Maybe they should send me a free download to do my state taxes.--unable to file state return due to bad instructions by "expert"

[just1break]

I thought I needed 2 state returns, but wasn't sure, due to having 2 weeks of income in another state. (I'll call that the "NR state".) I ran out of time to learn the answer, so tried to file an extension.  The state returns were blank, but I had told TurboTax I needed them. The extension was rejected, but my card was charged the $366.00 anyway.   (Your call center person had told me what you told this man: If the return isn't paid for or filed even if the reason was that the return was rejected, you haven't been charged for the return, so you can start over or abandon it. ) When I did my federal return late, after learning I didn't need the (blank) non-resident return, I couldn't delete it because it actually was paid for: The TurboTax software is set up to prevent you deleting any return once it is paid for, whether or not it is blank, whether or not it is preventing you from completing another state you also paid full price for!  The unremovable "NR state" (non-resident) return made my "resident state" return default to the split-income form for non-resident-plus-resident income.  I can't just send in the wrong form with columns of zeroes on the "NR"  (non-resident) state side, so I can't file my home state return at all. (You have to file the "NR state" first in TurboTax, as it uses those figures to calculate your home state.  If there is an "NR state" return, TTax assumes you will need a home state return with the form for people with NR income to declare.  There is no way to make it revert to a single regular state return. NONE.)  I will now be forced to pay for 2 states I don't get to use, print paper forms for my home state and complete them by hand myself, figuring out line-by-line without help where all the information goes that SHOULD have been populated from my federal return, and then mail it in.  No ".tax" file to keep, no 2022 estimated tax vouchers, NOTHING I PAID FOR. My refund will be months instead of weeks arriving, too.  The state return, not being done by TurboTax, will not be covered by the audit support, "expert review" or anything else I paid for, and TurboTax will keep my state return money--$110.00.  I'm beyond appalled.  I can't even start over with a new account, because it will recognize me and prevent me from re-entering my federal info to purchase a new, single state return.  The online software "experts" and CPAs have no solution or ideas. One CPA told me to pay a CPA after all, and just consider the 366.00  wasted. There is no e-mail or customer service line that doesn't default to these clueless "live helpers".

[fanfare]

set the taxable income in your NR state to be ZERO.

After that, It should have no affect your Resident state tax return.

[just1break]

Thank you.  I tried that.  The problem is, that still causes the Missouri tax form to be the wrong one.  At the very least it will cause them to send it back.  The Missouri form for income split between Missouri and another state is not the same one used for the entire income from Missouri. There is no way to manually change the form, either. 

The last CPA I spoke to started trying to manually delete random pieces of the non-resident (!) thinking if I removed enough forms from the blank NR-state return, and added zeroes everywhere else, it might work out.  OMG, what a mess that would have made. Then she said that just paying a CPA and giving up on my $366.00 was all she could see for me to do.

The simple solution is to have someone with the authority to override the software and delete the unneeded non-resident form. Or as a last resort, allow me to start a new account, upload my Turbotax federal .tax file (already bought/e-filed), and let me complete and file Missouri without paying for either one all over again.

I haven't filled, filed, or printed the non-resident state, obviously, and they could verify that.  If they are so worried, they could argue about refunding the money for it, but still delete it so I can do my Missouri taxes!

I really do have to have the NON-RESIDENT state removed, or a free download of the software which would allow me to do it at home.  The cost for the entire software, including the federal e-file, is 120.00.  I spent 366.00 for my federal and have no states.  I just want whatever would allow me to complete Missouri on the correct form.   But they won't do it.  There is not even a way to contact the department that deals with glitches like that. NONE. 

Do we need another class action lawsuit like the "free filers" one that hit the news this week? Maybe. I hate that kind of conflict, but I am going to at a minimum make an FCC complaint if I get no help.  I am sharing my story, too, around the web, ho[ping someone form TurboTax will take note.  I've already sent feedback, created work tickets with "Live Expert Help", etc.

[fanfare]

@just1break 

There's a big difference between a Part-year resident of  <XYZ>  and a non-resident of  <XYZ> state.

You have to change your MO residence period to "entire year" or 365 days.

[just1break · Accepted solution]

Thank you.  There is some confusion: I did not say that I was a part-year resident when I used the software; if I used that phrase in my posts I don't see it.  "NON-resident state"  refers to the state outside my residential state of Missouri where I also earned income, not where I LIVED for part of the year ("part-year resident state"). I am a permanent resident of Missouri.

I said to TurboTax online software initially that I may have earned income in another state. Missouri's form for that has 2 columns for income, which  asks you to specify where you earned the income outside Missouri, and how much. That's the wrong form if you don't have income earned outside Missouri.  That form won't be accepted with "oops!" in the margin or zeroes in the non-resident state income column.

I already corrected the first part in TTax online to say I had not earned any money outside of Missouri.

The software does not allow me to deactivate or remove the blank non-resident state return. This makes Missouri automatically default to the form for residents who declare income earned in another (non-resident) state.

I don't need that and can't use that, and therefore can't send my state taxes at all. Not only that, but the software won't advance at all to the finished ready-to-file stage.  So even if that form was acceptable in Missouri, TurboTax won't complete the return. 

That makes sense, technically, because it needs the other state completed first.  It is ridiculous, though, that I can't delete the other return, and TurboTax knows I can't complete a return I have already paid for, including the expert review and audit defense I also paid for.  The difference in what I paid for and what I can access is $246.00, and no where in the purchase agreement does it warn me they would do this!  That's outright theft by TurboTax.

If TurboTax is worried a consumer will use the software to complete other's returns and make an income that way, which is the ONLY reason I can't think of why the software would have such a bizarre restriction, then there would be other solutions to prevent that misuse.  And why would I pay $366.00 for what would cost me $120.00 to download and would allow me to use it for others' returns without restriction, if that was my goal? 

As it is, TurboTax is cheating me so I can't cheat them, in case I might want to...or they just left a big glitch in the software and don't give a **bleep** if it leaves their buyer with 1/3 of what they bought.  They are are stealing up front in case there's one in 50k people (of that many!) who might want to try cheating them in such a slow, awkward, identifiable, traceable, stupid, difficult way. 

Thank you for trying to help.