Why is the Wisconsin-specific interest included in Wisconsin state tax form?

[marks818]

On my Wisconsin state form Schedule AD, the State and Municipal Interest is not being reduced by the Wisconsin-specific interest earned. The Smart Worksheet shows the correct number on line a) (Interest earned on Wisconsin state and municipal obligations), but it shows 0 for line b), (Wisconsin state and municipal obligations exempt from both federal and Wisconsin tax), which is the "exempt" amount. How do I reduce the State and Municipal interest by the Wisconsin-specific interest that was earned?

[DaveF1006]

After reviewing this Turbo Tax link, I see where you should be able to click in the brown area and line B. This will allow you to correct the exempt amount. This is an allowable adjustment to make directly into the worksheet.

[marks818]

Is it a bug in the online TurboTax software that the exempt amount wasn't filled out automatically?  Or did I do something incorrectly when I entered the information which caused the issue?

How do I modify the "brown area" that was mentioned?  I found out about the "Smart Worksheet" by downloading a copy of my tax forms along with the worksheets to my local drive and looking at the results.  So I was not accessing the Smart Worksheet through TurboTax directly.  Thanks.

[marks818 · Accepted solution]

Under the Income section of the Wisconsin state form, TurboTax has this option:  "WI Interest from State and Municipal Obligations".  This option listed the correct dollar amount in the margin, but did not apply it by reducing the income by that amount.  I discovered that one has to click on the Edit button for that option and then type in the amount that is deductible.  By default, TurboTax assumes $0 is deductible.  Once I entered the correct amount, the income total reduced by that amount.

[64dancer]

I was wondering if you ever figured out line b?  However, I cannot figure out how to fill in line a. Do you know how you did that?

To fill in line b, when you are entering the 1099-DIV, be sure to enter the Tax-Exempt Interest Dividends.  After entering the 1099-DIV, a series of questions come up. When it asks, "Tell us more about your exempt-interest dividends", select, "I earned exempt-interest dividends in more than one state". Then select "Multiple States" and "WI". Put the exempt dollars associated with WI in the WI row & the remainder with Multiple States.

[64dancer]

You were working with Marks818 about line b of the Smart Worksheet for Schedule AD for WI. I need help with line a. I have the online version of TT and cannot figure out where to answer a question that will populate line a. 

To fill in line b, when you are entering the 1099-DIV, be sure to enter the Tax-Exempt Interest Dividends.  After entering the 1099-DIV, a series of questions come up. When it asks, "Tell us more about your exempt-interest dividends", select, "I earned exempt-interest dividends in more than one state". Then select "Multiple States" and "WI". Put the exempt dollars associated with WI in the WI row & the remainder with Multiple States.

[marks818]

I was able to get this to work, both in 2020 and 2021.  I have already filed my 2021 returns, so I don't think TurboTax will allow me to go back to figure out what I did.  My 2021 Smart Worksheet does have both line "a" and line "b" filled out with the same value.  I remember multiplying the "Exempt Interest Dividends" amount by the percent that belonged to Wisconsin.  That product is what I entered for the Wisconsin amount.  It showed up in the Smart Worksheet on line "a" and line "b".  When I entered that value, I thought I did the same thing that you described.  But there may have been some other thing I checked or filled out that I am not remembering.  One thing you can double check is to make sure the sum of the Wisconsin amount and "all the rest" amount is equal to the original Exempt Interest Dividends figure.

[64dancer]

Thank you for responding. I have done all that and just cannot figure out why line a is zero. I even deleted the entire 1099-DIV and went through all the questions again, but same thing happened. I am obviously missing a question somewhere. Hopefully someone else will see this and be able to help. 

[marks818]

One more thing I might suggest.  If your line 'b' is filled out, you could check line 1 of Schedule AD to see if the value was reduced by the amount on your line 'b'.  I believe that adjustment is ultimately is what you are after.  But yes, line 'a' should be filled out as well.

[64dancer]

Good thought, but no, Schedule AD Line 1 is NOT reduced. That's what started all this searching to begin with and I discovered the "Smart" Worksheet was missing line a.

[64dancer]

I wanted to get back to you on why I had no number on line a. I deleted my 1099-DIV a 2nd time and went back through the questions to see what I was missing. I just happened to enter Wisconsin FIRST this time and Multiple States SECOND. and voila, it worked. The correct number went to line a on the Smart Worksheet. In 2020, I must have just done that the first time around and that was why I didn't have any problems. I have now made a note to do this from now on. Order shouldn't matter, but I guess it does in Turbo Taxes software - at least for the online version.

[marks818]

I am glad to hear you were able to get it to work.  It looks like you found a bug.  TurboTax should either accept the  Multiple States entry at any position, or TurboTax should give an error explaining the Multiple States entry must be last.  Thanks for letting me know.