Difficulty amending ONLY a state return without also amending federal and other state

[Fairfax51]

I need to amend ONLY my Oregon 2021 return, as I included Social Security income while an Oregon resident on Line 19S of Form OR-40-P. After e-filing (accepted and tax paid) I learned that SS should NOT be included in Line 19S, as SS is not taxed in OR.

I have gone through the "Amend a Return" process twice now, only making that one change, and both times it is also preparing amended returns to file for Federal and my other 2 states, even though no changes are needed on those. Do I have to use the "Add a state" technique on my original TTax file in order to create only the Oregon amended return to efile? Or does one use the "Add a State" during the "Amend a Return" process?

Or just file a paper amended return for OR.

(Sorry for any multiple posts.)

[DanielV01]

It's recommended in posts such as this one to do exactly that (add a state).

[Fairfax51]

Thanks for the reply.

It would be great if a few more detailed steps could be described in those responses.

 "Add a state" option when signing in to your TurboTax account."  Does this mean "open your original TurboTax file" and add another instance of the same state that I want to amend" (cost?) or "add a state, then return to the original state file and make the change there? Or create the 2nd state file and only make the change there?

Does one end up with two instances of the same state file - the original and one with the change applied? And then is the "Amendment" option in the original file, or the 2nd file?

Sorry - just want to understand clearly before proceeding!

[TeresaM]

You should not actually need to add a state. After you file, the return is closed to keep from accidentally making changes to the copy of the return that is at the IRS. That is why we usually go in as an amend, to track any changes. 

You should be able to go in for the amendment process and just not make any changes in the federal.  Make the changes in the state and then only file the one that you need.

When someone suggested clicking on "add a state" that is a way to open the return without being in the amendment process. This is helpful for some things but if you actually need to amend the state return, you will want to be in the amendment process. 
,

[Fairfax51]

Thanks for the reply. That makes a lot of sense. But that is what I've tried twice and TTax automatically creates amended returns for the Federal and the other two states and insists on reviewing a dozen different items on those. I didn't seem to find a way to simply make the one change on the OR state return and only file that one. It wants to file all of the amended returns.

I'm thinking of just printing a copy of the amended return form on the OR website, filling it out manually and mailing it in. But will try one more time before doing that.

Moral of this - one should read the line-by-line instructions for the state's forms on their site. TurboTax does not always follow them exactly. In this case, TTax doesn't eliminate Social Security income from the OR state return, when Oregon's instructions clearly show to NOT include SS on the relevant line.

[Fairfax51]

After multiple, various attempts to coax TTAX to amend and e-file ONLY my Oregon return (without re-filing amended Federal and two other state returns), I gave up and just printed the amended OR return and paper filed it.

This seems to be an opportunity for improvement in TurboTax!

F51