Cannot e-file CO due to withholding payment made

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
February 11, 2022
2 replies
12 views

Reporting another apparent bug in TurboTax (Premier, desktop): In 2021 for the first time, we sent an estimated tax payment to CO for safe-harbor reasons. Now TTP is telling me, very clearly but without reason, that we cannot (fork over $20 and) e-file our state return at all, because this payment was not made through W-2, 1099-any, etc.

This would be reasonable IF Colorado actually had this rule in place, BUT THEY DON'T. It's not in the 2021 E-Filer Handbook, nor did the DoR agent I called and talked with, know anything about it. "My relatives use FreeFile and have no problems e-filing for CO despite making withholding payments."

AnnetteB6

Level 15

Be sure that you entered your estimated tax payment as an estimated payment and not as a withholding amount not reported on a W-2 or 1099.

Use the following steps to enter the estimated payment for Colorado:

On the top row of the TurboTax online screen, click on Search (or for CD/downloaded TurboTax locate the search box in the upper right corner)
This opens a box where you can type in “estimated tax payments” and click the magnifying glass (or for CD/downloaded TurboTax, click Find)
The search results will give you an option to “Jump to estimated tax payments”
Click on the blue “Jump to estimated tax payments” link
Click Start beside State Estimated Taxes for 2021 to enter your information

If this is not where you reported your estimated payment, be sure to delete the other entry and then see if the electronic filing error is cleared.

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ajsAuthor

Level 4

Thanks for the fast and, well, somewhat helpful answer, but ultimately not really. First, I understand the difference between withholding and prepayment, but tend to call it all withholding. Second, I don't recall where/how I told TTP that we had $250 in CO prepayment (withholding, oops), and now I can't find it again going around the interview loop either. Third, when I zoom from the Form 104 to the source of the entry, I do see it as line 13, Other State Tax Withholding, on the Tax Payments Worksheet. AND IT WON'T LET ME CHANGE IT so I can enter it instead on Form 104 line 20 instead.

This bug is still on TurboTax and should be fixed. It appears that at some point it asked me a misleading question, accepted my answer, won't let me change the answer now, and won't let me change the form without an override.

Furthermore, during the check step when I was first notified I could not e-file due to this weird "withholding", it gave no help at all about how perhaps you meant to enter it as an prepayment instead, and here's how to fix that?

BZZT! End-user task-oriented goal FAILS, software needs fixed, customer unhappy, might finally give up on Intuit.

EDIT an hour later: Discovered federal Tax Payments Worksheet. Was able to enter CO prepayment here, zero out the bogus "withholding", undo the override, and see proper flow to all forms, WHEW.

However, I think there's still a bug in TTP. Somehow I told the program I had a CO withholding when I meant prepayment, it must have been during the federal interview -- but I went for "I'll choose what I work on", and going around again, I can't even see where/how this happened. This is guaranteed to foul up other users who make prepayments. Needs attention.