incorrect NYS pension exclusion

[raysim52]

I finally got in touch with TurboTax support personnel that acknowledged the application issue with TurboTax Premier online. They have open an investigation support ticket for their programmers to fix.

They have advised me that this issue should be fixed in about one to two weeks.

[RMB NY]

Good luck to you -- that is the same story they told me in January.  The glitch was pointed out by users in 2020 and it was not  fixed since then. Hope it works out for you, or you can try their clunky work-arounds which would have you enter your NYS pension as a US Govt pension or some such nonsense.  But why would I want my tax forms not to reflect my records accurately or be inconsistent with the actual tax code? - for the cost of the software that is a BS solution and they should be ashamed of offering such a response to a good and returning customer.

For me, I wasn't pleased with TurboTax customer service and tech support on this problem (especially when they tried to upsell me to buy their Live Help gimmick -- that sure seemed like a scam, if not an insult),  after being a loyal user and positive rater for years I took my business elsewhere...out of respect for this forum which to their credit Intuit sponsors, I will not mention the competitor's software I used to file my taxes this year; I'll say it was just as easy to use, worked perfectly in re NYS pension entries, and was priced much lower.

[raysim52]

I am not sure you seen my post on page 2 from a couple of weeks ago but it looks like we are pretty much on the same page.

What has now changed my mind is the last two support people I spoke too. The unfortunate thing for TurboTax is that I had to waste many hours of my time over a corse of a few days speaking to four or five so called support personnel before I finally got two people that understood the issue and did not give me any BS. Since I normally don't file until late February if this issue is not addressed like I mentioned in my previous post I am ready to file with another online company at a lower cost. 

[RMB NY]

Okay, no worries raysim52. I admire your patience and the time you've put in. 

I'm sure one way or another it will work out for you.  I stopped posting in this thread because I had moved on to use another product -- but when I saw your post tonight in my inbox, I just wanted to let you know that that was the same line they told me about 4 weeks ago.

I was disappointed by this experience as I have been a very satisfied  TT user and swore by them for many years -- but when I discovered this issue had been raised to them by other users last year and left unfixed, and with the totally inept and uncaring way they handled my inquiries and very poor tech support,  it was clear they didn't give a crap about me (and other users with NYS pensions) as a customer. So I chose to go elsewhere.  

[BillM223]

As you all have seen, it is important to correctly classify the pension income for New York State since some pension income (like federal, state, and local government pensions) has different exclusion levels than other pensions.

This misclassification of New York pension income for New York State is a known issue. Please see this TurboTax Help page and sign up to be notified of updates.

[raysim52]

Thanks for the update Bill

I see the issue is expected to be resolves by 2/19/2021.

When I logged into my TurboTax online account this morning and I went to review my NY state section I was prompted to remove my pension entry in one section. The results of this is the same as I got when support Emailed me the following work around;

To verify and remove or adjust these entries please see the following steps.

1. Open or continue your 2020 tax return.
2. Click on the State menu on the left hand menu bar.
3. Select continue and then edit/continue next to New York.
4. Continue through the interview until you get a a main summary screen titled "Changes to Federal Income".
5. Scroll down to the Wages and retirement adjustments, and select Update next to Received retirement income.
6. On the summary screen of your retirement distributions, select the Done button.
7. Remove the extra entries on the Governmental Pension Exclusion Screen and choose Continue.
8. The doubled pension exclusion should now be removed from your New York return.

After the following the suggested work around the issue is now worse! Because the application removed my NYSLRS pension entry I am now being taxed on the remainder of my NYSLRS pension minus the $20,000 bogus entry the application is entering! See the following example;

Pension Deduction Summary

   We automatically calculated your New York pension deductions.

                                                                                                           Ray

Total federal taxable non-disability pensions and IRA                   $50,000

distributions                                                                                               

New York deduction for government pensions                                        $0

New York deduction for railroad retirement                                             $0

New York deduction for other pensions                                         $20,000        

Total taxable pensions and IRA distributions                                 $30,000

When I filed online last February (2020)  this $20,000 issue did not exist. I see this tread was stated in June of 2020. I am not sure what happened but I think the summary page last February looked something like the following example;

Pension Deduction Summary

   We automatically calculated your New York pension deductions.

                                                                                                           Ray

Total federal taxable non-disability pensions and IRA                   $50,000

distributions                                                                                               

New York deduction for NYSLRS pensions                                      $50,000

New York deduction for railroad retirement                                             $0

New York deduction for other pensions                                                   $0        

Total taxable pensions and IRA distributions                                           $0

Since I am a NYS resident my entire amount of my NYSLRS pension is exempt from New York.

I hope your application support team didn't apply the the workaround they Email me back on 2/4/2020 in response to Investigation number inv-10038, because in my case, TurboTax online today shows that I owe NYS over $2,000 when prior to the workaround (yesterday) I was getting a refund of over $500!

Please have someone from your application team contact me. My latest Investigation number is Inv-10394.

[brenec]

I am still running  into this same problem today after downloading the current updates.  I need help!  My Federal return was accepted, but the State return was rejected due to the Turbotax software error.  Also, once this is fixed, I need to be able to re-submit the NY State tax return (I am using the Mac version of Home & Business, not the online version.)   When I try to resubmit (e-file) it wants me to do that for both the Federal and State returns.  I'm not sure what will happen if I try to submit the Federal form again at this point just to enable e-filing of the revised State form.  NYS does not permit paper filing, so it's critical that the electronic version work out!

[raysim52]

I was on the phone with the TurboTax Resolution desk (management staff) this morning and was advised that the programmers at TurboTax are working on the issues with the bogus $20,000 deduction entry and our pension entry for NYS deductions being removed.

[248676]

New York State Retirees Dilemma
(Police, Firefighters, Teachers. etc.)

When you attempt to file - the program directs you to re-enter Box #1 from your 1099-R
which when done, results in a circular operation.

Here’s the fix:

1. Go to ‘Select Forms’ (top RH corner of screen)

2. Under ‘New York Individual’ (on right, lower part of screen)

3. Select ‘Pen Ann IRA Wks’

4. Locate ‘Yellow Box’ (near top of worksheet)

5. Locate “Qualified for Government Exclusion”

6. Click on it - and file your taxes

[raysim52]

The issue of the $20,000 and the remainder of my NYSLRS pension was resolved last week.

[brenec]

That sounds great!  What was done?

[raysim52]

Not sure, but I think they removed a couple of questions in the NYS section, which makes it easier to file!

The example below shows the summary page with the issue and after the issue was fixed.

Issue:

Pension Deduction Summary

   We automatically calculated your New York pension deductions.

                                                                                                           Ray

Total federal taxable non-disability pensions and IRA                   $50,000

distributions                                                                                               

New York deduction for government pensions                                        $0

New York deduction for railroad retirement                                             $0

New York deduction for other pensions                                         $20,000        

Total taxable pensions and IRA distributions                                 $30,000

Fixed:

Pension Deduction Summary

   We automatically calculated your New York pension deductions.

                                                                                                           Ray

Total federal taxable non-disability pensions and IRA                   $50,000

distributions                                                                                               

New York deduction for NYSLRS pensions                                      $50,000

New York deduction for railroad retirement                                             $0

New York deduction for other pensions                                                   $0        

Total taxable pensions and IRA distributions                                           $0

[GabiU]

Here's a link we'd like you to look at that will hopefully help you--

New York Pension Exclusion 

[brenec]

What should we do if we've already resubmitted the NYS return last week when the error appeared to be fixed (but was not)?  The return was accepted this time.

[Nuke10]

That’s what I wanna know! After

allegedly fixing it, NYS did accept my return but now says it requires further review!