Hi, thank you for elevating the issue for review.
Yes, I understand how I am supposed to enter into Turbotax the information about the non-taxable interest on U.S. bonds that was reported on a 1099-DIV. I already followed the steps you describe. The point of my post was not that I did not understand everything you explain, nor that I had not already followed the steps. The only point of my post was that once one follows the steps in Turbotax to report the non-taxable interest, Turbotax incorrectly enters this adjustment on the wrong line of the California form 540-CA. It seems like Turbotax should get this right.
In addition, since the correct way to do this is plainly explained in the California instruction booklet for form 540, it comes across like whoever coded Turbotax's software for California did not read the California instructions, but rather just looked at the form an made an (incorrect) assumption. This is not confidence inspiring. I happen to have already been very familiar with the proper way to make this particular adjustment on a California return. But how do I know what other areas Turbotax is getting wrong, where I'm less familiar with the tax rules, that might have actual consequences for one's taxes? The whole point of Turbotax is to make these things easy, but if you can't trust it, then what's the point.
I can also see that the state taxes section of these forums are riddled with complaints about Turbotax making errors. It's not impressive. Turbotax has one job, to get these things right. It shouldn't be that hard, to just read the instructions for individual state taxes.
