Why did TurboTax sell the California State product when it was clearly NOT ready? My state return was rejected 3 times. The first time, I did not capitalize the county of residence correctly (one would think that the TurboTax software would use autocorrect to meet the State's standards for capitalization). I corrected the mistake and TurboTax allowed me to refile my state return. It was rejected a second time because I did not spell the county, San Bernardino, correctly (left out the second r, a common mistake, but again ... the software didn't catch the mistake and allowed me to refile). Finally, with San Bernardino capitalized and spelled correctly, I refiled my state return for a 3rd time, and it was rejected. Turbotax informed me that this rejection was a 504 form issue with Turbotax and I would have to wait for their 504 form update before submitting my 4th attempt to file my 2020 California tax return through TurboTax. Finally, TurboTax contacted me to let me know that the software was ready for me to refile my thrice rejected return. I installed the updates, refiled my state return through TurboTax. For the fourth time, the software checked for errors and indicated everything was good to go. Guess what ... the return was just rejected due to a 504 error. Really ... four times, and TurboTax can't get this right? Even worse, I am suddenly enrolled in Audit Protection with TurboTax. I did NOT purchase Audit Protection. I am trying to contact a live person at TurboTax to get this resolved. And off course, there is no way to chat with a live person much less call one. After 30 years with TurboTax, I will NEVER use this product again.
@TerrieN That is extremely frustrating and not the experience wanted for TurboTax customers.
I will pass on the feedback regarding the counties; It would've saved you a lot of time and effort if there was a warning or error message before filing.
As for the rejection due to forms availability, it is common for forms to be unavailable in the beginning of the year. It's best to wait until February to file for this reason. If that's not stated in the program, it's nearly impossible for you to know that without experience....perhaps in years past you filed a little later in the year. Again, extremely frustrating when you already had to go through other rejections.
It looks like Form 540 is available on 2/4/2021. You should be able to e-file then. If for some reason your state taxes get rejected again, you will have to print and mail your return.
I wish I could've been more of a help to you. This forum is available as a resource if you decided to use TurboTax or not. Thanks for writing.
California e-file reject: Your principal residence information, county field is case sensitive and only accepts from a specific list
We've created an article on this topic. Thanks again for sharing your experience.