It says i cannot e-file because my state withholding was more than 50% of wages. Is this the case even if we are filing jointly?

[ToddL · Accepted solution]

Yes, when your state or local withholding exceeds a certain percentage of the state or local wages, you won't be able to e-file your return. 

This is a measure taken to prevent individuals from claiming more state/local withholding on an e-filed return than what was actually withheld. This gives the state an opportunity to confirm the amounts withheld from a physical copy of the Form W-2, rather than accepting what you manually entered in an e-filed return.

[mja400]

Frankly, this makes no sense. I had this same problem. My withholding was on a W2 statement which both the IRS and Minnesota can access. In fact it is more time-consuming for them both to deal with paper forms.

Is this a screwy federal or Minnesota requirement? If so, I would like to know where I can read through this requirement! When I called into Turbotax support, I was promised I would get an email with a list of reasons why electronic submission was not allowed. I still do not have such an email!

[SusanY1]

The stop on e-filing in this case comes from the IRS e-file system.

Certain anomalies with W-2s require the written form for additional verification. 

There is a significant delay in the ability of the IRS systems to match data from employers with data on tax returns which may have something to with why this is the case, though that is merely speculation.  

What we do know is that this is a situation which cannot be overridden since the reject comes from the IRS.  
 

@mja400 
 

[mja400]

It still does not make sense to me since the IRS has all the information that they would need to verify the withholding from an electronic efile.

I searched in vain for a list of the IRS efile restrictions. Would you be able to provide me a link to the restrictions?

[MarilynG1]

Here's a list of IRS Efile Error Codes, but it's 36 pages you probably don't want to review. 

As @SusanY1 indicates, the IRS computer most likely is programmed to compare Wages to Withholding, and if a certain % is exceeded, automatically rejects the Efile.

They want a person to look at the actual document, hence it must be mailed. 

@mja400 

[mja400usa]

Thanks. Which error code is associated with this problem.