Information Worksheet, "Prior year tax must be entered" Is this the amount of state tax I paid last year as indicated on W-2 plus any underpayment submitted with return?

[CherylW]

Yes.  It is your tax liability (lines 38/39 from your 2017 Form 1), which should equal state tax paid through your W-2 plus underpayment.

[ssei94]

Thank you!

[hexenwahn]

I have the same question. During "Review" a window opened saying

Check this entry

Information worksheet: Prior year tax must be entered

Prior year tax

But how am I to know the context of this question? How do I know it means state vs federal.

[LenaH]

As you are going through your review, every error should show you the tax form that requires an edit. What form is coming up on your review screen? If you scroll up or down, it may give you more clues to whether it is a state or federal form. 

If you need additional assistance, please comment below with the form number and we can assist you further. 

@hexenwahn

[22sdurow]

It absolutely does not show any form, nor is there any link. How are we supposed to know what to put in here? Is it what we owed? What we paid? What the refund was? 

[Meng Wu]

I'm about to submit the tax return with TurboTax.  I've imported my tax return last year.  I also filed tax return with TurboTax last year.  I think all information can be found from my previous tax return by TurboTax itself, but it still asks me to enter that number.  "Information Worksheet, "Prior year tax must be entered"" It's in the "State Taxes form" section.  Which number should I enter from the tax return of year 2022?

Thank you, @LenaH!

[JohnW152]

Please clarify -- what state are you talking about?  What state tax form did you file last year?

@Meng Wu 

[Meng Wu]

Hi @JohnW152 

It's state of Maryland for both years of 2022 and 2023.

[MonikaK1]

If you are uncertain about which part of the return the review message is asking, regarding state taxes, you can go back to the return, follow these steps, and see if the error is then resolved:

Any state income taxes paid through withholding will be entered from your Forms W-2, 1099-R, or other information return. If you made an additional payment toward your 2022 state taxes that wasn't reported elsewhere in your return, you can report it in the Federal section of TurboTax, under Deductions and Credits, Estimated Taxes. Select State taxes for 2022, then click on "+Add another payment". Enter the amount and date of the payment. 

If you are reporting a state tax refund received in 2022 in that section of Wages and Income, TurboTax will need to know whether you deducted state taxes paid on your 2021 return. Enter payments for the state for which you received the refund. If you received refunds from more than one state, enter each one separately in TurboTax and report payments associated with that state. Use the link to Add another state or local tax refund.

Under the entry field, "Total of all your payments and withholding", a link appears, "What does this include?". The text at that link explains:

Add up any payments you made to your state or locality, along with any state or locality withholdings from the previous tax year (in this case, 2021), including:

 - Amounts withheld on your W-2, W-2G, and 1099

 - Estimated tax payments for 2021 (including any paid in 2022 for 2021 - it's common for the fourth quarterly payment to be made in January)

 - Overpayment from 2020 applied toward your 2021 return

 - Payments made with an extension of time to file

 - Refundable credits

You can find most of this information on your 2021 state tax return. Do not include balance-due payments made with (or after) filing a return. Enter the total amount of all of these combined here.

See this help article for more information on entering the form.

See this article for more information about Form 1099-G.