NY Tax Form IT-203 Line 18 and SSN on NY Tax Form IT-558

[DMITRA]

New York State Tax Department informed us that our IT-203, Line 19 (derived from Lines 17 and 18) , New York State amount was incorrect. This led to an incorrect New York tax calculation by TurboTax. We were billed for additional tax and paid it.

Line 19 is for the "Federal adjusted gross income". Only the New York State amount was considered incorrect. Line 19 is calculated by subtracting Line 18 from Line 17. Line 17 was correct. So the real problem, as per New York State Tax department was with Line 18.
The "Federal amount" was correct. The "New York State amount" was not. This is how IT-203 instructions describes Line 18, New York State amount: "Enter that part of the federal amount that represents adjustments related to income you received as a nonresident that was derived from or connected with New York State sources."

The clause "enter that part of the federal amount" essentially implies that the New York State amount on Line 18 could only be less than or equal to the Federal amount on the same line.

Mistake 1 (on IT-203):
**On line 18, TurboTax entered a New York State amount larger than the Federal amount**

There was another mistake. This was on IT-558, where the name and the SSN of the taxpayer are entered. The IT-558 instruction says: "if you are filing a joint personal income tax return, enter both spouses’ names and the SSN of the taxpayer listed first on your Form IT-203".

Mistake 2 (on IT-558):
**TurboTax entered, on IT-558, the SSN of the taxpayer listed SECOND on the form IT-203**

[Critter-3]

Sounds like date entry errors by the user however you may want to look into these guarantees: 

• Our TurboTax Satisfaction Guaranteed Refund Policy
• What is the TurboTax 100% Accurate Calculation Guarantee?
• What is the TurboTax Audit Support Guarantee?

[DMITRA]

Not sure how you arrive at the "user error" conclusion. It's definitely not a data entry error. Here is why.

IT-203 Line 18 was correct on the "Federal" section but incorrect on the "New York State" section. There is no separate data entry for the "New York State" section. It is derived, by TurboTax, from the federal return. It seems that TurboTax did not code the New York State guideline correctly. It's a programming error.

The same problem exists with the IT-558. The incorrect entry is not some data separately entered by the user. It is derived from IT-203 on which it is correct. Again, it is a programming error.

Sadly, the "100% Accurate Calculation Guarantee" does not guarantee any accuracy. It is not even applicable unless one had to pay a penalty or interest as a result of a calculation mistake by TurboTax. There is no redress for the additional time spent by the user figuring out the problem or for submitting an amended return. So, the text of the guarantee is somewhat misleading.

[Critter-3]

Complaining  here on this public forum  will get you nowhere ... put in for an accuracy guarantee if you believe the program did something incorrectly.   Or call TT support directly         

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1899263-what-is-the-turbotax-phone-number

[DMITRA]

I respectfully object to the negative tone.

I am sharing some information with the user community. I have two objectives:

(1) Somebody else facing the same problem may come across my post and provide, or get, further insight.

(2) Somebody from TurboTax support may be watching the forum and decide to investigate the matter further and evaluate the information provided. I shall appreciate that.

As I said, the “accuracy guarantee” is only for cases where additional penalty or interest was applied (not my case). I already tried it. That is what TurboTax informed me.

Thank you.