state sales tax wrong

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
April 10, 2018
1 reply
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I've used Turbo Tax for many years, but I am really unhappy right now. I spent the day putting in all the info. and then looked at the figures comparing this year and last year. Couldn't figure out why it showed the state sales tax deduction as being $500 less than last year. After figuring it with the IRS tool and looking up the worksheet Turbo Tax did, I discovered Turbo Tax had used the correct 6.25% state tax number, but had put 0.00 for my local tax rate! I had to manually override it and change it to 2.0% to get the correct 8.25% rate we pay and have it match the IRS computation. It meant another $110 for my tax refund! I should never have to worry about Turbo Tax's mathematical errors! Now I'm wondering if it did all our investment calculations properly. At the very least, I'd like back the price I paid for this year's TT CD. I took screenshots of all of it. Has anyone else run across this?

Deductions

PaulaM

Alumni - Expert

In the Sales Tax section, TurboTax asks that you enter the combined total state and local sales tax rate. You shouldn't have had to override anything. See example.

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gardengirl76182Author

Level 2

It didn't ask me to put in my state percentages. I have a screenshot, but can't upload it for some reason. It said:

Let's Compare Your Sales Tax and Income Tax

Based on your entries so far, we recommend the sales tax deduction for you.

Here's how they compare:

Your state and local income tax deduction - 0

Your estimated state sales tax deduction - $1374

(Instead of $1374, it should have said $1814!

jay003

Level 2

I am having the same problem. I entered the sales tax of 8.25 for Illinois and the EasyGuide did not include the local sales tax portion in the final computation. The IRS calculator indicates it should be $972 state tax and $368 local tax. On the Tax and Interest Deduction Worksheet in TurboTax 2019, it shows $972 for State Taxes and $0 for local taxes. How can this be corrected? By the way, in the prior year 2018 TurboTax software, it was calculated correctly and matched the IRS calculations.

I have noticed the same issue. Easy guide calculates a number that is different from what the IRS calculator calculates. In my case there is no local tax there is just state sales tax. I have no idea how it could be possible that the turbotax number doesn't match IRS number, given that to get the IRS number you had to enter just a few numbers (i.e. your dependents, the state, the income band, and the date). How could Turbotax get such simple calculation wrong!