Why does the amount of my federal IRA contribution deduction differ from my state IRA contribution deduction amountI? Federal amount is correct, shouldn't they match?

[milutinka]

During the data entry process for the federal return I made changes to the contribution amount but I went back to that page and confirmed the final amount. Could the TurboTax program make a mistake when transferring the data to the state return? The federal is 7K and the state is 12K?? Do I need to amend the state return??

[MonikaK1]

You should complete your state return after completing all of the entries on the Federal return. If you made changes to your Federal return after working on the state return, and you have not yet filed your returns, you may want to delete the state return and complete it again. Your state rules may differ somewhat from the Federal rules. 

You can preview your return before filing to find out how your taxes were calculated. See here for details. 

Please see this TurboTax article for more information regarding IRA deductions.

If you have already filed your return and determined that it needs to be amended:

Before you can file an amended return, the original return will need to have been processed by the IRS (refund issued / payment processed). 

There are times when you should amend your return and times when you shouldn't. Here are some common situations that call for an amendment:

• You realized you missed out on claiming a tax deduction or credit.
• You accidentally claimed the wrong tax filing status.
• You need to add or remove a dependent.
• You forgot to claim taxable income on your tax return.
• You realize you claimed an expense, deduction, or credit that you weren't eligible to claim.

See this article for more information on filing an amended return.

See this IRS webpage for a decision tool to complete in order to determine if you need to file an amended return. 

[milutinka]

Hi Monika, thanks for replying. I think TurboTax should emphasize this point you made: “If you made changes to your Federal return after working on the state return, and you have not yet filed your returns, you may want to delete the state return and complete it again.” There should be a note or a step that reminds clients of this, in case they made a mistake of going back to federal and making a change after starting their state tax return. 
I am a new user and I thought that the entries and data are automatically connected - anything changed on federal return in progress would transfer to state return if they were both still in progress. It seems not!

Now I will have to file amended state return and pay again!

If possible, please make this aspect clearer to the users! In other ways the site is excellent and helpful!

[JulieS]

Yes, you do need to amend your return, but you don't have to pay to that. There is never an additional charge to amend unless you are adding something that could not have been filed in the original version.

For example, if you file your W2 using the free version, then you amend to add stock transactions, you will be charged an additional fee. 

Be sure to wait until your original tax return is processed before you amend your tax return. That means waiting until after you receive your refund, or at least three weeks if you owe. 

 

[milutinka]

Thank you for taking the time to reply. Good to know that amended returns are free in most cases. But I think the bigger point is getting missed here - how is it possible for Turbo Tax to miss the discrepancy in the amount of IRA deduction between my federal and my state return? Why aren’t there better safeguards against this type of mistake? I would like a big, animated or highlighted note stating “please delete your in-progress state return if you go back and make any changes to your in-progress federal return”!!

Since this discrepancy affects my NY state taxable income and in turns affects my NJ return (because I work in NY but live in NJ) I have to file amended returns for both states. It is a terrible waste of time that can be prevented by Turbo Tax giving more notice to clients during the filing process. 
I hope that someone is listening!

Thanks!