2020 Estimated Taxes: Where should qualified dividends be entered?

[mcampbellcrockett]

I entered qualified dividends on the Federal Taxes "Enter Investment Gains and Losses" page.  Looking at the ES & W4 Wks Form, it appears that the qualified dividend amount is never included in the taxable income calculation.

Should qualified dividends also be included in the "Other Income and Losses" on the "Enter 2020 Other Income" page?

TurboTax copies the taxable income from the Federal Estimated Tax to the California Estimated Tax which results in the taxable income being understated for California.  TurboTax does adjust the California income by the amount entered as short-term capital gains/loss when processing your Federal Estimated Taxes.

Where does one enter the taxable portion of their Social Security benefit?

[DawnC]

Yes, if you expect to have qualified dividends, then you should include when preparing your estimated tax vouchers for 2020.   Preparing estimated payment vouchers is an optional step in TurboTax and you can make whatever adjustments you need when preparing your vouchers. 

You can print next year's estimated tax vouchers (Form 1040-ES) in your 2019 program:

1. Sign in to TurboTax and select the Take me to my return button on the main screen.
2. Search for 1040-es and select the Jump to link in the search results.
3. Answer No to the W-4 withholding question.
4. Select Prepare Now. You'll be asked a series of questions about your 2020 income. Answer them as best you can.
5. When you get to the Print Vouchers? screen, answer Yes. They'll print with your federal return.
   • If you get the No Payments screen instead, you don't need to make 2020 estimated payments based on what you entered.

Related Information:

• Why did 1040-ES estimated tax vouchers print out? Do I need them?
• How does TurboTax calculate my estimated tax payments?

Enter all of your social security payments received and TurboTax will calculate the taxable portion automatically.    Where do I enter an SSA-1099 social security benefits received? 

[mcampbellcrockett]

@DawnC, you didn't address the qualified dividend issue that I raised.

When preparing Federal Estimated Taxes and enter your qualified dividends on the "Enter Investment Gains and Losses" page, the qualified dividends entry is not included in your taxable income and not used to calculate your estimated taxes.

When preparing California Estimated Taxes, TurboTax copies the taxable income from the Federal Estimated Tax calculations to the California Estimated Tax form but does not add the qualified dividends to the taxable income and doesn't deduct the taxable portion of your Social Security benefit (there's no place to enter this).

For 2020, TurboTax Premier's estimated tax logic determined that I would owe no Federal or California income taxes and didn't generate any estimated tax forms.

[CatinaT1]

Qualified dividends would typically not be part of your taxable income.  They are "Qualified" for special tax treatment, which sounds like in your case would they are taxed at 0% and not being included in taxable income.