I'm trying to file an amended tax return with CA to get back incorrectly withheld taxes after I moved out of the state.
It's completely unclear to me how to fill out the California Schedule X ("California Explanation of
Amended Return Changes") form, the FTB instructions online do not help and when I called the FTB customer service they told me they do not provide any assistance with filing and referred me to third party tax preparers. Other than needing clarification on this, my taxes are extremely straightforward: one employer, single, standard deduction, no special circumstances, other income, events, etc.
The basic situation is that I was a resident of CA, then I moved out of CA permanently in August of 2020. My employer incorrectly withheld taxes for the rest of the year.
I have finally received a corrected W2 (W2C) which fixed the reporting of my income, however it doesn't seem like turbotax is handling the Schedule X form properly. The language is ambiguous, and I can't any resources online that help despite extensive searches.
So my question is, if I am attempting to get back incorrectly withheld taxes for part of the year, how should I fill out the Schedule X?
Line 1 is "Enter the amount you owe, as shown on the amended tax return", which is $0 according to the 540-NR amended return on line 121 ("AMOUNT YOU OWE"), after entering the W2C data.
Line 2 is "Overpaid tax, if any, as shown on original tax return or as previously adjusted
by the FTB.". This seems straightforward, I have an overpaid tax amount in my original return and that was refunded to me in my original return.
Line 5 is where things get confusing. "Tax paid with original tax return plus additional tax paid after it was filed.". I did not pay anything when I filed my original return. Do I enter $0? Do I enter my entire withholdings for the year? Do I enter the difference between my original withholdings and the corrected state tax withholdings?
The rest of the lines seem to be derived from adding and combining these lines.
Some made up numbers for example:
Overpaid tax on original return: $1,500 (which was received as a refund in 2020)
Total CA withholdings in 2020 on original return: $20,000
Total CA withholdings after entering W2C on amended return: $11,000
New refund amount on amended return: $800
In this scenario my expectation is that since I had $20,000 withheld to CA in 2020, but was supposed to withhold only $11,000, I should get back about $9,000 minus the original refund of $1,500, so about $7,500 refunded.
I just don't see how to fill out the Schedule X to indicate this example.
