@DawnC, back to your edited advice to search for "other reportable income"... I did that and the link took me to "Other Wages Received" with several examples listed:
"Wages earned as a household employee" could actually apply here since that's how the State of CA characterizes an IHSS Provider. However there is a Note on that page that if you earned $2600 or more from an employer then you must have the employer issue a W-2 (which the State of CA already did, via their IHSS reporting system - but that W-2 doesn't play well with TurboTax).
"Certain nontaxable Medicaid waiver payments not reported on Form W-2 or 1099" looks like an exact fit for the payments my wife received, and the Help on that page even mentions filling this out here to potentially take advantage of Earned Income Credit.
I went ahead and deleted the "ALL 0.00" W-2 that she received for IHSS Provider services and then added her actual payments into this Step-by-Step form. TurboTax added the dollar amount to a "Wages, Salaries, & Tips Worksheet". Our State of CA tax liability is basically the same as it was when I had the "ALL 0.00" W-2 entered into TurboTax.
Question: In the "Certain nontaxable Medicaid waiver payments not reported on Form W-2 or 1099" Step-by-Step form, I assume I should only record actual money received, i.e. Net Pay, correct? (Oddly enough, the State of CA actually withheld Social Security and Medicare taxes on these payments, and then refunded them in 2024...)
