I am an IHSS live-in provider filing for 2025. My W-2 has Box 1 = $0.00 and Box 3/5 = [amount], which is correct under IRS Notice 2014-7.I followed the current TurboTax recommended steps per these official TurboTax articles:https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/form-w-2/qualified-medicaid-waiver-payments-w-2-show-earned/L1XZa89dh_US_en_US?uid=m6scnxrahttps://ttlc.intuit.com/community/taxes/discussion/re-ihss-live-in-provider-zero-income/01/3466131/highlight/false#M1281396https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/taxes/discussion/re-ihss-live-in-provider-zero-income/01/3467820/highlight/false#M1282133Steps followed:Left Box 1 as $0Checked "Nontaxable Medicaid waiver payments that qualify as difficulty of care payments" under uncommon situationsEntered the full Box 3/5 amount as the difficulty of care amountThis correctly excludes the IHSS wages from federal taxable income. However TurboTax is blocking e-filing with this error: "One of the W-2s doesn't have an amount in box 1 or the amount is less than $1."The older workaround of copying Box 3 into Box 1 allowed e-filing but is now explicitly discouraged by the links above. My questions:Is paper filing truly the only option when following the current correct method with Box 1 = $0?Is there any other workaround that keeps Box 1 = $0 while allowing e-filing? For example: Is it ok to enter $1 in Box 1 of W2, and enter the amount from box 3 into Checking "Nontaxable Medicaid waiver payments that qualify as difficulty of care payment "? Thank you!

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Level 5

Question

IHSS Live-in Provider with Box 1 = $0 — not able to e-file

Forum|Forum|3 months ago
April 10, 2026
1 reply
154 views

I am an IHSS live-in provider filing for 2025. My W-2 has Box 1 = $0.00 and Box 3/5 = [amount], which is correct under IRS Notice 2014-7.

I followed the current TurboTax recommended steps per these official TurboTax articles:

Steps followed:

Left Box 1 as $0
Checked "Nontaxable Medicaid waiver payments that qualify as difficulty of care payments" under uncommon situations
Entered the full Box 3/5 amount as the difficulty of care amount

This correctly excludes the IHSS wages from federal taxable income. However TurboTax is blocking e-filing with this error: "One of the W-2s doesn't have an amount in box 1 or the amount is less than $1."

The older workaround of copying Box 3 into Box 1 allowed e-filing but is now explicitly discouraged by the links above.

My questions:

Is paper filing truly the only option when following the current correct method with Box 1 = $0?
Is there any other workaround that keeps Box 1 = $0 while allowing e-filing? For example: Is it ok to enter $1 in Box 1 of W2, and enter the amount from box 3 into Checking "Nontaxable Medicaid waiver payments that qualify as difficulty of care payment "?

Thank you!

Bsch4477

Level 15

Give yourself one dollar of interest which will allow you to efile. For the Bank in the 1099-INT section just put “to enable efiling “.

jackkganAuthor

Level 5

Thank you! Please confirm if adding $1 in Box 1 of W2 and going through the flow of "Nontaxable Medicaid waiver payments that qualify as difficulty of care payment " would be acceptable.