I am getting an error in my federal return. In the Personal Worksheet, Part II, if I leave the box blank that I am not anyone's dependent, I get the error. I am single, 33 years of age and I am not a dependent of anyone else, nor do I qualify to be a dependent of anyone. Turbo Tax will not allow me to leave the box empty. The amount I get back from federal increases if I leave this box blank, but decreases if I don't. I want to leave it blank.
Sorry---you have to pick "yes" or "no" to the question. There is a box on your Form 1040 that must be checked as to whether you can be claimed as someone else's dependent or not. If no one else can claim you as a dependent, you click NO.
Yes. I understand that, however, when I pick NO, MY Federal tax liability increases by $1,500
Is there a way to avoid that? Why should my tax liability increase merely because I am not anyone's dependent?
That actually makes no sense. Click your name and go back through all of the screens in My Info-- you may have some other error.
I agree it does not make sense. I have had this issue for several years now. My father has had the same error on his federal tax returns going back a couple of decades. He is 73 years of age and even in his 2023 tax return, he still gets the same error message unless he checks the No box,(which increases his federal tax liability) even though he does not qualify to be anyone's dependent. I would like TurboTax to look into this!!
What software version are you using? Are you using online or desktop?
I have used TurboTax Deluxe online for close to 30 years now. I always encounter the same error message on every desk top computer on which I've had TurboTax installed. I download TurboTax from their website every year on my Windows 10 computer.
I just went over the personal questions once again. The tab on Personal Info has several questions as follows:
1. Legally blind.....
2. Language used by IRS....
3. Passed away....
4. Can another taxpayer claim me on their tax return?
I mark "none of the above." That is the only place where the TurboTax program asks about being a dependent of anyone else.
I have not heard of any other users with this issue. So.....waiting to hear input from several others who know their way around this software to see if they have ever seen this. To be clear----you are saying that your "tax liability" increases by $1500 when you say No to the dependent question----so is your tax due or refund changing by that amount?
I have never heard of this problem in the last 13 years of answering questions on the TurboTax forums.
When you say your tax liability increases, that would only occur if your taxable income increases or you have Additional taxes from Schedule 1 Line 3.
Where are you seeing on the Form 1040 the increase in tax liability?
On your Personal Info worksheet, Part II, where asked about being claimed as a dependent the answer must be NO. That is the only box in Part II that should be checked.
Turbo Tax will not let me leave either the yes or the no boxes empty. Leaving them both blank, I get the error message. So, if I leave both boxes blank, my federal liability is $2,913, and if I mark Yes, it increases my fedeeral liability to $3,658. Marking it No it stays at $2,913 liability.
First of all if you have been using the installed Desktop program that is not the Online version. Downloading the program is not the same as using Online. Online is using the browser version and logging into an online account each time. And if you have a Personal tab at the top that is the Desktop program. Online is called My Info in a black bar down the left side.
If it has been happening for years and on different computers and returns you must be answering something wrong every time. In my Desktop program the 4 questions say...
Was Legally Blind
Change the Language
Passed away
None of the Above
The one about being claimed as a dependent is on the screen before by itself.
If a forum monitor can response they will want to see a diagnostic copy of your return. You need to post a token number here in this thread.
For Online......Go to Tax Tools/ Tools / share my file with Agent. This creates an anonymous copy of your file which is stripped of your Personal Info and uploads it to a diagnostic database for tech support and gives you a token number to identify the file. Post the token number here for the Moderator.
For Desktop program....Go up to Online > Send Tax File to Agent.
I am seeing the tax liabilities in red change at the top of the screen of Turbo Tax, depending on the yes or no answers. As I said, I answered (none of the above) in the personal questions, which really means No, to the dependent question.
Look at your actual tax return Form 1040. What is listed for your taxable income on Line 15? Is it correct?
What is listed for your tax liability on Line 16 and 17?
What? Instead of clicking NO --- you are clicking "none of the above?" When you are asked if you can be claimed as a dependent? You are looking at the wrong screen. There is a screen before that "passed away, legally blind....etc. " screen that specifically asks you if you can be claimed as someone else's dependent. You can only answer YES or NO.
Can you post a screen shot of the screen you are checking None of the Above on? And maybe the screen right before that one?
Are you on Windows or Mac? Here are the 2 screens from my Windows Desktop program.
First screen is....
Then you get the 4 question screen
Another suggestion - Start a New Tax Return, click on File at the top left of the desktop program screen. Then DO NOT transfer the 2022 tax data to the new return. Click on Continue Without Transferring. Enter your Personal information and your income and see if the problem persists.
@cgmartin wrote:Turbo Tax will not let me leave either the yes or the no boxes empty. Leaving them both blank, I get the error message. So, if I leave both boxes blank, my federal liability is $2,913, and if I mark Yes, it increases my fedeeral liability to $3,658. Marking it No it stays at $2,913 liability.
For a person over age 65
OK...Marking the dependent yes-no as a YES.....that limits your Std Deduction "UP-To" $12,250 max.
(I think the 12,250 could be an ERROR....not that an adult with that much income is allowed as a dependent))
But a NO, lets you use the higher age 65 or older Std Deduction....and drops your taxable income as a result...i.e. lower taxes....and larger refund.
I just don't know if an adult dependent over age 65 is truly limited to the 12,500...most posts I see on the subject are referring to a child, not a 65+ adult.
Well, my desktop software is using Std Ded 12,250 max or a single adult dependent, age 78 or so.
Not sure 12,250 max is even right for a teenage dependent.....seems like it should be 13,850???
(assuming one is using the 2023 software)
......maybe that is a software error. I haven't put in a teenage test file yet.
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(edited...12,250 not 12,500)
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But tried a teen dependent and it's 13,850.
Now to start a 65+ old adult again from scratch.
Interesting...put in a NEWLY created test file for an adult 77 Year old ....as a dependent....earning 20,000 wages...and he got the full age 65+ 15,700 std Ded. (But yeah maybe can't be a dependent with 20k income.)
BUT
My other already existing adult test file (age 78), I switched that individual to being a dependent, that shows 12,250 Std Ded (~100k of income though) (again, not really eligible for being a dependent)
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Still, those folks ignoring the dependent question could well be just seeing a change in the Std Dedcution...either rightly or wrongly.
Went for a walk, and light bulb went off about that one file with the Std Ded limited to $12,250.
Even though ~100k of income, most of it was SS and pension....hitting the "dependent" yes key limited the Std ded to W-2 wages (10k) plus some other unearned income (interest & dividends)...wahich happend to be 12,250. Then increasing the W-2 wages to 20k, bumped up the std ded to the full 15,700 for a 78 year old.
Still, the individual is not a dependent with that amount of income in either case.
If the OP had filled in the education credit section before going back to the MY INFO tab to indicate they were a dependent then that could explain the change in the bottom line. They may need to review the education credit section again since they were over the age of 24.
FYI ... the program works best when you follow the interview from start to finish in the order presented. Going back and making changes in the beginning can require a review of the rest of the interview especially the state tab if you make changed in the federal section.
I made two test samples of federal returns. Both identical, that of a single tax filer, with the same information in both returns, except as follows:
In sample A, where it asks in the personal worksheet: Can another tax payer claim you as a dependent? In the my case, the answer is No. However, if I mark No, the amount I get back from my federal return is $13.00
In sample B, if I leave the yes or no boxes empty as to dependency, it creates an error in my federal return, but the amount I get back from federal changes from $13.00 to $1513. I followed the path of the increase of $1,500 and it leads to Schedule 2 (Additional taxes), which is then linked to form 8962 (Premium Tax Credit) and is the amount I owed for the health plan by Covered California's advanced premiums payments.
For unknown reasons, Turbo Tax is linking the yes or no answer on dependency to the Covered California premium advances paid to me. That now seems to be the issue.
I have reviewed all personal questions asked of me numerous times, from beginning to end, and in all cases, I answered that I was not, nor could I be a dependent of anyone else (I am 30 years of age and single). So that is not an issue.
This seems to me to be a problem with Turbo Tax. The bottom line is that the amount I get back from federal should not depend or whether I am a dependent or not. Would I be able to electronically file my return with an error on the personal worksheet; I would rather get back $1513 than $13. Thanks.