Turbo Tax is so absurdly unclear in this department that they need to overhaul the PIN area pages of the software.
I'm not sure if the following is accurate, but I'm going to tell you what every horribly unclear Turbo Tax source has on this subject. They say you EITHER need your LAST YEAR'S 5-digit self-select pin OR last year's AGI, but they never tell you WHERE TO PUT LAST YEAR'S PIN if you're using that.
Now what makes this unclear is that when the Turbo Tax software page comes up for e-filing, they ask you to enter a pin and last year's agi. What's unclear is.... is this THIS YEAR's pin you're entering? Or your pin from last year? Do they need to match? Don't know any of that. That's why their software should be more clear on this.
On the submission page it looks like you're entering a new pin for this year, and in the AGI box you can either enter last year's agi OR last year's pin you used, but they don't tell you this. If this is the case, the page should very clearly state this.
In addition, there's an IRS generated 6-digit pin which changes every year and they mail to you....all by request. There's nothing on the Turbo Tax electronic filing page about this from what I remember.
The whole thing is a mess and Turbo Tax could clear up a ton of confusion if the **bleep** page was more clear on this.
Finally, many TT pages tell users that if the IRS 'accepts a return' from the previous tax year, that agi can and should be used in the agi box. This is technically incorrect. What it should say is if the IRS accepts a return...that was filed on time use the agi. IF you filed your taxes after the standard deadline the previous year, such as what I did because some in Florida got extended filing deadlines, even if the IRS at some point 'accepts your return' and CLEARLY has your agi listed in their database from the previously accepted return, they will not accept this agi. If you put a zero (0) in your agi line they may accept it. So if you get an electronic filing rejection and you know your agi is correct, use zero and retry.
I shouldn't have to type any of this on here, Turbo Tax needs to make their software far more clear.
