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The annuity start date is generally the first day of the first period for which you received a payment from your pension. For most retirees, this is the first day of the month following your retirement date.

No, you shouldn't change the W-2 yourself. If the state is wrong, you need to ask your employer for a corrected W-2.   Florida has no state income tax, so if CA wages/taxes are listed incorrectly, you may need to file a CA nonresident return to get a refund of any taxes paid if it’s not fixed.

Since New York and Florida are not community property states, you are generally free to allocate the interest income from your joint account in any way you both agree, provided that 100% of it is reported across the two returns.   TurboTax often flags 1099 entries that are marked "Joint" when you are using a Married Filing Separately (MFS) status. To resolve this, do not check Joint. Even though the bank account is physically joint, you should enter the 1099-INT in TurboTax as if it were yours alone (or yours only for your half). 

The Teacher Retirement System of Texas is not an IRA.  A Form 1099-R for a distribution from that system would not have that IRA/SEP/SIMPLE box marked, so it should not be marked on TurboTax's form.   If the Form 1099-R that you received has the IRA/SEP/SIMPLE box marked, it is a distribution from a traditional IRA, not from the Teacher Retirement System of Texas.  If this form is from an IRA as indicated by the IRA/SEP/SIMPLE box being marked on the Form 1099-R provided by the payer, delete and reenter this Form 1099-R in TurboTax.

Yes.   When you file a joint return, ALL of your combined income has to be included on that one tax return.  All of your W-2's, all of your 1099's  (no matter what kind of 1099's)   ---everything goes on that joint return.   When you are entering income on a joint return, every income entry screen will either have a spot with both spouse’s names there, or when you click to enter a W-2, 1099R, etc. it will ask you by name which spouse it is for.  You do not have to wait for the software to “ask” you for your spouse’s income. Go to the screens to enter your spouse’s W-2’s, 1099’s, etc. just like you did for your own income.  Then look for your spouse’s name there.  

Yes, you should include your wife's 1099-NEC when filing a joint return.    When you choose the Married Filing Jointly status, the IRS treats both spouses as a single tax entity, meaning you must report all combined income earned by both partners.

I agree with your observations and comments.  Surely, for the scenario I described above, TT-2025 unfortunately is broken.  That is very disappointing.  I have children in higher education and doing 529 withdrawals over the past 5+ years.  In previous years, when the child was the recipient and I enter that data into TT, it calculates everything correctly.  This is the first year where things were done a little differently and the parent was the recipient.  Unfortunately in this case even though Box-1 on the 1099-Q was covered by all college expenses on the beneficiary 1098-t (no scholarships and no AOC or LLC) and clearly shown on the info sheet, it does not subtract that amount from the 1099-Q distribution amount.  You see on the worksheet that it incorrectly subtracts 0.  It then calculates the tax on the earnings and then uses the corresponding tax to reduce the refund.   It could be because of the hidden $10,000 amount that you mentioned in your reply below.  I will check into that further.   Thanks for the tips regarding "TT has allocated $10,0000 of expenses to the tuition credit" and "TT provided a screen titled 'education expenses used for a tax credit'. "  Yes,  I have seen that screen in past years.  It was very tricky to get.  I believe you had to remove all the child education expenses and then if you applied a certain sequence for adding those things back in, then that prompt would sometimes appear.  I may try to delete the education profiles and go through past notes to see how to get that prompt again.  Also, look at editing Line-18.  If I find something to work, I'll report back on this thread.   I also tried the same scenario in a competitive online tax program.  If you put in the same information, it correctly calculates everything that no tax is due.  This isn't rocket science and Turbo Tax should be calculating correctly.  The user should be able to enter all their tax information.  TT should then prompt with the appropriate questions and then properly calculate the user's tax for their scenario.     I agree that if the AQEE is sufficient to cover the 1099-Q distribution, then no form needs to be filed.  However, it is very unfortunate that TT is not calculating correctly for those who may have a partial overage where some tax is due.  In this case TT is calculating the tax on the full earnings and not correctly prorating when some, but not all of the distribution is in excess of the AQEE.   

It depends primarily on your gross income, filing status, and age.    For the 2023 tax year, most single individuals under age 65 needed to file if their income exceeded $13,850, while married couples filing jointly had a threshold of $27,700.    For the 2024 tax year, a single person needed to file if they earned over $14,600, and married couples filing jointly were required to file if they earned over $29,200.    If you are aged 65 or older, the filing requirement threshold is higher. In 2023, the additional amount was $1,850 if you were single or Head of Household, and $1,500 per qualifying spouse if you were married. For the 2024 tax year, the additional amount was $1,950 for single or Head of Household filers and $1,550 per qualifying spouse for those married filing jointly.   Even if you aren't required to file, you may want to if you had any tax withheld to get a refund or if you are eligible for refundable credits.  You should also check your specific state's rules, as some states have much lower filing requirements.

You must wait until your original state return has been fully processed and you have received any expected refund before you amend it. Once your tax return is fully processed, to amend your return using TurboTax Online you will: Log in to your TurboTax account. At your homepage, look for "Your tax returns & documents" and select the correct tax year. The you will select the "Amend (change) return" dropdown and in the dropdown choose "Amend using TurboTax Online". If you are only amending your state return, choose  Amend State Follow your prompts, and select your reason for amending. Make your corrections. Most state amendments must be printed and mailed and cannot be e-filed.   See also: How do I amend my state tax return?   If you have additional information or questions regarding this, please return to Community and we would be glad to help.