Where do I enter New York State teacher union dues for NYS taxes?

[ChristieB · Accepted solution]

Union dues will be entered in your Federal portion of TurboTax, and then automatically transfer over to your New York return. 

To get to this screen, follow the instructions below: 

When logged into Turbo Tax: 

1.) Click Federal

2.) Deductions & Credits

3.) Employment Expenses

4.) Job Expenses for W-2 Income

5.) Click Yes to having these types of expenses, and then answer the questions that follow

6.) When you arrive at the screen that says Any other expenses? Enter your Union Dues here. 

Unfortunately, while union dues are technically 100% deductible this year, they are only such if you Itemize your returns on your New York state return. 

If your Standard Deduction is still higher than the sum of all of your Itemized Deductions, it will automatically apply your standard deduction on line 34 of your New York IT-201 return in order to give you the most benefit. This is why you might not see anything change when you enter this information. 

[jeffecohen]

TurboTaxChristieB: Perhaps you can answer this related question?
Can a RETIRED NYC teacher deduct union dues (I am itemizing on my NY return)? If yes, great, but if no, would I subsequently not be required to report any medical reimbursements I received as a result of my union membership (dental, glasses, hearing aids)?
BTW - the union dues deduction is, as of 2/22, not carrying over from the Fed Misc Dedns form to the NYS return if they are entered on the form vs. by the step-by-step interview. The numbers need to be entered directly onto IT-196 Line 21.
Thanks !

[sandydell]

I entered union dues where you said in Federal, and it transferred to NY State, but it also left them on my Federal return where union dues are no longer allowed for W-2 Income. How do I add them to State but not Federal?

[jeffecohen]

I'm not an expert, but if you add union dues to the fed return they will be disallowed. If you don't want to take any chances, don't enter them onto the fed return at all. Just enter them directly onto NYS IT-196 Line 21 (you'll need to do this from the FORMS view).

[sandydell]

Thank you for your prompt answer. I didn't think to insert it on the Forms view.
As it turned out, without the union dues, my employee expenses didn't quite exceed 2% so none of my employee expenses ended up on the Federal return after all. However, TurboTax did transfer them to the state return. (NY State allows you to itemize on the state even if you didn't on the Federal.).
It really sucks that the new tax act took away all of those deductions. I have less than half the deductions I was able to take last year and my taxable income is more than double.

[cparke3]

I'm using TurboTax FreeFile Online Edition, and I really can't find a way to do this!

There is no 'Forms' view in this edition.  There is a section on the Federal itemized deductions for Job-Related expenses, but Union Dues is not specifically listed and instead must be entered into a free-form textbox on the last screen for "Other Job-Related Expenses."

I'm aware the 2018 federal tax law changes eliminated the Union Dues miscellaneous itemized deduction (which was also subject to the 2% AGI limit).  But New York not only did not adopt the federal tax law changes, not only now allows you itemize deductions on the state return even if you didn't, but it also added an itemized deduction "Addition Adjustment" on Form IT-196 Line 44 to get a deduction on the 2% AGI floor disallowed amount on 4 special categories of miscellaneous itemized deduction (which includes Union Dues)!  However, it seems TurboTax FreeFile edition has no way to access this form to enter the amount.

Maybe I'm missing something?  It seems TurboTax didn't make provisions for this special handling by NY.

[jeno1]

I have entered my union dues as explained, but they still are not showing up on New York State itemized deductions.

Why?

[JotikaT2]

It depends.

You will need to confirm the total of your itemized deductions in New York exceeds your standard deduction as shown in the link below.

New York Standard Deduction amounts

If the total of your itemized deductions is below the standard deduction, you will not be able to deduct your union dues.

If your itemized deductions exceed the standard deduction, please comment so we can assist you further.

[nathanbaum]

itemized deductions exceeds the standard deduction, but the union dues are still not getting deducted by Turbotax.

[ErnieS0]

CORRECTED RESPONSE to show union dues are deductible in full in New York as an itemized deduction, though any portion limited by the 2% deduction for income will need to be added as a manual adjustment.

New York allows you to deduct union dues in full. TurboTax will add your union dues to Form IT-196, line 21 (unreimbursed employee expenses), but will subtract 2% of your New York income from your allowable deduction.

You can add the balance on line 44. You will need TurboTax CD/Download to make this entry. If none of your union dues were deductible because of the 2% threshold, you can deduct them in full on line 44.

See How do I switch from TurboTax Online to TurboTax CD/Download?

1. Tap Forms in the top right corner
2. In the left column (Forms in My Return) find IT-196 and tap to open the form
3. Scroll down to line 44 (Addition adjustments). You can enter the amount there or tap the magnifying glass. Doing this will carry you to Itemized
4. Deduction Schedule Addition Adjustments.
5. Enter the rest of your union dues on line 4
6. Once you are done, tap Step-by-Step where Forms used to be to return to the interview mode.

See page 19 of Instructions for Form IT-196.

[Edited 03/18/23 | 16:10 PST]

[sswariaootghg]

You are giving incorrect information. In New York, the full amount of union dues are deductible. The amount disallowed by the 2% floor is supposed to appear on Line 44. Why does TurboTax not do this automatically? The whole point of using this software is so the user doesn't have to be a tax expert. If I didn't know I was entitled to deduct the full amount of my union dues in New York, TurboTax would never tell me and I would lose hundreds of dollars.

[NeverRight]

Score!  The "Tax Expert" was wrong.  The Instructions for IT-196 (Line 44) provide both a formula and an example to show how to add a big chunk of the union dues that was excluded by the 2% floor.

Why Turbo Tax can't do this is enough to send me to a CPA or EA. The whole point of using the software is to address situations like this.  New York has made their itemization rules more complex than they probably need to, but in their defense, it gives professionals (I'm an actor, and proud Union member) a deduction that is not allowed on the IRS 1040.  

[ErnieS0]

Yes. You are correct NeverRight. New York allows you to deduct union dues in full. TurboTax will add your union dues to Form IT-196, line 21 (unreimbursed employee expenses), but will subtract 2% of your New York income from your allowable deduction.

You can add the balance on line 44. You will need TurboTax CD/Download to make this entry.

See How do I switch from TurboTax Online to TurboTax CD/Download?
 

1. Tap Forms in the top right corner
2. In the left column (Forms in My Return) find IT-196 and tap to open the form
3. Scroll down to line 44 (Addition adjustments). You can enter the amount there or tap the magnifying glass. Doing this will carry you to Itemized
4. Deduction Schedule Addition Adjustments.
5. Enter the rest of your union dues on line 4
6. Once you are done, tap Step-by-Step where Forms used to be to return to the interview mode.

See page 19 of Instructions for Form IT-196.