Unemployment Tax Relief

[thall92562]

My wife received $16525 in unemployment payments in Michigan, we are residents of California. She is a flight attendant and work in Michigan. When the update posted to TT it adjusted my federal return correctly. However on my California return it subtracted the $16525 correctly as it was earned in Michigan. However, it also added $10200 as "other income" on my California return. Shouldn't it have added the difference?

[hbl3973 · Accepted solution]

thall92562,

The "other income" is just there to erase the -10,200 figure that appears on the federal form as an adjustment to income and is copied into the 540-CA form.  I wondered about that, too, recently until I took a closer look.  CA doesn't tax unemployment income and so subtracts the 1099-G amount, not the net taxable amount, and so needs to "erase" the adjustment.