Form W-2

[PADenny]

IsabellaG:

Thanks for your detailed response.  A few comments/questions:

1) As an "Employee Tax Expert" are you an actual employee of TurboTax?  [FYI: I fully understand your comment about taxability in PA.]

2) MonikaK1 mentioned she received an error message using the approach you (and she) describe.  Did you receive such an error message?  [You mention in item #9 that I should have no errors.]

3) When you say it worked for you, do you mean it allowed both the Federal and PA returns to be Efiled?

[IsabellaG]

Yes, I am an employee of TurboTax.   And no, I did not receive any error messages after I made the entries that I described, so I trust that you won't either. I did not go through the total e-file process, because in my case it is a test return, and not a real return to file. However, for the steps all the way up to transmitting the return, there were no messages/errors that would prevent e-filing. 

[PADenny]

IsabellaG:

I just had a chance to try the approach you detailed in your post on 4/9/24 (Tuesday).  I followed your detailed instructions and there is still an error message received, although a different one than in the past.  [Please note that I tried your approach with both a $0.00 in Box 17, and I also left Box 17 blank.  Neither addressed the error.]  The error is noted in the PA-40 Gross Compensation Worksheet in the NT/TXBL column where a red X is noted in the column.  In addition, the PA return review provided the following error:

"Check This Entry

Gross Compensation Worksheet: Include W-2 as taxable Full-year PA resident must include all income.  Line item for W-2 number should marked taxable to PA.

[ ] Include W-2 as taxable"

In addition, when I tried to proceed without making the W-2 income taxable for PA, and I hit the Transmit Returns Now button, I received a message that a little more information was needed before I E-file, and it looped back to the message noted above. 

It seems that the only way I will be able to E-file is for TurboTax to change the program so as to allow a pension plan to be non-qualified and taxable under the Federal taxation rules, and qualified and non-taxable under the PA rules.  

I should note that the pension plan referenced is associated with a Pennsylvania-based company ranked in the top 250 of the Fortune 500, and would be applicable to any retirees in the past 30+ years who were at a manager or higher level.  I believe a large number of these folks likely reside in PA, and would have the same issue as I am experiencing with TurboTax.

Please provide your thoughts.  Thanks.

[hbdoyal]

I'm having the same issue as you - it tells me that the state ID doesn't match - it's all from having to choose my state in the drop down box.  I go all the way to the end and it will NOT let me file.

I really don't want to paper file - have you been able to determine a workaround?  Thanks.

[hbdoyal]

IsabellaG,

I am having the same issue and it will NOT let me efile at the end.  It tells me it needs more information (just as PADenny described earlier) and no matter what I put in that field, it still will NOT let me file.

What can we do?  This is obviously a turbotax issue and not an issue with our W2s, etc.

Help, please.

[PADenny]

A workaround was brought to my attention by Hbdoyal that allowed me to address the two problems I was experiencing.  The workaround was surfaced in the thread entitled " W-2 Box 11 glitch?" by JL-808 on the 3rd page, and refers to a phone conversation with Tom, a tax expert at Intuit (and a someone at a higher level than the specialists who answer the calls).  The approach:

1) I completed the W-2 section of TT consistent with the information on my actual W-2.  The only subjective approach was that I left Boxes 15 - 17 all blank, even though my actual W-2 shows PA and my employer number in Box 15, and Boxes 16 and 17 show "$0.00".  [Leaving these fields blank when there is "$0.00" in the Boxes was recommended to me by two Employee Tax Experts, since placing anything in the fields can trigger parts of the program.]

2) When you answer the TT question that yes, this is a distribution and you have to choose a state, choose Texas.  Since there is no state income tax in Texas, doing so doesn't trigger certain parts of the software. that calculates associated state taxes; and doing so does not trigger for you to file a Texas state income tax return.

3) As to the state return (PA for me), you will need to review the applicable state forms to ensure the W-2 income is not being taxed, and that no errors are appearing on the forms.  For me, I had to remove a checkmark from column NT/TXBL of the Federal Forms W-2 section of the PA-40 Gross Compensation Worksheet.

Doing the above eliminated the two error messages I had previously received as I attempted various other fixes, and allowed me to e-file both my Federal and PA state tax returns (for which I received subsequent emails of acceptance of both returns.

A special thanks to HBdoyal for surfacing this approach with me.  Much appreciated.