Delaware State Bug Report

[Ashsa]

There was a severe error in calculating Delawares exemptions that need to be fixed by the engineer team. For De PIT RES I had to delete my entire state and file elsewhere. Synopsis of problem below, compiled by Google Gemini because I couldn’t get through completion of DE PIT RES without it. 

Technical Bug Report: Delaware Form PIT-RES Logic Error

Issue: Software forced-entry error on Form PIT-RES, Line 27a (Personal Credits). Filing Status: Married Filing Jointly (Status 2). Error Description: When filing under Status 2 (Joint), the software incorrectly triggers a "Check This Entry" error for Line 27a, Column A (Spouse).

• The Bug: The software forces a value of "1" into Column A and refuses to allow a "0" or a blank entry, stating "Value must be 1."

• The Conflict: According to official Delaware PIT-RES instructions, Column A is reserved exclusively for Filing Status 4 (Married Filing Combined Separate). For all other statuses (1, 2, 3, and 5), taxpayers are instructed to enter the total exemption count in Column B only.

• Impact: This error creates a "logic loop" that prevents e-filing. If the user complies with the software and enters 1 in Column A and 5 in Column B, it erroneously splits the personal credits, which risks a state rejection or manual review delay. If the user attempts to follow state law (6 in Column B, 0 in Column A), the software blocks the transmission entirely.

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Set Filing Status to Married Filing Jointly.

2. Complete Delaware Resident interview with 4 dependents.

3. Run "Review" / Smart Check.

4. Observe the software demanding a "1" in Column A (Spouse) despite the Joint status.

[RogerD1]

I ran a mock return in the TurboTax download version for Delaware. 

I understand that you wanted to file Jointly rather than Married filing combined separate, so on the "About Your Filing Status" screen, I selected No to Married filing combined separate.

Like you, when I did the Smart Review, there was a "1" entered in for the spouse exemption field, but I was able to delete the 1 and leave that field blank to clear the error.

I did a similar mock return in the online version of TurboTax, and used the filing status of Married filing Jointly and had no errors for that.

It's possible that a subsequent update took care of this issue.

[Chipman54]

FYI: I did my turbo tax Delaware 2025 and gave it to my Tax professional... we were exact for Federal and within $10 when we were Married filing together was on Delaware..... when my professional changed it to submit the Delaware Tax filing under "Married filing Combined Separate" (and I changed it also) the difference was close to a $1000, with mine lowering about $500 refund and his increasing to $1000 refund.

Of course we filed his return for the additional refund.

Have you had problems with this?

Thanks,

Fred

[email address removed]

[AmyC]

There is no problem, this is how DE taxes. DE taxes based on the income level. Higher incomes pay higher tax. If both of you made over $60,000 there would be no tax difference since the top tax rate is hit. If one or both of you make less than $60,000, the combined filing separate gives you each a lower tax rate to claim a refund.

Filing MFJ is best for one income families and maybe for the child care credit - limited cases.

For 2026, DE has a house bill to increase the top tax rate. See more here.

[Chipman54]

Thank you! Good news.... Delaware refund it in four business days after filing.