Social Security/Railroad Retirement

[ssh1825]

Filling out Georgia....does this mean Social Security or Railroad Retirement?  It says contradictory things.

[BillM223]

Are you referring to this question, "Confirm or enter the amount of the Social Security/Railroad Retirement benefits that is not subject to Georgia income tax but was included in income on your federal return. Enter a zero if not applicable."?

What is contradictory?

If you received either SS or RR retirement benefits and if some of them were taxable on the federal return, enter that taxable amount here (it's probably already filled in).

Essentially, SS benefits and RR benefits are treated the same way.

Or do you mean something else?

[ssh1825]

Thank you for your response.  That's what we assumed, however, on Georgia's State under "Here's the income that Georgia handles differently"  is says just "Railroad Retirement Benefits".  When we clicked on the Learn More hyperlink for further explanation we saw Social Security/Railroad Retirement.  We were a bit confused since that's not what the other stated.  However, we decided it must be an oversight on the labeling.  

Your response confirmed our thoughts.  Thank you!

[tickingchicken]

This still doesn't make any sense, and the answer here is the opposite of what I received from a TurboTax agent today.

Why are Railroad Retirement Benefits bunched in with Social Security benefits? The Help Box states "If you used a Form 8915 to adjust your Railroad Retirement benefits on your federal return, this may impact how much you report on your Georgia tax return." Note that the help box ONLY TALKS ABOUT RAILROADS. Not about regular Social Security benefits.

There is no Form 8915 in my federal return. I've never filled out Railroad anything. I did enter an amount for my husband's Social Security benefits on my federal return, and on my state return found some random amount in the Railroad (???)  box. The TurboTax agent told me to zero out the box because Railroads. But now it's Social Security benefits AND Railroads? Randomly bunched in together?

[DaveF1006]

It depends. Go through your social security section in the federal interview and make sure you did not place a check mark in the box that says Railroad Retirement Benefits (Form RRB-1099).  Otherwise, do what the Turbo Tax agent suggests so you can move past this point.

@tickingchicken

[s-jturb0]

The wording for this part of the GA State taxes is VERY confusing. Every year, it scares me into triple-checking. I wish they'd just address Social Security Benefits separately from Railroad Retirement Benefits even if they have the same rules. I don't imagine the percentage of Georgians who have retirement from the railroad are nearly as many as receive Social Security. You mentioned that the amount of Social Security Benefits that were considered taxable on your Federal return should go here, and that it's probably already filled in. Turbotax does fill it in, but it doesn't explan that or give me a way to double check. At lest, if there is a way to peek behind the GUI and see my actual return, I don't see it. 

Turbotax, please improve this area!

[s-jturb0]

I checked again and in the area for the Federal return, in the income section, in the details for Social Security, I did NOT accidentally check the Railroad box. It's just VERY CONFUSING that, at least when dealing with the GA state taxes, they lump these two together.

[JoeBeach1]

By this discussion it appears that the GA Social Security/Railroad Retirement refers to either Social Security OR railroad retirement benefits.  And Turbotax did supply an amount in the benefits amount.  I left it there and went back to the Turbotax Overview for the state of Georgia. In that it has the Turbotax supplied amount listed next to Railroad Retirement Benefits with no mention of Social Security.  Is that an oversight or incomplete labeling of that amount on the summary?  

[AmyC]

The wording should be OR since they are both on that line. Sch 1 subtractions line 5 from the instructions page 15 state: 

5. Social Security or Railroad Retirement (Tier 1 and Tier 2) paid by the Railroad Retirement Board included in Federal adjusted gross income.

Reference: IT-511 Individual Income Tax Instruction Booklet | GA Department of Revenue