In the MA program, TTax appears to be double-counting income earned in another state. I was forced to tell Step-by-Step to count only income earned in MA to get it to accurately include ALL W-2 income from ALL states. But HELP! Now TTax is telling me that I cannot e-file because I have included only income earned in MA. This is not true. Is there an error in the MA program? How can I fix this?
If you are filing a MA resident return, MA taxes you on all your income, but gives you a credit for taxes paid vto other states
Understood. The way it should be. But that's not my question, nor does it explain why TTax double-counts non-MA source income simply because the out-of-state employer (correctly) entered income # twice--once for the second state. (once for MA, state of residency). Doesn't mean they paid twice! (By way of example: They also entered the same # for Federal income and also repeated it in SS Wages box. Doesn't mean the wages got paid multiple times!) Failure to fix this means I cannot e-file; TTax states that it also means they aren't reporting non-MA source income, which is false and problematical. (They just aren't reporting it twice.) Anyone else find this problem? I saw someone from RI who mentioned double-count of MA source income.
If your W-2 shows two lines for State Income/State Tax Paid, only enter one line for State Income/State Tax (whichever state had State Tax withheld).
One line may have MA, with an income amount/tax paid amount.
The other line may have a state abbreviation (NY, for example) and may have an income amount shown, but no State Tax withheld.
If this applies, don't enter this line. If you are a a MA Resident, TurboTax will add both Income lines together to report your total income in MA.
If the second line shows another state (NY, for example) and an Income Amount/Tax Withheld amount, don't enter the Income Amount, just the Tax Paid amount for the other state.
Click this link for more info on filing Multiple State Returns.