The requirement to file a tax return in NC, is dependent on you Federal Gross income (line 37 of your 2013 Federal form 1040) and is independent of whether the income that eventually gets taxed is lower or not. That Federal gross income would include all (or most) of your CSRS 1099-R form income.
(Later Edit/correction )....... the 2013 minimum Gross income filing requirements which require you to file in NC are on page 4 here...(I originally gave you a link to the current minimums.)
https://www.dornc.com/downloads/indiv_archive/13archive/D401.pdf
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....many states work the same way....they want to see the actual tax data, and then see what exemptions you are applying. This gives them the opportunity to audit any tax filings where they suspect someone is claiming something improperly.
So, line 6 of your 2013 NC form D-400 will contain your Federal AGI , and line 9 will include your Bailey exemption $$ (plus some other other income deductions allowed from lines 40-to-51 of the Form D-400 ). Th Bailey exemption amount should also show on line 43 of the 2013 D-400. Note that the Bailey exemption amount should only be the Federally taxable amount of your CSRS retirement 1099-R. Some CSRS retirement distributions have a non-federal taxable part due to some after tax-contributions you "might" have made during your service. Essentially, only the Bailey $$ that are included on line 16b of your 2013 federal form 1040 can be exempted in the NC Forms....might be a smaller amount that your line 16b if you have other retirement funds that feed into lien 16b.
(Amounts on line 15b of the Federal form 1040 are not Bailey eligible, so if you are ever allowed to roll your Bailey eligible funds into an IRA..don't do it since they lose Bailey eligibility in NC)
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you may run into the same problem for every year since 2013 too. The 2013 Desktop software is no longer available, and the Online software only works for whatever the current year is (Changing over to 2017 now...2016 is down).
Blank PDF NC forms and instructions are here:
https://www.dornc.com/downloads/indiv_archive/13archive/index.html
You can get the TTX Desktop 2014, 2015, 2016 software here:
https://turbotax.intuit.com/personal-taxes/past-years-products/
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Windows computers are better at being backward compatible with old software W10 will run all those years. MAC OS X 10.13 may not run 2015 or 2014, and has a known problem with 2016 with a workaround.
Windows Reqirements:
https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901571-minimum-system-requirements-for-turbotax-windows-software
MAC requirements:
https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1899173-minimum-system-requirements-for-turbotax-mac-software
____________*Answers are correct to the best of my knowledge when posted, but should not be considered to be legal or official tax advice.*
