SD-100

[dluv1611]

I was doing taxes and TT showing a refund under school taxes.  I'm in an earned income taxing district and it seems that TT is using State wages instead of Local wages to calculate school taxes.  Any ideas? Shouldn't be seeing a refund should break even.

[ReneV4]

TurboTax may be defaulting to your State wages because there seems to be no information in the "Local taxes" section (Boxes 18-20) from which to obtain the correct amount.

Since you are not expecting a refund, before e-filing, check your W-2 to ensure that it has information in that section.

Also check Box 20 to make sure the school district or locality name matches your W-2 exactly.

[dluv1611]

All sections had appropriate information in said boxes. I deleted and even manually entered information. Each time TT defaulted to using state wages instead of the stated local wages information. 

[RogerD1]

Your Ohio School District tax return for an "earned income" school district will use the state (or local) wages as a starting point - they should be equal.  There is an exemption amount that is dependent on income between $1900 and $2400 per person on the return (including dependents) that gets subtracted from your earned income to determine how much of your earnings are taxed.

As an example, let's say you are single and live in a school district with a 1% tax on your earned income and that you made $52,150 last year and had $521.50 in school tax withheld.  After you subtract a single exemption amount of $2,150 from $52,150, you get $50,000 of taxable school district income.  The tax on that income would be $500, but since you had $521.50 withheld, you would get $21.50 refunded back to you.

Typically, when employers withhold the school district tax, they will account for the exemptions so that the correct amount gets withheld, however, employers do make mistakes and it's possible they did not account for the exemption on your school district withholdings, which would explain the refund.