1040-ES Estimated Tax Voucher did not properly update after I decided to apply refund to first payment

[bricxjo]

I let TurboTax calculate my estimated taxes for 2022. After I saw the amount, I went back and edited the 1040 to deduct the entire amount of the 1st estimated tax payment from my tax refund for 2021. The first voucher should show ZERO estimated tax owed, but it still shows the original amount. Sounds like a bug in TurboTax! Or did I miss something?

[CarissaM]

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Please follow the instructions here to contact us by phone, so we can look into this further. 

[Miss MCJ2]

You can't apply the refund to the first voucher in TurboTax.  Put in the four amounts exactly what you paid.  When you apply your refund to the return it goes here:

Deductions and Credits
Income Taxes Paid
2020 Refund Applied to 2021

[VolvoGirl]

@Miss MCJ2   That's not what they are asking about. They want to know about applying their current 2021 refund to next year 2022 return and reduce the first estimated payment.

[Miss MCJ2]

Thank you.  Now that I read it again, I see that.  I thought he was trying to apply his 2020 refund to his 2021 voucher.

[bricxjo]

Hello, Carissa!

I solved the problem by going directly to the Estimated Tax Payment Options worksheet ("Est Tax Options" under "Forms in My Return") and filling in the 5th line down in the box entitled "Amount of Estimated Taxes to Pay in 2022"--which reads "Last Year's Overpayment you applied to this year." That corrected the 1040-ES tax vouchers.

But I think TurboTax has an actual bug, because that field was NOT automatically filled in when I opted to apply my refund.

So, to recap, in the Step-by-Step mode, I answered all the questions relating to determining my Estimated Tax, but I did not opt to apply any of my refund. It computed four equal payments and prepared the vouchers. Then, later on, I decided to not take my full refund but rather apply part of it to my 2022 estimated taxes. TurboTax immediately deducted the payment from my refund displayed at the top of the TurboTax screen and included it on my Form 1040, but it never carried the information over to the Estimated Tax Payment Options worksheet, and it didn't correct the first 1040-ES payment voucher. However, after I manually went into the worksheet as described above, the correction was made. In this case my refund exceeded the first estimated tax payment due on April 18th, and I opted to pay off that payment completely. The software then correctly eliminated the first payment voucher from my return.

Although I solved the problem manually, TurboTax did not recognize on its own that I opted to apply my refund and that the first payment voucher needed to be updated and, in this case, eliminated.  So I think the TurboTax programmers should look into that issue.