Massachusetts motor vehicle excise tax in not being treated as deductible

[DROWREF]

Massachusetts motor vehicle excise tax in not being treated as deductible, contrary to reality and the help documentation in the TurboTax Deluxe 2025 product.

Entering the payments as Personal Property Taxes makes them deductible, but he help information on that line item does  not list Massachusetts as being eligible for that entry.

The Car Registration Fees item explicitly states that Massachusetts Excise Tax payments are deductible, but they are not reflected in the final deductibles summary.

[MelindaS1]

Looking at the screenshots you shared, it appears you're taking the standard deduction rather than itemizing, and so you wouldn't be able to deduct the MA vehicle excise tax even though it qualifies for that purpose. If your itemized deductions reported on Schedule A (such as Line 5 State and Local Tax Payments) are not higher in sum than the standard deduction, then you should continue to take the standard deduction, and not worry about entering small amounts that are for itemizers. 

TurboTax will switch automatically between the Standard Deduction and Itemized Deductions based on your entries, so it is important to enter all your data if you're unsure if you meet the threshold. 

This screen "2024 and 2025 Deductions & Credits" is a summary of items entered, not items that are necessarily deductible for your tax return. Alimony is non-deductible federally but is allowable for your state, for example. You should should select Forms and view Form 1040 and its schedules under Forms in My Return on the left side, to see which items are actually being applied on your tax return bottom line.

Do you need this payment to be entered so that you meet the threshold for claiming itemized deductions? If so, we can begin to troubleshoot the data entry issue.

Learn more: TurboTax - Why didn't my mortgage or property taxes increase my refund? | IRS - Deductions and credits for individuals

[DROWREF]

I am not certain that the 6 excise tax payments I make put me over the standard decuction.

 You are incorrect about the alimony, I have an old judgment of divorce nisi date and TurboTax should be continuing to count it in my itemized deductions.

[RogerD1]

If your divorce or separation agreement was executed prior to 2019, then alimony you paid is reported on Schedule 1, line 19 along with the recipient's SSN and the date the divorce was finalized.  Alimony is not counted as an itemized deduction, but is an adjustment to income and does reduce your taxable income by the amount of alimony paid.

Your screen printouts show that your Standard Deduction is the preferred deduction since it is larger than your itemized deductions.  Itemized deductions include items such as:  Medical expenses that are over 7.5% of your adjusted gross income, State and Local Taxes you paid (including the deductible amount of your Massachusetts excise tax payments), Mortgage interest, and Charitable contributions.  All of these amounts would need to be greater than the $31,500 standard deduction show on the screen for you as a Married Filing Jointly filing status.  Since the Massachusetts Excise Tax is not deductible separately, that would explain why it is showing as zero on the screenshot.  Even though the amount of Excise tax paid in 2024 shows up on that screen, that amount is not included in the total deductions for 2024.

[DROWREF]

Your observation of the 2024 number is precisely the problem for Intuit. The value SHOULD be illustrated for 2025 because it is part of the equation. Full facts might lead me to pursue further itemizations if I had an accurate accounting.

Yes, it is an immaterial figure if the standard deduction threshold is not matched, but the fact remains for Intuit that this is a regression in this year's TT product. Other regressions detected were the loss of additional details' storage behind cash donations. This complicated charity calculations for my wife and I who both contribute multiple times to the same charities. @intuit