Bug report - joint return w/deceased spouse efile rejected by IRS

[shamrockma94]

agreed. I am having the same issues in 2021.  turbo tax makes  a lot of money to not fix this issue.  very frustrating.  

[racer_x_9 · Accepted solution]

Every year I file taxes with turbo tax for my inlaws.  My father-in-law passed in 2019 and the return was rejected with IND-031-04.

I read a forum from last year where the solution was to put the surviving spouse name first.  As soon as I did this it was accepted.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/taxes/discussion/rejected-2019-return-based-on-my-deceased-spouse-...

Others from last year reported that submitting on Freetaxusa.com they efiled and it was accepted.  I don't know why the problem is happening with turbo tax.   Seems like they should fix the problem if there were 13 pages last year with multiple people having the same problem. And more people having the problem this year.   Try putting the living spouses name first and report if the return was accepted so others will know.  Good luck all!

[racer_x_9 · Accepted solution]

Every year I file taxes with turbo tax for my inlaws.  My father-in-law passed in 2019 and the return was rejected with IND-031-04.

I read a forum from last year where the solution was to put the surviving spouse name first.  As soon as I did this it was accepted.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/taxes/discussion/rejected-2019-return-based-on-my-deceased-spouse-...

Others from last year reported that submitting on Freetaxusa.com they efiled and it was accepted.  I don't know why the problem is happening with turbo tax.   Seems like they should fix the problem if there were 13 pages last year with multiple people having the same problem. And more people having the problem this year.   Try putting the living spouses name first and report if the return was accepted so others will know.  Good luck all!

[Jack3101]

I've been doing taxes for my in-laws for years. When one died in 2020 their taxes were rejected. After a lot of head scratching changing the personal information so the surviving  spouse is first worked for me :). I thank this forum.

However one must careful. After swapping the names all of the 1099s (for individuals) had their names swapped due to the way TurboTax indexes spouses names; that is each 1099 indicated the wrong spouse. I had 20 1099s to correct including the Social Security SSA-1099s. I suspected this might happen and verified it with the program "BeyondCompare" which I used to compare the original filing pdf file with the "re-ordered" pdf. Of course you can also see this if you edit each 1099 with TurboTax; this is also how you make the corrections. "BeyondComapare" let me know there were no other issues. An alternative is to make sure the names are in the correct order before anything else is entered.

TurboTax knows which spouse is deceased; they should automatically put them in the correct order on the forms and use the surviving spouses SS as the filing ID. Shame on them for not fixing this bug or a the least letting you know about it when you indicate a spouse has passed on.

[carscjc]

My spouse passed away last year. Efile got rejected with TT saying Social Security Admin had locked his SS#.  TT does not tell you how to fix it except call SS Admin. I switched me as primary and spouse as second taxpayer on the 1040. REJECTED BY IRS AGAIN  !! I called SS Admin in Birmingham first, & they never heard of such a thing. They advised to call local SS office in Houston. Did that. They neve heard of a SS# being "LOCKED" either ! SocSecurity agent checked spouse's SS # and it was "normal" for a deceased person. THREE hours wasted !   Not to mention the stress! And now I read here that this is caused by a GLITCH in TurboTax ???  Been using TurboTax probably at least 20 years but this will be my last time, folks.  There should be no reason we can't efile.  Everything's the same on our return as last year but for a little $ difference and my spouse has passed.  No more TurboTax.

[carscjc]

I changed our return (after the first rejection) to show me  first and my deceased husband second . RE- efiled and it was rejected a second time. Both rejectionsfrom TT said husband's SS# was "LOCKED" . Also spent 3 hours (between holding and talking) with Social Security offices in Alabama and Houston (local) and neither ever heard of a Social Security # being "LOCKED" as TurboTax said.

[carscjc]

TOKEN 804827      Income taxes for  EFile 2020 rejected THREE times with no help from TurboTax except to call SS office which I did.  I called Alabama first (The phone # on the TTax rejection message),  The agent at SS in Alabama said he never heard of a SS# being locked & advised me to call our local SS in Houston.  That Houston agent, too, said he'd never heard of such a thing as a "locked" social security #. He looked up my spouse's SS # and said all looked normal for a deceased individual  and it was NOT "locked". My husbands aunt passed in 2019, and my husband filed her final return in  2020. It was Efiled by TTax with NO PROBLEM. My husband also prepared and Efiled for his widowed father and his deceased wife who died the previous year. NO problem there either. I've read elsewhere in these posts that there seems to be  a glitch in Turbotax, and that others have Efiled thru other tax programs sucessfully after Efiling was rejected thru TTax.  I PURCHASED TTax from BestBuy and and downloaded it directly from Intuit.  

[DalecioAZ]

My husband died in 2020. We filed MFJ returns for 36 years with his name as Taxpayer and mine as Spouse. When I tried to file our last MFJ return for 2020 in the same order, it was rejected several times because our 2019 "AGI did not match IRS records"! This was completely erroneous because the AGI was accurately transferred from our 2019 TurboTax reporting program AND I confirmed the amount with an official IRS Transcript of our 2019 tax return.

I had multiple frustrating and fruitless phone calls with TurboTax personnel whose only solution was to print and mail our Federal and State returns.

I had nothing to lose but time, so I started a new 2020 tax return with my name (as surviving spouse) listed as the Taxpayer and my late husband's name listed as Spouse. It took me 4 hours to manually enter all our 2020 tax data but, our MFJ tax return was accepted that way within 3 hours of my electronic submission!!!

Good luck to anyone in this same predicament. I hope my solution works for you, too.

[rjs]

The most recent TurboTax update, last Thursday, April 8, 2021, included a fix for this problem.

[derscott]

Hard to believe this bug has finally been fixed, over a year after I posted in this thread. Seems like my guess way back then was pretty close:

"My guess is that TT is simply not sending the AGI and/or PIN for a deceased spouse on a joint return in the 2019 version of the software."

[shesgotlegs57]

I've got the same issue with a deceased spouse and efile rejected.    Turbo Tax emailed me the following:    IND-901 The Primary SSN in the return header has been locked because Social Security Administration records indicate the number belongs to a deceased individual.   Next Step  We'll help you get this updated on your federal return and e-file.      Is there a way to correct this issue so I can e-file?    I'm concerned about mailing and the time for processing.   

[shesgotlegs57]

@frustratedwidower    if thats the case shame on Turbo Tax for not fixing the program and adding the verification of the deceased spouse.   I've been a loyal customer and this is disappointing experience.  

[PAT Services]

I don't know why people don't reference IRS publications when answering questions here. It would help when there is contradictory responses. 

The IRS has ALL the answers. 

Read PUB 559. When and Where to file. It states, 

"Generally, you must file the final income tax
return of the decedent with the Internal Revenue Service Center for the place where you live.
A tax return for a decedent can be electronically
filed. A personal representative also may obtain
an income tax filing extension on behalf of a decedent. " Pg 4 of IRS Pub 559

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p559.pdf

[sylviQ]

Both of my Federal and State returns were rejected because of a locked SSN for the deceased taxpayer.  I must now file paper copies.  How do I get refunded for the State electronic filing fee?

[jf74297]

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/tax-topics/help/how-do-i-request-a-refund-for-my-turbotax-product/...

[xmasbaby0]

@sylviQ

To call TurboTax customer support

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1899263-what-is-the-turbotax-phone-number

Customer support is available from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. Pacific time

No one in the user forum can resolve a billing issue.  If you have a question about your TurboTax fees or billing, make sure you use the word “billing” in your request for help.  Do not use the word “refund.”