Why does my retirement distribution from the New York State Optional Retirement Program appear as taxable income on my NYS return? Any suggestions?

You will have to go back to the FEDERAL section of TurboTax to the 1099-R entry.  Make sure the Box 15 dropdown has New York.  Continue and look for the screen below, where you can indicate the State Optional Retirement, which will be pulled into the New York state return.

I did this already and it still shows up as taxable income on NYS return.

Try deleting and reentering your Form 1099-R.  Make sure it is entered exactly as shown.

Follow these steps to delete your 1099-R in TurboTax:

1. Go to Form 1099-R
2. Select the trash can next to your 1099-R and then answer Yes

To enter your Form 1099-R, Go to to Form 1099-R and answer any questions. You can import, upload, or manually enter your form.

Note: It is very important that you check the box for Retirement Distributions from a NYS Optional Retirement Program in the Federal Section of your return, when entering your Form 1099-R. This will flow through to your New York State return and ultimately make this income nontaxable.

Here’s how to review your pension information on your New York state return:

1. Open (continue) your return in TurboTax
2. First, make sure you’ve correctly entered your 1099-R info on your federal return
3. Select State from the left menu
4. Select Start or Continue next to your New York state return
5. Follow the on-screen instructions until you reach Changes to Federal Income. On this screen, select Start next to Received retirement income
6. On your Retirement Distributions Summary, select Edit next to the pension you’re reviewing. If no more info is needed for your state return, you’ll see the message We don’t need any further information about the retirement distribution
7. If New York needs more info for your pension distributions, answer the questions on the following screens, until you return to your Retirement Distributions Summary. Select Done
8. Continue through the screens until you reach your Pension Deduction Summary. Here you’ll see the amount of your pension distribution that’s taxable in New York state. This amount doesn't include your exclusions, but don’t worry–TurboTax will figure that out for you.

Click here for information on deleting your Form 1099-R in TurboTax.

Click here for information on entering your Form 1099-R in TurboTax.

Thank you, that worked. However, I believe that once the optional retirement box is checked on the Federal return, it should automatically be entered as non-taxable income on the NYS return without having to enter an exclusion amount. The screen to enter this NYS exclusion did not come up when I first went through the NYS return.

Anyway, thanks again