Form 1099-DIV Exempt-Interest Dividends

[jbottiger2367]

My 1099-DIV form shows that I earned exempt-interest dividends, but the form does not list from which state(s) these exempt-interest dividends were earned or which state(s) issued these municipal bonds.  Turbo Tax says that I should select “Multiple States” from its drop-down menu, even as a Florida resident.  Is this correct or should I select “Florida” from the list?  Please advise.  Thanks.

John B.

[DaveF1006 · Accepted solution]

No. You would select 'multiple States" as TurboTax suggests.

[jbottiger2367]

Thank you!

[Hal_Al]

For others reading this:

You get the breakdown, by state,  from your mutual fund company. It usually by percentage, not dollar amounts. If they did not provide a breakdown, you check the box “I earned tax exempt dividends in more than one state” ("Multiple States" in the  online program) on the first screen after entering the 1099-INT or 1099-DIV. Then select  "More than one state" at the bottom of the state  scroll down list.

If your mutual fund company provided you a breakdown*, you are only interested in your home state*. Multiply the % for your state by your total tax exempt dividends to get a $ amount (you can't enter the % in TurboTax [TT]). When asked which state, check the box "I earned tax exempt dividends in more than one state". In the drop down menu, select your state and enter the $ amount you calculated. In the 2nd box, select "More than one state*" (at the bottom of the scroll down list) and enter the remaining dollar amount.

If you don't want to mess with it, it is perfectly acceptable to assign the entire $$ amount to the single designation of "more than one state” / “Multiple States"

*Most mutual funds will provide a breakdown. But you usually have to ask for it, or find it on their web site.

**Your state will tax all the dividends except the dividends from municipal bonds  from your state and US Territories. In Illinois, only certain types of bonds are state tax-exempt.

If you can't find the breakdown (or you don't want to make the effort to look; it's no big deal. The percentage for any particular state is usually small.  Here's Fidelity's (for an example) https://www.fidelity.com/bin-public/060_www_fidelity_com/documents/taxes/2023-tei-by-year.pdf

California, and Minnesota require that the bond fund hold at least 50% of their holdings be in their own state's bonds, before you can break out that state's $$ for possible lower state taxation.  Illinois, essentially,  doesn't allow it at all.

See screen shots at https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/state-taxes/discussion/do-i-enter-the-state-in-which-i-live-in-reg...

For details on how to enter, see: https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/state-taxes/discussion/re-exempt-interest-dividends-are-entered-fr... Most particularly, see the screen shot at that link.

[baldietax]

@jbottiger2367 if you just use "multiple states" alone you may miss some state tax exemption, see post from @Hal_Al you should be able to get the schedule from the fund company (usually their website has a tax center etc) of what % of the dividend is exempt in which states and then you should make entries for:

1. Your home state

2. US possessions (e.g. Puerto Rico) if exempt in your home state (or just put them in and TT state program will determine) - Puerto Rico % are usually relatively high as funds use them to juice returns

3. The remaining % goes in as "Multiple States" and will be an "addition" to income on your state return