PA State form in TurboTax is showing a "capital gain/loss or Coverdale ESA distribution" that's not on my federal form

[jlaker66]

Hi, I've been using Turbo Tax Premier for well over 10 years, but I've never seen anything like this.

I completed the Federal section via Q&A method, now working on my state (PA).  TurboTax is showing a $188,000.00 "capital gain/loss or Coverdell ESA distribution".  Where is it getting this from?

We didn't sell any property in 2019, and we don't have a Coverdell (or any) student savings plan from which a distribution was taken.

We own a few rental properties, but they were bought in 2011, and still owned by us.  Other than that, we had some CDs mature, which we reinvested into new CDs, and I don't think those count as "capital" gains, and they certainly weren't in an education savings plan.

I don't seem to have the option to remove this, I can only hit a check box that says it's not taxable in my state, but I need it to go away entirely.

Help!  Thanks!

[jlaker66]

I'll answer my own question, since I can't seem to find a way to delete (only edit) a question after posting.

This seems to be a byproduct of the way my bank handled the sale of a CD.  It posts as a capital sale, but for the exact same price I paid (therefore zero capital gain), and the interest is instead reported on another form.

I'm slightly concerned this is going to set off someone's bat signal, since I now have several capital sales that all resulted in exactly net zero gain (again, interest reported by same bank on another form), but at least I know why it's doing this.

[pww1]

I have the same issue with my 2020 return.  On the Federal form, have a short term capital gain, but on the PA state tax form it is showing as a Coverdell ESA distribution, despite the fact that I don't have and have never had a Coverdell ESA account.  The only thing unusual about this particular short term gain is that it was for the sale of a Put contract, and therefore the cost is zero.  All the other gains reported have a none zero cost basis.

I'm pretty sure it is a bug in the Turbo Tax software that they need to fix.

[ConnieCP]

I'm having a similar problem. Hope they get this fixed. My capital gain from 1099B is straight forward.

[pww1]

Connie, I phoned in to the tax help, and shared my screen, and he noticed that the screen actually asked to determine owner of 1099B OR Coverdell - It is not very clear because they are asking about two totally different types of accounts in the same window, but the word "or" is critical to understanding.  After reviewing don't think it is a bug in the program, just could be presented in a clearer fashion.

[dlivesay]

Mine does not say OR, and I don't recognize the amount as being close to anything else. This is DEFINITELY a bug! How do you phone in for help? I don't see a phone number anywhere.

[AmyC]

You can fill this form out for someone to call you. They can help with your 1099-B, screen, or whatever you need.

@dlivesay

[dlivesay]

It turns out this is caused by a bug in the way the state program handles data imported from a financial service. Items that should be ignored, because the net gain/loss is zero, are nevertheless imported. The program then asks questions about them without identifying what they are or where they came from. I had to go through the imported forms and delete the ones that should have been ignored.