Paid Family Leave Reporting on California Tax Form

[CB243]

On the federal section of TurboTax Deluxe, I entered in $$$ amount for Paid Family Leave benefits I received in 2022. When I moved to the the state refund forms (California), it looks like the PFL amount was automatically entered twice, on Schedule CA. On Part 1, Section A, Line 1h, the "other earned income" shows 0 for "Federal Amounts" and $$$ for "Subtractions". Further down the form, in Part 1, Section B, Line 7, "Employment Compensation" shows $$$ for both "Federal Amounts" and "Subtractions".  This means that the total for state subtractions becomes 2x$$$, which makes no sense to me. Am I suppose to report PFL as "Other Income" or "Unemployment Compensation"?

[ShirlynW]

You enter your Paid Family Leave under" Unemployment." Here are the steps:

1. Open or continue your tax return.
2. Your income and expenses.
3. Scroll to "Unemployment."
4. "Unemployment and paid family leave," Start or Revisit"
5. ("Did you receive unemployment or paid family leave…)," "Yes."
6. ("Where did you get your benefits…,)," Government (Form 1099-G).
7. ("Were you required to repay…)," "No"
8. Continue

If it was enter as  "Other Income, " delete that entry first. Tax tools > Tools > Delete a Form > Other Income > Sign out TurboTax.

[CB243]

Thanks for your response.

I did not enter anything under "Other Income". I only listed it under the unemployment section since PFL and unemployment should be treated the same. However, when I go to the CA tax forms, the amount appears twice, first as Paid Family Leave and then as Unemployment Income Exclusion. I don't understand why it appears twice. When I then look at the forms version of the document, I can see that the PFL amount appears as a subtraction as part of Other Earned Income (non-editable entry) but also in unemployment compensation (editable). These two figures are then added together for the total CA subtraction amount. See the below images.

Schedule CA:

[RobertB4444]

The net result is zero which is fine.  You should be good to go.

@CB243 

[CB243]

How is it zero? When I look at form 540, line 14 shows 2x the PFL amount listed (plus one other small unrelated item).

[CB243]

I might have found my answer. All my PFL was paid via California EDD, which is of course a government payout reported on 1099-G. When asked about my PFL, TurboTax asks how much PFL I received from an insurance company, to which I entered the full amount of PFL received from EDD. I think this entry should actually be 0 since all the PFL was through a 1099-G and not a private insurance company. The 1099-G is already covered by the unemployment section of TurboTax.

Any feedback confirming this is appreciated!

[RobertB4444]

You said it was entered teice and backed out twice, correct?  That should be zero.

But if I misunderstood I'm sorry.  If it is not netting to zero then you need to go into the California return and adjust it.  You also need to walk through where you have entered it in the federal return.  If it is only entered once then it should not be showing up on the return twice.

@CB243 

[DaveF1006]

Yes, it appears you entered the information in twice causing a doubling  the income. Turbo Tax asked this question in order to find additional income you may have missed. 

You were correct in your assessment and thank you so much for sharing this with us. If we get a similar question in the future, we will know what to look for.