On my ohio state taxes under the college saving accounts (529) entry it is asking for Prior year unused Amounts. What does this mean?

[jeff-coffey]

I have one child in college and they used most of their balance last year.

[KrisD · Accepted solution]

It is asking for any carry-over contributions you might have. If last year you made a contribution over the limit and the credit was limited, the excess contributions would have been carried over. 

[hoffcg]

On that TurboTax screen where it's calculating your State tax deductions based on your 529 plan contributions, there are three columns (something to this effect):  Beneficiary Name, Contribution Amount, Unused Amount.  The Contribution Amount you should be able to see online with your 529 provider website or in the statements you receive by email/mail.  That's the total amount you contributed to each beneficiary's account last year.   I live in Ohio, and use their 529 Plan.  Their plan limit is $4,000 for tax deduction purposes (you can put more in, but only $4,000 is tax deductable).   So for example, if you contributed $5,000 to Child A, you put that amount in the Contribution Amount column on the TurboTax screen, and the $1,000 in the Unused Amount field (because $5,000-$4,000=$1,000).  Since there is no in-line screen help for 529 Plans in TurboTax, I had to use the Chat agent for help and read thru the Ohio 529 Plan help screens to figure this out.