My husband is active duty military but TurboTax is flagging our military income on Schedule M and won't let me efile. It's the exact same number on our Federal.

[mlaminack917]

We have been filing both federal and state for years without issue and I am getting an error saying that military pay doesn't qualify for a military pay deduction on IL return, Schedule M.  I checked all my previous returns and TurboTax filled out our state returns exactly as they're filled out now and our tax situation hasn't changed.

[MarilynG1]

You are correct that Illinois deducts Military Pay from IL Taxable Income.

The instructions for IL Schedule M say:

"Line 21 — Military pay earned Enter the amount of military pay that you received from the U.S. Armed Forces or the National Guard of any state, or that you received as a dual status military technician. You may not subtract the following: combat pay that is not included in your federal adjusted gross income, Form IL-1040, Line 1 pay you received under the Voluntary Separation Incentive, from the military as a civilian, under the Ready Reserve Mobilization Income Insurance Program, or for duty as an officer in the Public Health Service. "

If you are not able to enter the amount of Military Pay as as 'Subtraction from Income', in your IL return, go back to the W-2 entry in your Federal return to be sure that military pay is indicated on your entry. 

Also, check the My Info section to be sure you indicated your husband is in the military.

Click this link for IL Schedule M Instructions. 

[mlaminack917]

Thank you, but I did all that. I even deleted and re-entered his W-2 and got the same error.

[krug jerm]

I am having the exact same issue......there is definitely a glitch in the TurboTax software which is preventing me from EFile due to this Schedule M flag which I am 100% sure I filled out correctly like every other year.....get your act together and fix the issue TurboTax

[marcvrich]

I am having the same trouble with e-filing rejected.   the W-2 box is checked for active military, but still flagging an error of IL Form M, Line 21.

[marcvrich]

I just got off the phone with TurboTax support.  E-filing was not working because of the error.  I missed one "Yes" or "No"  button under "Personal Info" that was needed to indicate "Active Military."  After I clicked "yes," no error was found on IL form M and the e-filing went through.

[mlaminack917]

How did you contact them? The only way I could see was by paying for live chat.

[mlaminack917]

Also, was that "button"on your federal or state?

[marcvrich]

To contact TurboTax customer service, I clicked "Contact Us" on the bottom left side of this page, then filled out the form, and was given a Support ID number and a Phone number to call.   I was not asked to pay.

The button I clicked was on the federal form portion, right at the very beginning, before filling out any income information, where you have to fill in your name and personal info.  There were buttons on the bottom of the page asking if you were active military for whole or part of the year.  I think I transferred information from 2018 year's return, so it did not have the correct answer filled out which changed since then.

Hope this helps.

[mlaminack917]

Thank you for your help. I know that I clicked and double checked that my husband was marked as active duty. I made some money from my side business last year so I think those filing with the small business option don't get free help.