I receive social security (state pension) from Germany. Do I put the year amount in "social security benefits- "box 5-Net benefits?

[DavidD66]

To report your state pension from Germany, while working in your TurboTax Online return:

• Click on "Search" in the upper right hand corner of your screen.
• Type "1099r" in the search window and hit enter., then Click on "Jump to 1099r"
•  On the next screen, answer yes to "Did you have any of these types of income in 2020?"
• Click "Continue"
• Click on "I'll type it in myself"
• Check the box next to "I need to prepare a substitute 1099-R."
• On the next page, click "Continue"
• Fill in the boxes with your pension information.  For the Federal Tax ID, use "99-9999999" for Box 7, use Code 7.
• Select Yes when asked if you want to prepare a substitute Form 4852.

[DoninGA]

IRS Publication 915 Social Security and Equivalent Railroad Retirement Benefits page 6 - https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p915.pdf#page=6

Canadian or German social security benefits paid to U.S. residents.

Under income tax treaties with Canada and Germany, social security benefits paid by those countries to U.S. residents are treated for U.S. income tax purposes as if they were paid under the social security legislation of the United States.

If you are a US resident then you enter the German Social Security Benefits on a US Form 1040 Line 6a.

The benefits received are entered in TurboTax using the Form SSA-1099 in box 5

To enter Social Security benefits reported on form SSA-1099

• Click on Federal Taxes (Personal using Home and Business)
• Click on Wages and Income (Personal Income using Home and Business)
• Click on I'll choose what I work on (if shown)
• Scroll down to Retirement Plans and Social Security
• On Social Security (SSA-1099, RRB-1099), click the start or update button

Or enter ssa-1099 in the Search box located in the upper right of the program screen. Click on Jump to ssa-1099

[ID72]

Hello.

There are two different answers to the original question here. One states to enter a substitute 1099R, the other advises to report the amount received from German social security (state pension) on the SSA-1099 in Turbotax. There are three problems here regarding which I would like further clarification, as I am helping someone with their taxes who also receives social security (state pension) income from the German government and is a full-time North Carolina resident and U.S. citizen:

1. Based on IRS Publication 915, it appears that filing this income on the SSA-1099 is correct, as it will then get entered on line 6a of Form 1040 and will be treated equivalently to U.S. Social Security. However, Turbotax Self-Employment only allowed for the submission of a single SSA-1099 this time, requiring us to add the German payment total to the total shown on the filer's U.S. SSA-1099. Will this not result in a discrepancy between what the IRS sees on the SSA-1099 and what the filer shows on their tax return? How should we handle this?

2. North Carolina taxes retirement income from local, state, and federal pensions as well as for qualified retirement plans, while social security and railroad benefits are not taxable by North Carolina. Does Publication 915 imply that the German social security should also be treated as social security benefits by North Carolina and therefore not incur NC state taxes? If so, then including the German social security payment on the SSA-1099 in Turbotax results in the correct outcome on the state tax return, while entering a substitute 1099R results in NC taxing the "German income" as retirement income.

3. Does Publication 915 apply to payments received from the German government as a surviving spouse as well as payments received for oneself?

The Turbotax program is not very helpful with this situation. I hope developers are working on incorporating more guidance for people in this situation in the future, for both federal and state income taxes.

Thank you.

[DaveF1006]

You would enter the full benefit amount for both SS on line 5 of the SSA-1099 and will not cause a discrepancy with the IRS. This will also exempt the income from being taxed in North Carolina.

Regardless being a surviving spouse or not, these payments are still treated as Social Security benefits and reported on your US tax return and taxed like regular social security income.

@ID72