IHSS Live-in Provider with Box 1 = $0 — not able to e-file

[jackkgan]

I am an IHSS live-in provider filing for 2025. My W-2 has Box 1 = $0.00 and Box 3/5 = [amount], which is correct under IRS Notice 2014-7.

I followed the current TurboTax recommended steps per these official TurboTax articles:

• https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/form-w-2/qualified-medicaid-waiver-payme...
• https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/taxes/discussion/re-ihss-live-in-provider-zero-income/01/3466131/h...
• https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/taxes/discussion/re-ihss-live-in-provider-zero-income/01/3467820/h...

Steps followed:

• Left Box 1 as $0
• Checked "Nontaxable Medicaid waiver payments that qualify as difficulty of care payments" under uncommon situations
• Entered the full Box 3/5 amount as the difficulty of care amount

This correctly excludes the IHSS wages from federal taxable income. However TurboTax is blocking e-filing with this error: "One of the W-2s doesn't have an amount in box 1 or the amount is less than $1."

The older workaround of copying Box 3 into Box 1 allowed e-filing but is now explicitly discouraged by the links above.

My questions:

1. Is paper filing truly the only option when following the current correct method with Box 1 = $0?
2. Is there any other workaround that keeps Box 1 = $0 while allowing e-filing? For example: Is it ok to enter $1 in Box 1 of W2, and enter the amount from box 3 into  Checking "Nontaxable Medicaid waiver payments that qualify as difficulty of care payment "?  

Thank you!

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[Bsch4477]

Give yourself one dollar of interest which will allow you to efile. For the Bank in the 1099-INT section just put “to enable efiling “.

[jackkgan]

Thank you! Please confirm if adding $1 in Box 1 of W2 and going through the flow of "Nontaxable Medicaid waiver payments that qualify as difficulty of care payment " would be acceptable.

[Bsch4477]

Yes. It’s acceptable.