Can I E-File If All W-2 Income Applied To Estimated Taxes?

[Lorob1]

Hello,

I have a small amount of W-2 income which I apply 100% (less SS & Medicare withholding) to my estimated state taxes.  Due to this election, TurboTax has not allowed me to e-file in the past.  On one occasion,  I was blocked from e-filing after I had already paid a fee.

To avoid the hassle, can anyone tell me in advance whether payment of all W-2 income to estimated taxes will disqualify e-filing this year?

Thank you,      

[VolvoGirl]

You can't apply INCOME to estimated taxes.   Do you mean you had all the wages on your W2 go to state taxes paid in W2 box 17?  Or you had a state refund applied to the next year?

If you used the Online version the fees are to prepare the return whether you Efile or print and mail.  Efiling is free and included.  Or are you using the Desktop CD/Download program?

[Lorob1]

Volvo Girl,

Thanks for quick reply.  Yes, all of my W2 wages were applied to Box 17.  I am using desktop program for Fed and California.  In the past, my election to apply all of my wages to state income taxes (box 17) blocked me from e-filing.  I would typically get almost all the way through the process and then receive an error when I tried to transmit. 
Does anyone know if that's still the case?

Thanks for your time.

[Hal_Al]

Q. In the past, my election to apply all of my wages to state income taxes (box 17) blocked me from e-filing. Does anyone know if that's still the case?

A. Yes.  TurboTax (TT)doesn't believe (won't accept) the fact that 100% of your wages went to state withholding. 

What I don't know, for sure, is whether it is a state rule or a TT rule (or both) that prevents e-filing.  Either way, you will have to paper mail your state return. 

[SteamTrain]

What you should probably do for the future, to allow simpler e-filing.

Stop most of, or all of that state withholding (or limit to somewhere less than ~20% of box 16 $$).

Then, instead, make separate quarterly estimated tax payments to the state to make up the difference.

_________

We've seen this in the past, where a state tax return cannot be e-filed if the box 17 state withholding is greater than some limited-% of the box 16 value.   Recall that it may vary from 25% to perhaps 50% depending on the state....but my memory is a bit hazy on that.  (Not even sure if 20% would be allowed).....nor have I seen any documents establishing what the cutoff limit actually might be for one or all states.

Yeah, you have to remember to make those separate quarterly estimated payments yourself, before-or-on-time each quarter, but right now it's the only way to avoid that particular state e-file blockage issue.

________

Could be a Fed e-file limit for box 2 Fed withholding being over some % of box 1 too???