Possible glitch in turbotax 2019 IT-201 form

[mnovikova]

When was entering my 2019 income tax information into turbotax, I entered estimated tax I paid to NY State and City. Both payments were reflected on the tax worksheet form, however only the state payment was posted into IT-201 form. That resulted in my overpayment to NY who  recalculating my tax owed to them. Was it a glitch in the turbotax software?

[rjs · Accepted solution]

Individuals do not pay New York City tax separately from New York State tax. The city tax is included in your state tax return. When you pay estimated tax to New York State it is for both your state and city taxes.

Nevertheless, if you entered a payment of local estimated tax to New York City in TurboTax, it should be included in the total estimated tax payments on Form IT-201 line 75. There is only one line on Form IT-201 for combined state and city estimated tax. You said that both payments were shown on the "tax worksheet form." Do you mean the Tax Payments Worksheet? There are two Tax Payment Worksheets in TurboTax, one in the federal tax return and one in the New York tax return. Which one are you looking at? On the federal Tax Payments Worksheet, is the city payment listed in the Local column, and does it have NYC in the ID column? On the New York Tax Payments Worksheet, is the city payment listed in the New York City column?

If the city payment appears in the Local column of the federal Tax Payments Worksheet with NYC in the ID column, then it should appear in the New York City column of the New York Tax Payments Worksheet, and the amount on line 75 of Form IT-201 should be the total of both the state and city payments. This does work correctly in TurboTax.

[mnovikova]

Thank you so much for your reply. Answering your questions:In Turbo Tax under Federal Taxes - Deductions and Credits - Estimates and Other Income Tax Paid, there were three choices for me to enter: a) Federal Estimated Taxes for 2019 (Form 1040ES), b) State estimated taxes paid, c) local Estimated Taxes paid. Each had a table of all 4 qtrs due dates lines whereby, based on the payment day, I entered the paid amount . I completed all three windows (choices). That was the only place that I found for entering my payments for estimated taxes. This information was automatically posted by the system into the Federal Tax Payments Worksheet and had appeared there correctly in the Federal, State and Local columns. However, the system did not automatically (which I assume should have been) posted my City payment to the State Tax  Payment Worksheet and subsequently into my IT-201 form. Also, as I had chosen for the system to walk me through step by step, it had not automatically brought me to the estimated tax payment choice, and I had to find it manually. And yes, the line 75 in my It-201 local form included the State payment only. I guess that next year, I would need to enter the combine State and City estimated payment to the State line only under Federal,  

[rjs]

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@mnovikova wrote:

I guess that next year, I would need to enter the combine State and City estimated payment to the State line only under Federal,  

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That would certainly work. But still, the city payment should have been included automatically. Here are two things you might check.

1. If you are using the CD/Download TurboTax software, make sure your software is up to date. See the following FAQ for instructions to check for updates. If it installs any updates, go back to your New York tax return and see if the city payment is now included on IT-201 line 75.

How do I update my TurboTax CD/Download software program?

2. Take another look at the federal Tax Payments Worksheet. You said the city payment appears in the Local column, but you didn't say what's in the ID column under Local. Does it say NYC, or something else? If it does not say NYC you might have accidentally selected the wrong locality name when you entered it.

[mnovikova]

Yes, I used CD software deluxe, and it updates the software automatically every time I open it to continue my income tax. I also never submit it in the same day I finish it so it does updates itself. And yes, I entered NYC code in the software when was asked to enter W-2 taxes for the state and city  (I have both forms w-2 and 1099-misc). so the screens  I worked on was for NY only. But If I wanted to do or use another locality, I would’ve needed to pay fees first  and then the system would allow me to switch to a different state. Thank you very much for your answers. In some way, it was very helpful for me to know where to put in my attention and also the point that I did pay one amount to the state for both the city & state.  I would be curious about how other people did it.