Costly TT Error

[robertrotsen]

I have filed with Turbo tax for 10+ years. An accountant alerted me that my New York state non-resident return did not claim alimony for the last 7 years despite my federal return doing so - TT zero'ed out Line 18 on the NYS return, despite including in Federal summary in same return. This seems to be a major error in TT software I did not catch for last 7 years. NYS only allows amended returns for three years from filing so I've lost $30-40K in taxes as a result for years 2015-2018. Very, very painful.

[Anonymous_]

We will report your issue to the Moderators and, in turn, to the developers.

Thank you.

[robertrotsen]

Addendum - I already amended 2021 return and NYS confirmed it is deductible and issued an additional refund.  I am now amending 2019 & 2020, but that is as far back as NY state allows you to amend.  So I lost 2015-18 in which I paid alimony and did not claimed deduction in Turbo Tax prepared NY non-resident return.  

[rjs]

TurboTax did not zero out line 18 in the New York column on your Form IT-203 New York nonresident tax return. The New York interview in TurboTax asks you how much of the alimony paid on your federal tax return should be allocated to New York. The amount on line 18 in the New York column is the amount you enter on the screen shown below. If line 18 in the New York column is blank or zero you either entered zero or left it blank.

[Opus 17]

In other words, if 50% of your total income is NY source income, you can deduct 50% of your alimony in NYS.  However, you have to do the math yourself, Turbotax does not automatically calculate it.  (You could argue it should calculate it automatically, but the question was there for you to answer.)