How do I deduct alimony in California state taxes?

[olaffish]

In Federal questions, Turbo Tax asked about alimony paid. Since my divorce finalized in 2021, it's not deductible for Federal. But alimony IS deductible for California. But it doesn't appear that Turbo Tax applied the info I supplied in the Federal questions to my CA taxes. It does not say anything at all about alimony in the CA questions. Am I supposed to just enter it as an Adjustment to Income (Subtraction)? But the form doesn't give me the opportunity to put in ex's name and SSN. What gives???

[JohnW152]

No, don't do that.  

I can't really tell if you're saying you entered your alimony into federal or not.  To enter your alimony paid on your state return, you’ll need to enter it in the Federal portion of TurboTax.

Even if though it may not be deductible on your federal return, the information will flow into your state return.

In TurboTax Online:

1. If you’re on the Hi TurboTax Client, let's keep working on your taxes! screen, click the Pick up where you left off button

2. Click Federal in the left pane, if you’re not already there

3. Click Deductions & Credits in the banner

4. Scroll down and click Show more to the right of Other Deductions and Credits

5. Click Start to the right of Alimony Paid

6. Enter all relevant information on the subsequent screens

[olaffish]

Yes, I already entered all the alimony info ($ amount, ex’s name and SSN) into the federal section. It’s just that TT is NOT giving me ANY indication it carried that info into my CA taxes. And of course I can’t see it until I pay and file, by which time it’s too late to fix it if the info is not there. Sounds like you’re 100% sure that if I entered the info into the federal section it will automatically carry into my CA taxes? I’d hate to be wrong and miss a huge deduction. 

[olaffish]

…sorry to add on. It really doesn’t appear that TT is carrying over the Alimony info I entered in the federal section into the CA section. For example, there is a screen that says Here’s the Income that CA Handles Differently. And it shows only HSA, with the amount that I had entered in the Federal section. If TT automatically incorporates Alimony into CA, why doesn’t this screen also list Alimony and the amount I entered in the Federal section? It’s a huge amount so I really don’t want to get this wrong. And it’s so frustrating not to be able to see the populated form until I pay and file. Thanks for any additional insight you can provide.

[RaifH]

While you can't view Sch CA until you pay, you can see the net California adjustments. To do this:

1. Open or continue your return.
2. Select Tax Tools in the left menu (if you don't see this, select the menu icon in the upper-left corner).
3. With the Tax Tools menu open, you can then view your 1040 form: Select Tools. Next, select View Tax Summary in the pop-up, then CA Tax Summary in the left menu.

The Net California adjustments on the second line should include your alimony paid. Please note this may not be the exact amount of alimony you paid because there may be other adjustments that are also reported on Sch CA.

[olaffish]

Awesome it worked!