really belongs on line 29 but you can’t figure out how to make it work and she’ll guide you through it. You might pay a little more for Turbo Tax to get that service, but it’s there when you need it so don’t be afraid to use it.
Problem 2: Choosing the right product. Turbo Tax has 5 versions of its product, plus its online applications. In the store you can buy:
- Basic – for simple tax returns with no itemized deductions
- Deluxe – for regular 1040 returns with home mortgage interest and charitable deductions
- Premier – which includes everything in Deluxe but also handles investment income and rental property
- Home & Business – which is for sole proprietors
- Business – for persons filing corporations, partnerships and LLCs
I cannot stress this enough, if you need the more expensive package, don’t be cheap – buy it. I’m always amazed when people call me for help because they want to depreciate their income property by hand because Turbo Tax won’t do it for them. Yes it does, if you buy the Premier edition. Of course I will gladly prepare a depreciation schedule for your property (for a fee), but if you don’t use the correct software when preparing your tax return, there could be other problems that you won’t realize like passive income limitations (sounds like I’m speaking Geek doesn’t it? I am.) The right software will keep you out of trouble. And there’s no excuse for buying the wrong one: go to their web site and do their quiz to determine which package is right for you.
Problem 3: Not updating the program before you e-file. This isn’t a Turbo Tax problem so much as it is a user error. You have to install the updates before you file your tax return or it could easily be wrong. Let’s be realistic about this. Turbo Tax tries to get its product to the shelves by December for customers to buy it. This is a pretty good business plan. The problem is; there’s always some last minute change to the tax code. Last year, Congress changed the tax rules on December 17th. They messed things up so badly that the IRS computers weren’t able to accept certain returns on the normal date. Intuit (the Turbo Tax Company) has to get its product out to the stores in time. The only way for them to get the product to the store shelves and have it work correctly is to have people install the updates to the software before they file their returns. If you didn’t install the update, your return could easily have been wrong. Installing updates is a normal part of doing taxes – I update my professional software almost every day. If you don’t have internet access and cannot install the updates, the box might not be your best option.
Now I wrote about these Turbo Tax issues because these are all problems that I have helped people with because they had filed taxes and there was a problem. If you file a bad return and the IRS sends you a letter, I charge a lot to fix it. All of these problems I mention are preventable. You will save yourself lots of money by buying the right program, updating before you file, and making use of the Turbo Tax 1-800 number provided in your box.
Final disclaimer—if you haven’t already purchased your tax software, let me recommend clicking on the “Do Your Own Taxes” page at the top and take a walk through my 1040.com program. It doesn’t have the famous name recognition, but it is a good, solid program. If it wasn’t, it wouldn’t be on my website.
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Hi Romeo,
I’m sorry that happened to you. I hope that you contacted Turbo Tax about the problem also. If they know about a calculation glitch they will try to fix it. That might not help you, but it would certainly help other people in your situation.
I have been using Turbo Tax deluxe for 10 years no problem. Until we both husband and wife retired in 2011. Our Tax 2012 was audited by IRS. Turbo tax miscalculate our income.
I reload and install freshTurbo for 2012. Did the same thing. So, I consult a CPA told me Turbo tax did bad error calculating our income. These are SSS and private Pension.
Now I owe 3000 dollars the IRS plus interest. Next year I wont be using Turbo Tax anymore I will get accountant to do my Tax.
Hi Brume John,
You should still be able to file your state return using Turbo Tax. If you want a list of states to file, I’d contact Turbo Tax.
Dear
Please can i file state returns using turbo tax.
Which states are currently paying returns for 2013 without filling extension first.
I shall wait to know the list of states that one can still fill returns through turbo fill
Thanks
Brume John
Hi Ric,
Wow. I just took an IRS webinar last week and one of the topics we discussed was how the IRS counts the depreciation that was taken or allowed, so that if you don’t take the depreciation on a property you can get really messed up. You’re living proof.
You’ve got 13 years of depreciation you didn’t take. Yowza!
I can’t save you on all of it, but we can work on some of it at least.
First, get yourself a competent EA. https://member.naea.org/naeassa/rflssareferral.query_page?p_vendor_ty=EA
You don’t want to do this alone.
The property was 13 years old. You’ve claimed some depreciation, but not all, you’re going to need to go back the whole 13 years and straighten out whatever you can.
You won’t get refunds on anything from 2010 and before, but you can still amend 2011, 12 and 13. (Actually, if you happened to have filed an extension in 2010, you can still amend 2010 before October 15th as well, a little technicality.)
You’ll need to figure out what you really should have depreciated the property for. TT says $55,000. Doing a little math, I’m guessing that the property cost about $116,000? Somewhere in that ballpark?
Is it a condo? Or is there land involved? If it’s a condo- well it is what it is, but if it’s a single family unit on a tract of land–you can’t depreciate land, so you need to make sure that’s taken out of the equation.
Job one is to see if you can reduce the depreciation that the IRS can hold against you (like land cost.)
Job two is to go back and claim the depreciation (or expense) anything you can for the tax years that are still open.
I cannot stress enough how important it is for you to get some professional help with this.
You’re going to have to recapture that depreciation and it’s going to hurt. The best you’re going to do is offset some of that recapture by getting money back on the returns you can still amend. Sorry.
Hi Susie,
Sometimes, trying to fix a problem that you know is wrong–but don’t know where it went wrong is the most frustrating thing in the world. So forgive me because I can’t see your computer, and I can’t see your forms, I’m kind of grasping at straws here. But, let me make a guess.
If you print out your NY tax return, the form IT-203, the second page will have numbers in the column on the right hand side. For you, all those numbers should be zero. Here’s the form I’m talking about: http://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/current_forms/it/it203_fill_in.pdf
If you do not have that form in your tax packet–that’s a problem. If you have that form in your packet but there’s numbers in the right hand column, that’s a different problem.
Possible fixes:
Don’t have the non-resident form at all:
go to the very beginning screens in TT and make sure you have FLORIDA listed as your resident state.
You have the correct NY form, but there are numbers in the right hand column–this is what I’m guessing you’ve got–
Because your company listed your income as being NY wages, and withheld as New York wages, TT is computing the income as NY wages. (That’s what it’s supposed to do.)
Even though you put that you only worked in New York zero days, it’s not doing the math to reduce the income. You need to go into the New York return and manually input a zero in the line 1 federal adjustment. That should fix the problem.
(Note: I think you can use a zero. Some software that I’ve worked with hates zeros and doesn’t count them. If TT gives you that problem, plug in a 1 and it should generate the result you want.)
Good luck.
…I also have a form 4562 that shows three items with a total depreciation basis of $24,995 and a total prior and current depreciation of $2,063. I sold the rental house last year. Why am I not allowed the remaininig depreciation of $22,932?
Depreciation on my rental didn’t get calculated for some of the past 13 years. The amount that is there is incorrect. Also, the depreciation for many of the items that were upgraded, carpet, stove, refridgerator, new roof, central heat & AC, didn’t get calculated.
I sold the rental last year. Turbo Tax didn’t calculate the residual depreciation or the finance fees from the original finance or the three refinances.
I’m being hit with a tremendous tax bill because, depreciation, which I didn’t previously get to deduct, is being “recaptured.” Turbo Tax says I had about $55,000 in depreciation on the house alone, while only $8,700 was actually taken.
How can I correct this?
I work remotely from a home office and filed a non-resident state return, since my NY-based company (incorrectly) deducted NY state taxes and I live elsewhere. I’ve never even visited my company’s NY office. I should be getting 100% of that money back. However, TT (version for home and business) is only refunding me 10%, although I entered “0” on the line asking how many days I worked in NY, and clearly indicated I am a resident of FL. I spoke with someone at TT already for over an hour who was no help at all. I tried deleting the return and re-starting it, got the same result. I would be eternally grateful for your help – because of TT I am losing 4k that is owed to me!
Hi Bob,
I’ve never heard of Turbo Tax not working because of no federal withholding. I’m guessing the problem here is user error, not the W2.
But, when I’m faced with a return not working because there’s no number, I plug a 1 in. But I really don’t think that’s her problem. I mean, plenty of people have no federal withholding and still have to file taxes.
I think she needs to call the Turbo Tax hotline and have them walk her through the process.
Hi Nabeel,
We were just talking about that same problem. Here’s some thoughts:
1. make sure you’re set up for a “part-year” resident return.
2. you should not have a “credit for taxes paid to another state” form That’s for living in one state and working in another. You want to only be paying tax on the money you earned in Maryland.
If those don’t do the trick, read through the entire return, line by line. If the numbers are on the correct lines, and the equations and listed properly, then it’s probably right. But make sure you read it carefully. I’ve found software mistakes before, although I haven’t heard of any problems with this issue in Turbo Tax this year.
Jan;
I don’t use Turbo Tax but I have a new elderly client who has had a domestic worker helping her in her home for years. I informed my client that the persons compensation needed to be on a W-2 which we sent in.
The domestic person has been trying to file Turbo Tax and she says she can’t file because the W-2 doesn’t have any Federal or State withholding how does she get around that? Thank you for your help.
Hi,
I think I found an issue with turbotax, I worked in Jersey till may 15, 2013 and moved to MD for a new job offer in may 29, 2013. When I put in all my data I ended up owing MD like $600 !!! I pay MD taxes but my question is how would i know that this program calculated my taxes (for MD) starting from May 29, 2013 and not from Jan 1, 2013? Is there any other way to get more accurate results?
Thanks
Hello and thank you for your time. I have already filed my tax return with turbotax and received my refund. Everything went smoothly. Just 2 days ago, my employer notified me that the wrong FEIN was used on the W-2. What do I need to do? The company I work for was taken over by another company in 2013. I received two W-2 forms- one was for 51 weeks from my “previous” company. The other W-2 was for the last week of 2013 from the “new” company. It was the latter one that had the wrong FEIN. Yes, I know, why didn’t they just finish out the year?? Anyway, I committed no mistake , and the end result will be no different-my earnings and refund are unchanged. Just wondering if I need to do anything since I have already received my refund. -Thanks
Hi Michael,
I’m sorry, I have no idea. You really need to call the Turbo Tax people, you paid for that program, that’s their job to help you.
Anybody else out there have the program freeze up like that?
For what it’s worth–this week is like the busiest tax week in the year. I’ve already gotten notices not to even try to call the IRS because they are so overwhelmed–might just be that the Turbo Tax e-file systems were overloaded for awhile. Just a thought.
I have finished all the required steps and everything seems ok but when I go to submit my refund it says, “Transmitting Refund” and it basicly locks up EVERY TIME. Never had this problem before. My father did his taxes before I and his was sent with no issues of the program locking up. CAN ANYONE tell me whats wrong?
Hi Don,
I understand this one. First, here’s a link to the IRS form 1040 so you can look and see what they’re talking about: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040.pdf
Line 22 is your total income. So whatever you’re reporting wasn’t taxable (like Social Security.) But if you want to efile your return–for whatever reason, you’re going to want to put some income on there. The trick that I use is putting $1 on line 21 for other income. It won’t be taxable, but it allows you to efile.
Why file if you don’t have to? Many reasons–one is to prevent identity theft. Another is to prevent someone from claiming your or your child illegally. And another good reason for filing even if you had no taxable income is to claim state tax benefits. For example, here is Missouri we have a property tax credit for seniors that can be pretty sweet.
It’s so much easier to e-file than to paper file those returns, and the $1 of income does no harm to your taxes, it just allows the program to process it.
Turbo Tax problem..Trying to file a j/t married state and fed tax via e-file. Will not allow me as Fed tax form shows a zero on lines, 22, 37, 44,54,60 & 72. They should show a zero … How do I find these lines in the program and the what next?
Hi Teresa,
I really do understand how it can take 7 years to resolve a tax issue. This is one of those things I have some experience with.
Now, step back. Breathe. Let’s look at this from another angle. First, nobody at the North Carolina department of revenue changed your numbers. I think. Because you said you e-filed. When you e-file, that doesn’t happen.
That said, I did see something like that happen to a person’s return that was mailed in. It was an honest mistake, and it got fixed, but not until the man received a nasty letter about owing money etc. When a return is mailed in, someone at the department of revenue–usually a temp, has to type those numbers into the computer system. Mistakes can, and do, happen.
But I’m guessing that’s probably not what happened to you because you mentioned e-file.
But once again, let’s step back. I’m guessing that you lived and worked in North Carolina and all of your income was taxable to North Carolina, correct?
So, then the question is–did you get a refund or pay money in? I’m guessing that you got a refund because if you owed–well they would have sent you little nasty-grams much sooner than 2009.
So, looking at this from an outsider’s viewpoint, there are a couple of things that could have happened:
1. Some of your income belonged to another state and the missing equation is the other state tax form–I’m guessing that’s not the case, otherwise your problem would have been solved already.
2. You had two sources of income (maybe 2 W2s or maybe a W2 and a pension (or some other combination) and one of the income sources didn’t flow through to the North Carolina return.
Number 2 is more plausible–it could be a software error, could be user error. If you filed early in the season–it easily could have been a software error. If you filed late in the season, more likely user error. It’s hard to tell from the outside looking in. (Software errors get fixed as the tax season progresses.)
But let’s assume that it was a Turbo Tax error–what happens if Turbo Tax’s software is wrong and there’s a mistake in the taxes because the software didn’t pull a W2 forward or something like that?
The law still says that you are responsible for paying the tax. Now, Turbo Tax may pay for the fines and penalties if their software is at fault–but that’s as much as you’re going to get out of them. At the end of the day–the taxes are still your responsibility.
Now H&R Block has a thing called a “Peace of Mind” guarantee that people buy and Block will pay the additional tax for a mistake like that. But I don’t think Turbo Tax does that. Even if they do, there would be a statute of limitations on their warranty. Also, if you had that, you’d have the signed written contract and you would have already handed that back to them.
Here’s another issue–it has taken 7 years to resolve the issue. North Carolina is probably getting a little testy about that. Usually, with a tax warranty–they’ll pay the fines and penalties if you report the issue to the company within 30 days of getting a notice. I’m guessing you did that, but I’m also thinking you still haven’t paid those taxes. Turbo Tax would only be liable for the penalties and interest originally imposed–not for the 7 years of penalties and interest.
Now, if you have never had another tax problem with North Carolina, — every year you pay on time, you file on time, etc. You may be able to persuade them to abate the penalties on this one issue. You still will have to pay the tax, but you may abate the penalties. (I don’t know any state that will abate the interest.) It’s at least worth asking about, the worst they can do is say no.
So my recommendation is to pay the tax and be done with it. I know, not what you want to hear, but at the end of the day, you pay what you owe.
But, before you do, if you haven’t done this already–take your paperwork to a professional and just have her eyeball it. It will probably cost you about $50 to check it out, but at least you’ll understand what happened. My best guess is that you still owe the money, but what if you don’t? Wouldn’t you want to know for sure?
we’ve had an issue wtih turbo tax. we filed out taxes for the year 2006, and were notified in 2009 that our taxable income that was reported by the federal government was incorrect. When I went to my paper printout of our federal and states taxes, the amount was the same at 89,500.00, however NC state showed a taxable income of 33,500.00. Thru all of my research and endless hours of phone calls, I am told it is an issue with Turbo tax software, but turbo tax is unable to produce any information on this being that it is now 2013 (it’s a LONG story on why its taken 7 years to resolve this issue, at no fault of mine, but the fault of the state of NC). Could this have been an efile/software issue, or did someone at NC state department alter our numbers.
Hi Nick,
For what it’s worth–although I think you’ve already figured this out, the free Turbo Tax doesn’t cover self employment. And–since you’ve got a 1099MISC, that’s self employment.
You will have to link the 1099 to a Schedule C–that’s what the IRS expects. You’ll also need a Schedule SE to compute your self employment tax. The software does it–you’re just stuck paying the fee.
For what it’s worth, your tax return would cost $60 if you went through my web site ($39.95 for the federal and $19.95 for the state.)
So I have to buy turbo tax to get help on correcting a problem that is caused by their program that’s nice to know! I go to type in my nonemployee compensation in box 7 because I have a 1099 MISC and it says its entered in wrong I didn’t even try to do deductions because I just want to get it over with and Im not concerned about pinching penneys I just want this damn thing over with, I hit file and it say I have to link it to schedule C but if I go back and look where I typed in my earnings in box 7 it doesn’t save the number I type in?Turbo Tax is a joke and unless you give them 20 bucks they don’t even try to help, sounds like any other FREE program to me.
Hi Jaime,
So your software keeps asking you to complete Missouri NRI. I’ve had that problem before. (Drives you nuts doesn’t it?)
Anyway, my best guess is that on the very first input screen, where you’re supposed to put your resident state down, you didn’t fill in Missouri. Or perhaps you accidentally hit another state.
If that’s not it, then what I usually do is go through all of the input screens and double check to make sure all the income is attributed to Missouri.
Good luck.
Hi Matt,
Wow! I have had problems with depreciation and had to make changes. It’s a royal pain in the behind–and–I use professional software.
You’re probably better off with using the change of accounting method form–and you’re probably going to want to get the Premier edition.
As a loyal Turbo Tax user, it seems to me that they’d allow you access to one of their EAs to help you through the problem. I realize that it’s sometimes difficult to get through to them but it’s worth a try.
That said, this is one time where you may want to hire professional help.
Hi Cassandra,
A couple of things to know:
1. When you efile your tax return, the IRS doesn’t key it in again, it goes straight to the computers the way you efiled it.
2. If your return is being rejected because someone else claimed your daughter, you need to mail your tax return in.
3. This tax season, the IRS had more identity theft issues than ever in the history of the IRS.
4. If you’re afraid that your taxes are too complicated–you should have a professional look at them before you submit them. But don’t let difficult taxes keep you from filing. If someone has claimed your daughter, you’ll want to put a stop to it. You can’t do that until you file.
Why Is Turbo Tax asking me to complete Form MO-NRI, when myself and my spose were and have been residents of Missouri forever? I have checked and re-checked all entries and there appears to be no reason for this error. We are filing married/seperatly.
Thanks
Hi Jan,
Thanks for this great blog. I have been a TurboTax Premier user for several years, alternately loving and hating the product. This year has been particularly vexing, however. Bottom line: my wife has had some rental properties in France for a number of years, and we’ve been using TT to report the income and expenses on Schedule E and take a foreign tax credit (for French income tax paid on the rental income) on Form 1116. Naturally, one of the deductions we’ve taken has been depreciation, and we’ve let TT calculate that for us.
Well, this year TT tells me that “due to a TurboTax error your foreign rental property depreciation placed into service before 2010 has been calculated according to an inappropriate method” and that my recourse is to either go back and amend all prior returns (for many years!) or file a Form 3115 to request a change in accounting method, because apparently IRS requires foreign rental properties to be depreciated via a different method and over a different period than domestic properties. Apparently Intuit didn’t know this in the past and they’re just catching up to it now.
Unfortunately, other than alerting me to their error, the program provides no other guidance as to how to proceed with this, and there is nothing on their website about it at all. Form 3115 is only included in the Business edition of TT, so it looks like I must either complete this (complex) form by hand or buy a whole separate edition just for this one form, and then paper file because I’ll need to include this form that won’t be part of my efile package. Additionally, beyond just including the 3115, it appears there is no automated guidance for correcting the depreciation in the current year (i.e., for 2012), and one forum entry I read indicates the only way to do it is to delete the properties and re-enter them as new foreign properties, reporting the depreciation already claimed in past years. Otherwise, TT will just go on using the same incorrect depreciation method.
All of these feels rather cumbersome, especially given that it’s an acknowledged TurboTax error from past years. I do feel like they ought to provide Form 3115 to Premier users via an update, just this once at least, since it was their mistake that leads to the requirement for filing it, and they ought to provide a better way of correcting the data in the current year.
Do you have any advice about any better way to proceed? Have you run into this situation with other TT users or clients?
–Matt
Hi Brian,
So, is your income over $87,850 if you’re single or $139,250 if you’re married? That would be a reason the interest would be taxable.
Another problem might be if your dependent had scholarships that paid all of the tuition–then you wouldn’t be using the interest for tuition.
Those are two possibilities.
Hi Russell,
I’m guessing that you’ll be fine with the basic edition. Unless you have other issues that require the deluxe, but I’m thinking that basic will be fine for you next year.
I have used TT for years and it seems the last couple years the IRS has had issues with my children’s social security numbers. Last year they told me I could not claim my Son because his SS# was incorrect. It was not and I concluded that the IRS just keyed it in wrong at their end as they did finally give me the credit and sent me a letter with the correction.
This year my efile keeps getting rejected because of my Daughter’s SS#. My ex-husband said he did not claim her and will give me a copy of his return for proof if needed.
I am afraid that one of two things might be happening. Either there is just a glitch in the system or someone else claimed my daughter outside of our family. I have a fairly complicated return this year and now I am leery of sending the TT returns for fear there might be other errors that is beyond my understanding. Any advice on this?
In 2012 I cashed in EE series savings bonds issued in my name. They were used to pay for my daughters tuition. The bonds were issued after 1989. I answered two questions in Turbo Tax (e.g., issued in my name and after 1989). TT determined the interest is not exludable income. This puzzles me since all of my research has indicated that these savings bonds if cashed and used for higher education, the the interest IS non-taxable. Can you shed any light on this matter?
I have been using the deluxe edition for years because I own my home and want to itemize deductions. Since i’ve paid off my home my deductions will be less next year and won’t exceed the standard deduction. Can I use the basic edition and still receive to most back from the government as possible?
Thanks
Hi Aaron,
I should teach a class in this. I’ve been showing this to several people this week. So here goes:
First home office: you will list your mortgage interest and real estate taxes under the “indirect expsenses” column. You will click the box to carry the remainder to your schedule A.
Second home office: This one you will do by hand. You’ll figre the percentage of interest and taxes and put them in the direct expenses column. Then you’ll subtract those figures from your schedule A.
For example: let’s say your second home office is 5% of your home. Your mortgage interest is $10,000 and your real estate taxes are $4,000. So–your mortgage interest deducted from you second home office will be $500 (10,000 x .05)
The real estate taxes you deduct on your second home office will be $200 (4,000 x .05)
On your schedule A, you will put -500 in the mortgage interest box and -200 in the real estate tax box. This will offset the interest and taxes you claim on the second home office.
Now for the rental part of your home: let’s say that’s 10% of your home. Just like with the second home office, you will put those figures in the direct expense section on the schedule E, and subtract them from the schedule A.
So, you’ll have $1000 interest deduction on Schedule E and $400 real estate tax. (10% of 10000 and 10% of 4000)
You’ll subtract those figures from your schedule A. So your total subtractions on the schedule A will be $1,500 for the mortgage interest and $600 for the real estate taxes. Those will be negative numbers.
When everything is all totaled up, the mortgage interest all added together will equal what’s on your 1098 mortgage interest statement.
Your utilities though, can all be on the indirect expenses because they aren’t carried anywhere else.
Same goes for the depreciation. It’s all the same house, but you’re depreciating different parts of it.
Hi Patrick,
You mean how long before you can get a transcript form the IRS? I honestly don’t know. I’d give them a few months. Can’t you get a print out from Turbo Tax?
If you need a transcript for loan purposes, I’m pretty sure the IRS can provide proof of you filing pretty quickly. You’ll have to contact them though. (800) 829-1040.
I rent a room in my primary residence and also have a home offce for myself and one for my wife (no isolated expenses for these offices). I am very confused how to handle expenses and depreciation. It appears that I need to duplicate the same expenses and assets in three locations. Is that correct?? Also, I do not recall TurboTax asking me what percentage of the home is a rental, thus will I need to manually reduce the expenses before entry? Thank you for any insight you can provide for this unusual circumstance of mine.
Do you happen to know how long after you efile with TT is a transcript available?
Thanks!
Hey Joe,
I think your problem may have more to do with New Jersey than with Turbo Tax. One thing though–make sure it really is from New Jersey. It seems a little funky for them to ask for your social security card. Make sure it’s not a fraud scheme first. And never give over your social security card. If New Jersey really wants it, give them a photo copy.
Hi Pat,
Getting the city tax return to print and do the right thing can be a thorn in any tax program.
Here’s a couple of thoughts, but you might need one of the Turbo Tax experts to work you through their program.
1. Make sure you “force” the city return. That will at least make it show up with your print outs.
2. The places where you know a city tax should be charged–you might need to “fudge” with the W2. For example. I just worked on a City of St. Louis tax return. The taxpayer lives in St. Louis and 2 of her jobs had St Louis withholding, but one of her jobs didn’t. She owes that tax but I couldn’t get that job to show up on her city return. To make it work I had to go back and manually enter city wages for her–even though they are not on the W2. That brought the income over to the city return so her tax could be computed.
3. On the disability pay–that’s kind of funky. Make sure that you’ve got T or S for taxpayer or spouse. Make sure you’ve marked her correctly. Just like my little problem with the St. Louis return, you might have to force city wages here also.
Good luck. Once again, you might be better off with the Turbo Tax helpers on this one. For what it’s worth, it’s not just you. It can be a little tricky getting the city returns to do what you want.
Hey Happy,
You make a really good case for printing out your return when you do it so that you’ve got a copy. You can get a free copy of your tax transcript from the IRS. Here’s a link for more information on that: http://robergtaxsolutions.com/2011/05/reconstructing-tax-records-getting-your-ducks-in-a-row/
Hi Catherine,
You can e-file the federal now, but you might not be able to e-file the state separately. But that’s okay. Get your federal done. Do the FAFSA, deal with the state later. Just don’t forget to file a state return, that’s one of the most common problems people have–forgetting to file the state,
Hey Jose,
You’re showing $95,000 more in taxes paid than you actually paid. Ouch! The quick and dirty answer is to manually put a -95000 on the state income tax line in the schedule A to fix it. But–that’s not the best answer.
Here’s the problem–somehow–Turbo Tax picked up 95,000 worth of taxes. That means there’s an input error somewhere. So that’s not the only place where you’ve got a mistake. You need to go back and check your W2 and 1099 entries. Anything that would have state tax in there. Look at your state tax return–you’ll probably see that 95,000 there also. Or if it’s real estate tax, look at your home office deduction.
Most likely, you were typing in a number and you typed in the cents as well. Instead of typing 955.85 the computer didn’t accept the decimal point.
Fix that, and you’ll solve the problem.
I filed using Turbo Tax. I have for the last 10 years with no issues. This year I filed Federal and NJ taxes electronically. Both were excepted. I got the Federal refund in
10 days. I got a letter today from New Jersey asking for final pay stub, w2 and ss card. Never had To do that before. What gives?
Turbo tax sucks ! I went in to print out my previous years tax returns and they said they wont give it to me if I did not purchase this years package with them.
I never knew of this proposition last year, when I paid the money. This is sheer harassment. I wish their servers crash and those guys boil in hell for not giving me my previous years papers !!
I am using TT2012 to complete my daughter & son-inlaws taxes which I have done for several year. We purchased the deluxe edition. My daughter works in a city that has in income tax but they live elsewhere and son-in-law works elsewhere. I told TT we wanted the city return. His income is excluded on the non-resident return because I entered his work location . I have entered my daughters work location with the address inside the city. TT is stating that she doesn’t own tax. She does owe tax on 100% of her income which also happens to be about 75% of their total combined income. Is there a glitch with this city return on TT? She also had disability pay reported on a W2 which was entered — the city return is reporting it as her husbands and excluding it — when I go back and review, the W2 info is entered under her name with her ss #. Lastly– is there a way to tell it I no longer want this city tax return and just do it on paper for them. I can’t seem to delete it. When final review is done it is bringing up city forms asking for dates of employment for “him” on her disability pay W2 — wrong person again.
Hi Mark Z,
I’m sorry I don’t know how to fix that one. Anybody out there have a solution?
Of course I can plug the software on my website but that doesn’t really help since you already paid TT. Sorry.
Can I e-file my federal return now and e-file the state return later? I need to get the federal return done, like, yesterday for college financial aid applications, but I still have questions re: my state return, for which I’m going to have to seek some professional advice. I’d like to go ahead and file the federal return tonight and finish the Massachusetts return next week.
I need to input the correct amount on Taxes You Paid, line 5 a, Schedule A Itemized Deduction. The figure that shows is $95,585 above of what should be. TurboTax Premier 2012, does not permit to make the change. How can I correct this problem and input the correct amount?
The customer support is a joke! You wait for an hour to chat and then after you ask the question they end the session. Here’s my problem: I completed my Federal return and then tried to start CA. It looks for updates, saves your information, and then returns to the same screen! You can never get enter the state forms.
Hi Ronnie,
your state tax withholding is deductible on schedule A. As your state taxes that you report change, it can affect your federal refund.
Hi Reggie,
There is no minimum tax for business. If your income is over $150,000 then you might get hit with a passive loss limitation, but that wouldn’t affect your business.
Here’s a way to run a test–plug an extra $50,000 on line 21 of your tax return. That should change things. Then make your changes and see if that does anything.
Make sure you take that extra $50,000 off before you submit. You may get stuck with the same final number, but at least it will tell you the program is working.