Iowa 1040 Schedule A Line 4

[terrys1]

For tax year 2020, we will use the Federal standard Deduction but itemize in our state of Iowa.  Line 4 box a on the Iowa Schedule A should include School District Surtax and EMS Surtax (these surtaxes are non zero on the 2020 Iowa 1040 form, line 54).  However, Line 4 on the Iowa Schedule A contains zero.  Neither box a nor box b on Line 4 is checked, even though Turbo Tax knows we are itemizing. 

Does a zero in Line 4 indicate an error in Turbo Tax? The Iowa Schedule A form explicitly states that "School District Surtax and EMS Surtax from prior years paid in 2020" should be included when Line 4 box a is checked, and it seems like this box should have been checked and Line 4 should be non zero, since we are itemizing deductions in the Iowa tax return.

[SamS1]

No error.  If using TurboTax Online, need to go through adjustments section of the Iowa return and you will hit the screen to adjust for school district and EMS taxes.  Same section on the TurboTax Desktop.  You may need to update Desktop to see the screen.  Makes sure your program is up to date.  In the top margin, select "Online" then "Check for Updates".  

On the Iowa return, its is best to file married separately due to Iowa only having one tax rate schedule.  Also itemize your deductions as the Iowa standard deduction amounts are very low.

[terrys1]

Thanks for your reply.  We have resolved the problem as stated below.

The Schedule A, Line 4 Smart Worksheet already contained the correct School and EMS Surtax when this error was reported.  The Turbo Tax 2020 program correctly extracted the value of this surtax from my 2019 return (which was created by Turbo Tax 2019).  However, this value was not copied onto Iowa Schedule A Line 4 as it should have been, and Schedule A Line 4 box 4 a was not checked either.

Digging into this, we realized that our forth quarter 2020 estimated tax payment was shown as having been paid in January 2021, when it was actually paid December 23, 2020 - which was odd because we believe we entered the correct dates when the estimated quarterly tax payments were first recorded in Turbo Tax.  Did a Turbo Tax update wipe out our data (because our dates had been changed to the latest possible date to make an on time payment)?  When this date was corrected to December 23, 2020 (at which point, all four quarterly payments were shown as being paid in 2020), then the reported problem was resolved.  

Just for reference, I always keep TurboTax up to date.  I use the CD version of Turbo Tax Deluxe and accept the updates each time I run the program.  We have always itemized deductions and filed married separately on a combined form for Iowa taxes.