State tax filing

      Unfortunately,  this reply did not address my concern.  As requested, I then sent a 2nd post that provided the specific entries involved but have not received any further response.  I am still puzzled at why Turbo Tax  calculated a zero amount (on Montana Subtractions Schedule, Line 3 Column A) for a partial interest exemption of a Montana taxpayer over 65, who clearly qualifies for this reduction to Montana taxes.  After my review, I believe that there is a Turbo Tax programing error involved, that in certain circumstances, can result in Montana tax filers having to pay more taxes then is correct by law.    I respectfully ask that a Turbo Tax programmer take a look at this item and either explain why Turbo Tax calculation is correct , or if not, initiate a program fix.

I would like to describe my review actions that caused me to finally question the Turbo Tax programming on this item:

1)  I reviewed the 2022 Montana Form 2 Instructions for Line 3 - Partial Interest Exemption for Taxpayers 65 and Older.  I also, double checked all of my Turbo Tax entries involved and am confident that no user error had been made and that I am compliant with the requirements of these instructions.

2)     I studied the 'Data Source' pop ups for the Line 3 Column A amount of $0.00 in question and, compared it to the Line 3 Column B amount that has a correct calculation.   Please see the attachment at end of message for Line 3 Column A Turbo Tax data source.pop up.   I expected Column A to be $467 ( $2066 total Federal Taxable Interest minus $1599 Taxpayer's split of US bond interest jointly owned by Taxpayer & Spouse.)  Instead, the taxpayer received zero of the $467 valid interest that qualifies under $800 maximum.  It seems very strange to me that $1599 for spouse (Column B) US obligations should even appear on this data source for Taxpayer (Column A).   In my situation, both Taxpayer and Spouse are Filing with Status 2a - 'Married filing separately on same form' and all US interest is from jointly held assets.   Could these circumstances be causing Turbo Tax to be subtracting the full cost of jointly held US interest ($1599 + $1599) from the total federal reported taxable interest of taxpayer, to come up with erroneous zero exemption for this taxpayer (Line 3 Column A) ?

3)    I did attempt to override the value in question by going directly into the Forms view.  However, this is a protected field- understandable since it is internally calculated by Turbo Tax.  Therefore, if there is a programming error in Turbo Tax, the user is unable to override it to complete a return.  I would think this should be covered by Turbo Tax's  commitment to an 'Accuracy Guarantee'.

_________________________________________________________________________________________  

 Copy of Data Source Pop Up Screen for Montana Subtraction Schedule, Line 3, Column A :

 Subs Schedule : Elderly int exempt col A

If age 65 or over,

Form 2 Line 2b Col A Interest 2,066.
PLUS

Adds Schedule Oth state muni bonds
less the taxpayer earned portion of interest on U.S. obligations (already excluded) on the Subtractions Schedule line 2:

Subs Schedule US obligations col A 1,599.
Subs Schedule US obligations col B 1,599.
but not to exceed $800 if filing status 1, 2b, 2c, 3, 4 or not to exceed $1,600 if filing status 2a.

The exclusion can not exceed the amount of interest income reported in your gross income. Interest income includes distributions commonly called dividends on deposits or share accounts

See the Montana Form 2 Instructions for additional information.

__________________________________________________________________________________________