topic Is Massachusetts PFML tax deductible on line 5a of Schedule A? It is reported in box 14 on W-2. Turbo Tax has not included it in line 5a. How can I make it do it? in Get your taxes done using TurboTax

Is Massachusetts PFML tax deductible on line 5a of Schedule A? It is reported in box 14 on W-2. Turbo Tax has not included it in line 5a. How can I make it do it?

yanko — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 23:44:05 GMT

This tax is withheld from my earnings along with Federal and State income taxes on my pay stub. As a mandatory local tax it qualified to be included inline 5a on schedule A but TurboTax has not.

Re: Is Massachusetts PFML tax deductible on line 5a of Schedule A? It is reported in box 14 on W-...

BillM223 — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 03:50:01 GMT

This Massachusetts webpage describes the PFML fee as a "tax", and furthermore that employees in Massachusetts cannot opt out of it, which makes it a Massachusetts tax.

When you entered this amount into Box 14, what Tax Category did you use? MA Paid Family Medical Leave? I would have though that that would have been enough to put it into line 5a on Schedule A.

Please let us know.

Re: Is Massachusetts PFML tax deductible on line 5a of Schedule A? It is reported in box 14 on W-...

yanko — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 12:35:10 GMT

Yes, when editing the W-2, I did specify "Paid Massachusetts Medical Leave" (see screenshot), but when examining the final 1040 output, the amount on line 5a included only the total income tax.

Thanks for the response! This is exactly what I thought as well. So do I have to add this as an extra local tax in order to trick TurboTax into doing the right thing?

Yanko

Re: Is Massachusetts PFML tax deductible on line 5a of Schedule A? It is reported in box 14 on W-...

AmyC — Fri, 26 Mar 2021 18:51:26 GMT

Your local tax paid could be entered as an additional line on the w2 or entered as additional local tax paid under other taxes.

I recommend: Go to federal > deductions and credits > estimates and other taxes paid > other income taxes > payments for 2018 or a prior year state or local income taxes paid in 2020. Then select locality (bottom selection is Not Listed) and enter the amount.

Re: Is Massachusetts PFML tax deductible on line 5a of Schedule A? It is reported in box 14 on W-...

yanko — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 15:30:41 GMT

Yes, one can usually trick TT into doing things correctly, but it worked fine last year, so I wanted to know if something has changed since then, or in any case let TT know that there is a bug this year.

Thanks!

Yanko

Re: Is Massachusetts PFML tax deductible on line 5a of Schedule A? It is reported in box 14 on W-...

yanko — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 15:32:40 GMT

Hi - the category I entered was "Massachusetts PFML" which is what is showed as on my W-2.

Last year this was in fact enough for TT to put it in as a deductible tax, but this year it did not. Maybe it is a TT bug that can still be fixed.

Re: Is Massachusetts PFML tax deductible on line 5a of Schedule A? It is reported in box 14 on W-...

RaifH — Sat, 26 Feb 2022 17:08:40 GMT

You will want to enter the amount you paid for Massachusetts Paid Family Medical Leave in Box 14 using the category "Other deductible state or local tax". This will correctly route it to the state tax forms and provide an additional state tax if you are itemizing deductions.

Entering it in Box 14 and using "Massachusetts PFML" does not work because the system considers that payment of medical leave to you is included in your wages, not a deductible state tax collected from you.

Re: Is Massachusetts PFML tax deductible on line 5a of Schedule A? It is reported in box 14 on W-...

yanko — Sat, 26 Feb 2022 20:26:59 GMT

Thank you, yes, i can do it manually. I wanted to flag the issue because the behavior of TT is different this year from last year. Last year it listed PFML as a deductible tax automatically.

Re: Is Massachusetts PFML tax deductible on line 5a of Schedule A? It is reported in box 14 on W-2. Turbo Tax has not included it in line 5a. How can I make it do it?

ScottT18 — Fri, 09 Feb 2024 19:38:26 GMT

This is still a thing. Had to go in to the W-2 form to override the Box 14 to "other deductible state or local tax" to appear correctly

Re: Is Massachusetts PFML tax deductible on line 5a of Schedule A? It is reported in box 14 on W-2. Turbo Tax has not included it in line 5a. How can I make it do it?

wFn7WPTjP9Nt — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 05:01:05 GMT

I also encountered this problem and switched to different tax prep software to resolve it.

Re: Is Massachusetts PFML tax deductible on line 5a of Schedule A? It is reported in box 14 on W-2. Turbo Tax has not included it in line 5a. How can I make it do it?

konstk1 — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 13:50:11 GMT

Apparently, this is still an issue this year. Had to change category from MA PFML to Other - Deductible for it to properly account for MA PFML.

I would not have noticed this if I were not using another tax prep software at the same time and notice the discrepancy. Not great, TurboTax.