Colorado TABOR refund for under 18 years old?

[ella72755]

I am under 18 years old and don't believe I should be getting the TABOR refund, however, Turbo Tax is generating it. Does that seem right?

[JohnB5677]

It does not seem right.  The TABOR refund is based in Colorado

The rules for the refund are:

Eligible 2023 full-year residents may claim this refund by filing in the manner described below by the appropriate deadline. The refund is $800 for one qualifying taxpayer or $1,600 for two qualifying taxpayers filing jointly. 

• File a 2023 DR 0104 by April 15, 2024, if you:
  • Were at least 18 years old when the tax year began,
  • Do not have a Colorado income tax liability,
  • Are not claiming a refund of wage withholding, and
  • Are not otherwise required to file a Colorado return because you have no federal filing requirement.

This may sound silly, but please confirm the posting of your birthday in My Info.

If the date is correct, please respond and include @JohnB5677 in the message.

 Please see the Colorado Website ladled     Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR) Information

[ella72755]

@JohnB5677 I did verify my birthdate in the "My Info" section. When I look at the Colorado form 104 it says this on line 34: State Sales Tax Refund: "For full-year Colorado residents, born before 2005, or full-year Colorado residents who are under the age of eighteen but are required to file a return. Enter $800 for one qualifying taxpayer or $1600 for two qualifying taxpayers filing jointly." On the Colorado State website it also mentions having a tax liability qualifying you for the $800 (line 14), but mine says $0.00. I'm just confused since Turbo Tax seems to be automatically generating this. Maybe because I'm filing federally, it qualifies me? 

[JohnW152 · Accepted solution]

You appear to qualify because you're claiming a refund of Colorado wage withholding from a Form W-2.  If you're doing that, you don't have to have a Colorado tax liability.

A full-year Colorado resident under age 18 can claim the credit if:

• They have a Colorado tax liability or 
• They're claiming a refund of Colorado wage withholding from a Form W-2

According to Line 34, State Sales Tax Refund in the Form DR 0104 Booklet:

If you are a full-year Colorado resident who was under 18 as of January 1, 2023, you may claim the state sales tax refund only if you have a Colorado tax liability (line 14 must be greater than 0) or you are claiming a refund of Colorado wage withholding on a W-2. 

See 2023 TABOR Refund in the Colorado Department of Revenue's Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR) Information for more information.

[ella72755]

@JohnB5677  Thank you so much. That seems to make sense. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't receiving something I shouldn't. 

[walgier]

I just had this exact situation with a customer, here is what we did to fake out the system, since the customer was under age 18 and ineligible for the TABOR refund, we answered no to the incarceration question and turbo tax applied the refund to the Colorado return even though ineligible but here is what we did for a work around, during the state interview a question was asked if you intended to file your state return by the due date of April 15, so I had the customer answer no and it then made the customer ineligible to get the TABOR refund, problem solved, since Turbo Tax applies the TABOR credit to an ineligible recipient (under age 18) AND you don't have to worry about the Colorado state return indicating the customer was incarcerated which they were not !!   Kind of a weird work around but it took care of 2 situations (got rid of an ineligible credit and got rid of the yes answer to incarceration question) 😎