Re: "I wonder if there's a bug in the program, however. I personally received around $45,000 and my spouse received $14,000. I entered this clearly (indicating everything by name). TurboTax is giving us a $48,000 exemption, and that doesn't seem right to me.
Am I right, or is TurboTax?"
As a follow-up to the above question, this was a user error (mine) in that I was not supposed to enter my and my husband's Social Security income on the "Other Pension and Annuity Income Exclusions" window. I think the user interface could be clearer here, to avoid this possible mistake, by stating clearly that previously entered Social Security income had already been taken into account.
Anyway, as stated previously, for married couples, each can exempt up to $24,000, for a total of $48,000 per couple. But if one party has, say, $14,000 to exclude and the other party has $45,000, you cannot simply combine them to the maximum of $48,000 per couple. Instead, your combined exemption is $14,000 + $24,000, or $38,000.
