Schedule A Tax and Interest Deduction Worksheet

[SED-6]

I lived in Colorado for all of 2024, from1/1/24 to 12/31/24. Depending upon where I buy something (town or county), I pay different tax rates. I want to deduct sales tax. In TurboTax, I created two different entries for the two different tax rates and entered the same Date Lived in State "From" and Date Lived in State "To" dates of 01/01/2024 - 12/31/24. TurboTax returns an error "Beginning date lived in state problem. The dates entered result in more than 366 days." The dates are correct. How do I get around this problem?

[BillM223]

You may have to enter different dates, even if they don't correspond to reality. For example, one tax rate for 01/01/2024 to 06/30/2024, and the other tax rate for 07/01/2024 to 12/31/2024.

Then make up your own spreadsheet with the correct information and dates and rates. Save the spreadsheet with your tax records. That way, if any one ever asks (to me, this seems doubtful), you can whip out your spreadsheet and show it to them. And if they ask why, explain it was to get around a limitation of the tax software.

Remember that lying to TurboTax is not the same as lying to the IRS or the State of Colorado. You're just doing what you need to get it to work.

[SED-61]

Thanks for that advice. I noticed that when I changed the date ranges for the two different tax rates as you suggested, the software changed the deduction allowed, even though the cost and sales tax data didn't change. Now, instead of the itemized sales tax deductions being more favorable, TurboTax is saying my state and local income tax deduction is more favorable. Why would this change?

[SED-61]

I experimented with 2024 date ranges for the two different tax rates I pay when purchasing something from the town or county, since TurboTax won't let me enter the entire year saying it adds up to 366 days. It looks like the longer I say I lived in a higher-tax area, the more of a state refund I receive, even though the actual costs and sales tax I paid haven't changed. This problem leads to less of an overall deduction because I still have to say I lived in a lower-tax area for at least one day in 2024. Can you help with this?

[MarilynG1]

If you had income where State Income Tax was paid (W-2, 1099-R), the State/Local Tax Deduction is usually higher than the Sales Tax Deduction (unless you had a major purchase, such as a car).

The Sales Tax Deduction is calculated based on family size and income.  Go through the Sales Tax interview again, and try entering 1/2/2024-12/31/2024 to see if your results change (not over 365 days). 

If you're using TurboTax Online, close the program, and clear your Cache and Cookies before returning to the Sales Tax interview. 

If you're using TurboTax Desktop, in FORMS mode, you can look at the calculations on the Tax and Interest Deduction Worksheet and make changes directly on the form.

Here's more info on the  Sales Tax Deduction. 

@SED-61 

[SED-61]

WRT to your question about whether I would use the state income deduction or sales tax deduction, TurboTax says the sales tax deduction is better, I assume since I bought an expensive appliance. Per your suggestions, I closed TurboTax online version, cleared cache, relauched and went through the sales tax interview again, this time entering the dates you suggested - 1/2/24-12/31/24 for each of the two different tax rates I paid. Same result: The total deduction is back to where it should be, but Smart Check is still reporting the 366 days error.

[twerkema]

I would like to report the same issue. 366 days. It was a leap year, so yes, 366 days is correct. I can change the dates, but clearly this is a bug that the programmers did not allow for leap years.