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New Member
posted Feb 22, 2023 11:31:36 AM

I am a California resident with Social Security benefits. Is it necessary for me to enter the federal taxable amount as a pension adjustment for the CA Form 540?

Does Turbotax make this adjustment automatically?

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6 Replies
Level 15
Feb 22, 2023 11:36:35 AM

TurboTax makes social security payments tax exempt automatically for California. 

New Member
Feb 25, 2023 9:38:13 AM

Thank you.  It would be nice if the TurboTax screen for California Adjustments indicated that Social Security benefits would be automatically subtracted in the California computation of taxable income,...so that some of us would not waste time looking for the page that would allow us to enter the Federally-reported income to be adjusted.

New Member
Mar 1, 2023 10:14:08 AM

no turbotax does not take out SS benefit payment automatically. it did not take it out on my CA return, I had to go to CA adjustments to income and subtract it out myself

 

Level 15
Mar 1, 2023 10:18:37 AM

@rgbmason   Any taxable Social Security is automatically taken off the state return.  Was any of it taxable on federal 1040 line 6b?  Maybe it was taxable.  How much did you manually adjust off CA?  The gross amount on line 6a or just the amount on 6b?

New Member
Mar 1, 2023 10:23:15 AM

I do not understand your question.  Calif does not make you declair your SS benefit but my CA turbotax return showed it as income, so, I manually deducted the amount from my CA turbotax return 

Expert Alumni
Mar 3, 2023 5:19:00 AM

California automatically subtracts the federally taxed portion of your Social Security benefits as Tax Champ VolvoGirl says.

 

California starts with federal income, so your taxable social security is included in federal income. It’s then subtracted to arrive at California adjusted gross income.

 

You should not make any adjustments.