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Returning Member
posted Mar 27, 2021 6:04:50 PM

Underpayment penalty - Minnesota

Annoyed! I paid in withholding and estimated taxes to qualify for what is referred to as safe harbor in MN as the total was $1 more than tax owed for 2019. But Turbo somehow decided I had not evenly paid it over the year and calculated a $31 late underpayment penalty. I was willing to pay that and get my taxes done. I paid for the state e-filing and after payment, Turbo now tells me I cannot e-file the state with the underpayment statement form the chose to use and I must file by mail. How do I get my money back? And filing by mail, believe me I will not be paying a penalty!

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18 Replies
Employee Tax Expert
Mar 28, 2021 10:59:54 AM

Please go back to your state estimated payments and ensure that the correct date paid was entered for each quarterly estimated payment. It might have defaulted to a date paid of 7/15/2020 for the first two estimates. Per the 2020 M15 Instructions, the due dates were 4/15/20, 7/15/20, 9/15/20  and 1/15/21. If the dates are not correct, it could trigger an underpayment penalty. Therefore, please enter the actual dates you paid the estimates. I have attached a picture below for additional guidance. 

 

 

To review your estimates entered, please follow the steps below: 

  1. Open your tax return.
  2. Search for estimated tax payments with the magnifying glass tool on the top of the page. 
  3. Click on the Jump to estimated tax payments link at the top of the search results.
  4. Click on Continue next to State estimated taxes for 2020.
  5. Ensure all information (especially the date paid) is accurate.

New Member
Apr 14, 2021 9:32:29 PM

I did underpay and deserve a penalty.

You do not support this, but you charged me for state before you told me that.

 

DO NOT CHARGE FOR A SERVICE YOU CANNOT DO.

 

GIVE ME MY MONEY BACK.  

Returning Member
Apr 28, 2021 9:57:53 AM

I was surprised that I owed a penalty, so double-checked that my Minnesota estimated taxes were entered correctly. On the interview screen, it looked alright.  So I saved a copy of the return, but have not mailed it in.

As I look at it more closely, I see that TT does not show my estimated taxes correctly.   And since I paid (stupid, I now know), I can't even go back and check again or make any adjustments.

 

I think TT is broken, at least for Minnesota returns with estimated taxes.  I will have to do this by hand now.

Can I please get a refund?

 

 

Can I get my money back please?

Returning Member
Apr 28, 2021 10:11:17 AM

And just to be a little more precise,  on line 14, of four M15, "Credits", where the estimated taxes should show up,  TT has   0 for column A and  0 for column B; the number in column C is the sum of my actual payments for the first 3 periods, and column D has some number which I haven't been able to figure out yet. 

New Member
May 5, 2021 2:47:42 PM

Similar issue, I owe penalty for MN and TT asked if I wanted to annualize my MN income to try and reduce the amount which I said no since it tells you that you cannot electronically file if you annualize your income.  After buying the state electronic filing TT rejects my return saying I used the Underpayment Statement (which TT did some calculation on and filled in M15 line 22) and have to mail my return.  I can't override what it did.

 

Obviously need a refund of the state filing fee and very unhappy that it looks like I may need to mail my return. 

 

TT fix your programing error!  

New Member
May 11, 2021 2:22:34 PM

Followed your instructions on the help page.   They did not work.   Still had a payment penalty.  

BUT, Turbo Tax charged me $50 to file and cannot file my Minnesota taxes.

I am due a $50.00 refund!

HELP!   What to do next?   Time is running out!   But I need a refund!

 

New Member
May 15, 2021 9:26:44 AM

Same complaint already posted by someone else. I paid $25 for MN e-file but TurboTax then told me I could not file because I had an underpayment. I deserve the underpayment but I don't deserve the $25 charge. How do I get my money back?

Returning Member
May 15, 2021 10:08:30 AM

Just to be clear,  my issue is not so much the inconvenient need to print and mail in the return.  As annoying as that is, that is due to Minnesota's rules, not TT.

 

My issue is that TT is not handling my estimated payments correctly.  I even confirmed this with a call to the Mn State support line.   That is a real bug in TT and I am frustrated that there is no way to get through to TT.  

 

I don't understand their "support" structure at all.  They keep sending me "awards" for posting, etc. Clearly, they are not reading any of this.

 

Regardless, I am done with TT for the state.   It can't be trusted.

Returning Member
May 15, 2021 10:16:22 AM

What if you can't open your return?

Unfortunately I filed my federal, thinking I could continue to work on the state.  However, now I can't "open" anything.  Apparently because I've paid,  and because TT (mistakenly) computed a penalty, TT assumes that I am printing and mailing it in.  

 

Lessons learned:

1.  Do not pay TT until the very, very end.

2.  Do not use TT for state returns. It is not reliable.

New Member
May 17, 2021 9:13:23 PM

     Turbotax computed my Minnesota tax for 2020 properly, (I THINK), but did not print any quarterly estimated payment receipts for 2021 like they did for my Federal return. 
     Does this mean I am not required to pay any quarterlies for 2021 and January 2022? 
     I attempted to pay what I think my quarterly should be, but Minnesota's internet links did not work.  In fact, Minnesota links indicate the first quarterly was due back in April, but the returns for both Federal and State were not due until today - 17 May. 

     This is totally confusing, and since my tax is relatively small, I elected to ignore the quarterly payment.  Also, I expect losses for next year... and the only real income for 2021 will be from Social Security.  Should I worry about anything?
    Grr. 

New Member
Mar 30, 2022 2:44:21 PM

I have the same issue with TT not entering my MN Estimated Taxes when calculating an underpayment penalty.  When will this be fixed?  On Form M1 both Lines 20 and 21 should be added together to get the total taxes paid.  

Expert Alumni
Mar 30, 2022 5:21:40 PM

Form M1 is the main form and lines 20, 21, and 22 add together to get line 23 total payments to MN. Line 21 comes from the Tax Payment Worksheet, found in your file as Tax Pymt Wks. It is entered in the federal section and you have to select the state.

Please review your federal entry. To do this:

  1. Open your return
  2. Go to federal Deductions and Credits
  3. Scroll down to Estimates and Other Taxes Paid
  4. Select to start/ edit/ update/ revisit Estimates
  5. Select State estimated taxes for 2021, start/ visit/ update
  6. Did you pay state estimated taxes? Yes
  7. continue
  8. select the state, enter date and amount
  9. done

 

 

If you still have trouble, you can send us a “diagnostic” file that has your “numbers” but not your personal information.  If you would like to do this, here are the instructions: 

 

If you are online, go to tax tools>tools > share file with agent > 6 digit number pops up.

If on desktop, go to online >send tax file to agent > number pops.

 

Reply with # here and @AmyC please

@Unhappy MN

New Member
Apr 18, 2022 10:36:43 AM

You charge me $25 for MN state e-file and at the last step for e-filing tell me that because of underpayment penalty of $1 (which I am not understanding, because for 2021 I am getting a refund). Why should I go through all the nonsense and try to print 100 pages for mailing. Give me my $25 back plus 2 hours of my time. Looks like this will be the last time using TT for tax filing.

 

--very unhappy customer :(

Returning Member
Apr 4, 2023 1:53:29 PM

Unfortunately, it is April 2023 and I am having the same issues as other people have posted above.  Could Turbo Tax look at the Minnesota M15 schedule and fix the entire thing so that the glitches stop happening?  I submitted my return to Minnesota and Minnesota rejected it because of issues with the M15 schedule as generated by turbo tax. Now it is telling me I can't e-file and need to send the tax via regular mail. 

The same problem happening as shown in this forum over the last few years and TT still has not fixed it. 

Disappointed.

 

Expert Alumni
Apr 4, 2023 6:28:23 PM

The code for this rejection is for the selection to annualize Minnesota income for purposes of calculating the underpayment penalty. If you select Yes, to use that method, e-filing will not be supported because it uses  Annualized Income Installment Worksheet. With this option, printing and mailing the return to the Minnesota Department of Revenue is required. 


If you select No, to the question "Would you like to see if annualizing your Minnesota Income can reduce your Minnesota Penalty?" it should it should still be eligible for e-filing with the Minnesota Department of Revenue. 


  

Returning Member
Apr 4, 2023 7:14:49 PM

TeresaM, thanks for the reply but you are wrong. I answered No to the question "Would you like to see if annualizing your Minnesota Income can reduce your Minnesota Penalty?

Thus, to save time I chose to keep the penalty and e filed my return.  However, it was rejected by the state because there is a glitch in Turbo Tax's Schedule M15 creating an error of decimals. The code I got for the rejection said that in schedule 15 Line 22, the result should be equal to the addition of the components of line 21.  The result of line 22 should have been $ 5.55 (the penalty).  Turbo tax has it in the schedule M15 as $5, thus triggering the rejection of my state return. Again, the reason for the rejection is that $5. and $5.55 do not match.   I was on the phone with turbotax for 1 hour and they could not fix this problem. 

Level 1
Apr 4, 2023 7:40:34 PM

I too have the same problem. I overpaid estimated taxes get it computes an underpayment penalty of $2. I'm fine with that as long as it doesn't use the Annualized Income Installment Worksheet.

 

I checked the M15 form and see that it has the wrong data for Line21 (my first estimated tax payment is not there).

 

Do you know if M15 can be edited manually? I tried to but was unsuccessful.

 

I obviously don't have a solution. Hopefully adding more information to your question can help someone troubleshoot this problem.

 

 

Level 1
Apr 7, 2023 7:16:10 AM

FYI - 

 

An update to TurboTax on April 6th fixed the problem for me. I resubmitted it, and it was accepted.

 

So it was a software problem, not my user error.