Rejected 2019 return based on my deceased spouse's agi

[mpiatt]

The IRS has been closed during COVID-19.  I was told by an IRS employee (WFH) that plan was to gradually open 6/15/20 and 6/29/20.  I filed my paper return on 3/10/20 and it has not been processed.  I don't expect it to be processed until the stacks and stacks of return back log are dealt with.  Be prepared to wait.

[pccoach190]

Had the same thing happen and called Intuit who said to try putting 0 in the agi field. the steps in turbo tax said my husbands agi didn't match for last year 2018 and I know it does. I guess because he is deceased it causes an issue. The problem is once you go thru the step by step in TT and go back to check not all the steps will show up. It's the part of TT that bothers me. So I'm going to create a new return to look for the agi entry for my husband. If that doesn't work on efile then I'll mail in a return. Just wanted to add what I found out this morning 6/18/20

[AnnetteB6]

The prior year AGI is not entered anywhere within the tax return itself.  It is only entered when you are going through the actual electronic filing process.  

If you are creating a new return, you should consider swapping the order of your names on the joint return.  Put the deceased person's name as the 'spouse'.  That has worked for other users to prevent an e-file rejection.

@pccoach190

[Bryrock]

That's kind of a hacky solution, but it does appear the bug has finally been fixed.  I will post the results of what I've discovered, momentarily.

[Bryrock]

THIS BUG HAS FINALLY BEEN FIXED!!!!!  But you may have to encounter it one more time before you see the solution.  This never made any sense, to reject a return based on the spouse's AGI, because your spouse would NOT have their OWN AGI to begin with!!

Since Covid-19 extended the IRS deadline to July 15, I've been repeatedly trying to file my returns (completed in March!), hoping the "critical updates", that happen nearly every time you open TurboTax, would finally address this problem.

I opened TurboTax and got the updates and tried another e-File on July 5th.  It failed, BUT, this time the error was different.  No longer is it asking for the (deceased) spouses AGI, but for the AGI of the Primary tax payer (which it should have been asking for from the beginning).  In other words, it's been a matter all along not of you providing the wrong answer, but TurboTax asking the wrong question.

So.  If you haven't tried yet again to e-File lately, do it again, now, let it fail, but then do it one more time with the primary taxpayer's AGI.

It sails right through!

[Bryrock]

THIS BUG HAS FINALLY BEEN FIXED!!!!!  But you may have to encounter it one more time before you see the solution.  This never made any sense, to reject a return based on the spouse's AGI, because your spouse would NOT have their OWN AGI to begin with!!

Since Covid-19 extended the IRS deadline to July 15, I've been repeatedly trying to file my returns (completed in March!), hoping the "critical updates", that happen nearly every time you open TurboTax, would finally address this problem.

I opened TurboTax and got the updates and tried another e-File on July 5th.  It failed, BUT, this time the error was different.  No longer is it asking for the (deceased) spouses AGI, but for the AGI of the Primary tax payer (which it should have been asking for from the beginning).  In other words, it's been a matter all along not of you providing the wrong answer, but TurboTax asking the wrong question.

So.  If you haven't tried yet again to e-File lately, do it again, now, let it fail, but then do it one more time with the primary taxpayer's AGI.

It sails right through!

[rjktaxes2019]

any news is good news.  but just checking as I am currently trying to get my parents' tax return e-filed.   When you say that "No longer is it asking for the (deceased) spouses AGI, but for the AGI of the Primary tax payer (which it should have been asking for from the beginning). " - do you mean that the error note from the IRS is specifically asking for the AGI of the Primary tax payer, or Turbo Tax is now asking for that info?  

[Bryrock]

I was referring to the text in the email that comes from TurboTax if the e-File submission is rejected.

[rjktaxes2019]

Thanks.   

While I was waiting for your reply, I tried one last thing.  First, I'm doing taxes for my parents.  My father passed in April, and I was having the same rejection problem.   I noticed that the TT was telling me that the IRS could not verify my father's AGI.   I had the feeling that TT simply wasn't providing that info to the IRS since he was identified on TT as being deceased.  Also, I've been importing information from one year to the next on TT for several years, and my father was always the primary taxpayer.   

I had the idea that if my mom was put on the form as the primary taxpayer, then TT would definitely provide her prior year's AGI on the submission - and the IRS is really only looking for the primary.  So, I switched their names on the return - my mom 1st (primary) and my dad 2nd (spouse).   It worked.   Submitted, and accepted by the IRS.  It's worth a try.

[Bryrock]

It does appear that the problem has finally been fixed, so that all the various trial-and-error work-arounds I've seen suggested in this thread are no longer necessary.  In my own situation, after using TurboTax for over 20 years with no problems like this, I was filling a final joint return for myself as the primary taxpayer, and my spouse, who passed away in January 2019.  I finished doing the taxes in mid-March and my first attempt to e-File was on March 31.  The rejection error I received then by email was (emphasis mine) "IND-032-04 - 'SpousePriorYearPIN' or 'SpousePriorYearAGIAmt' in the Return Header must match the e-File database."

In my case, that never made any sense; on a joint return, a spouse would not have their own Prior Year AGI.  And it wasn't actually a PIN issue either.  So whether I put in our prior year AGI or not, or tried zero, as some had suggested, it just kept blowing up.  You could see in the form view there were no issues with either PIN.

Since the Federal govt. extended the deadline to July 15, and because TurboTax nearly always has "critical updates" to be downloaded when you start the application, I decided to just keep trying periodically after receiving any updates, to see if this problem had been fixed.  Nope.  No fix until...

Yesterday morning I attempted another e-File, and it did fail, but the error message finally changed...

IND-031-04 - The primary taxpayer's AGI or Self-select PIN from last year does not match IRS records.

Just as it had been doing after each prior failure, when I opened up TurboTax, it took me to the screen where you enter that prior year AGI, and this time it was asking for mine (by my name) instead of my spouse's (by her name) as it had been doing.

So, finally, I entered the prior year AGI one more time, just as I had done after each prior attempt had failed, then I once again attempted to e-File.  It was accepted within 15 minutes.

[MtnTABS]

Well, I tried e-file on the 5th and then today, July 7th and both times it was rejected with the same old AGI problem. My husband was always the Primary, Married Filing Jointly for 37 years. Although he did not pass away until 2020, I have his name first on our joint 2019 return and had to type in his date of death. When it came to the end of the return, TT asked for my driver’s license number and assigned me a PIN. At this point after reading all the “rejected” messages on this board, I give up. Unexpectedly losing my husband a week before the lockdown for Coronavirus is awful. Changing social security, bank accounts, insurance and the million other things we widows/widowers have to do complicated by closed offices and never getting the same person twice on the phone is enough. Not being able to  e-file so I can get on to the house title, new Will, etc. is too much. It’s the TT false reasons for rejection that wasted so much time. Imagine the spouses, children, etc. of the COVID victims going through this same problem next year. Very cruel.

[mkthomp1618]

Very sorry to hear about your loss, especially during these crazy times.   My Dad passed last year and my Mom taxes keep being rejected.  TT had us mail the taxes in May. My Mom has not received her stimulus check either.  After finally reaching the IRS regarding the stimulus, the IRS stated that because the 2019 tax return is in rejected status, she cannot get her stimulus.   This was the 2nd week of June.  IRS said to wait another 8 weeks for paper taxes to be processed and then she might receive her stimulus.  This TT bug has really caused many spouses a lot of unnecessary heartache. 

[mkthomp1618]

In my case, my Dad, deceased 2019, is the primary and my Mom is the spouse.  I tried again to e-file, July 8th, and the taxes were still rejected.  Guess you were lucky, 

Also since the 2019 tax return in rejected status, my Mom cannot receives her stimulus check.  The IRS said to call again in 10 weeks to see if the paper copies have been processed and then she should receive her stimulus check. 

[Bryrock]

I know it sounds crazy, but try one more time.  Compare the error you got to any others you might have received in previous attempts.  This time TurboTax is (might be) asking the right question, so enter the AGI from last years (2018) taxes and e-File one more time.

[IH8Tax]

I had the same problem with deceased primary spouse and getting efile rejected for mismatch in primary PIN or AGI. As others have stated, AGI was correct. I made the surviving spouse primary, changed the income allocated to each spouse and it was accepted as efile. The issue appears to be a Turbotax bug that does not convey the deceased primary spouse's self selected PIN from the previous year, likely since the deceased spouse is not signing the return. Making the surviving spouse primary appears to work around that issue, but all the income allocated to the respective spouses must be corrected since Turbotax is not smart enough to follow the name change and income items previously allocated to the primary (deceased) spouse will show up as allocated to the new primary (surviving) spouse, and must be changed.