Possible bug in California Underpayment of Estimated Tax Safe Harbor Rule

[cbsbug]

2024 TurboTax Home & Business Windows calculated that I owe about a $600 penalty in underpayment of California tax if I pay on April 15, 2025 or about $100 if I pay on February 15, 2025. By my calculations, I don't owe a penalty because I qualify for the Safe Harbor rule of paying 110% of the prior year's tax in withholding and estimated tax. I examined the worksheet that TurboTax filled out, and it doesn't seem to include my estimated tax payments. It only asked for the amount of my withholding. Therefore, it says I don't qualify for the Safe Harbor rule. This looks like a bug to me. My solution is to not have TurboTax calculate the penalty and let the State of California calculate the penalty. I will file as soon as possible to minimize any possible accrual of interest penalties. And no, I do not want to upload my tax return to have Intuit TurboTax people look at it. I couldn't find anywhere on the website to report bugs, unless I actually suffer a loss due to the bug.

[AmyC]

Estimated payments must be entered in the federal section to carry over to the state. Where do I enter my estimated tax payments?

[cbsbug]

I entered our California estimated tax payments in the federal section. They don't appear to be taken into account by the California underpayment of estimated tax worksheet when computing the Safe Harbor rule.

[KeshaH]

If you'd like, we can look at your return and see exactly what you see to  help come to a resolution. The return will be scrubbed and won't include any of your personal details.

If you're using TurboTax Online:

Once you're logged in to your account,

- on the left hand panel, click on Tax Tools and then choose Tools

- on the pop up window, select Share my file with Agent

- you'll see a message saying you'll give us a copy of your tax return. Your personal information will be changed so we can't see any private information.

- click okay and you'll get another message with a token

If you're using TurboTax Desktop:

• Click on Online in the top menu of TurboTax Desktop for Windows
• Select 'Send Tax File to Agent'
• Write down or send an image of your token number and state then place in this issue.
• We can then review your exact scenario for a solution

Please reply to this message with your token so that we can further assist you. Let us know all the states, if any, that are included on the return.