I have carryover loss on both my federal return and my MA return. However, it appears that up to $3000 can be applied against income for federal returns but only $2000 can be applied against income for MA returns. This means that I now have a difference in carryover loss this year between my MA and federal returns (ie. the numbers on Form 1040 Schedule D line 16 minus line 21 versus MA Schedule D line 23). So when Turbotax asks me "Did you have any Massachusetts / federal basis differences for any of your reported long-term capital gain or loss transactions?", does that mean the answer is yes? What is a basis difference? Is that the same thing as just saying a difference?
Thank you!
That is not a basis difference. A basis difference is a difference in the value of the stocks or other items that you might have sold. This is just a difference in the capital loss carryforward to next year. TurboTax should track it for you both on the federal and the state.