Why are forms 3849 and 3853 not available to complete my California State Return?

[KathrynG3]

These forms will be available as soon as possible, but could be delayed in part due to updates for COVID-19 related matters. Keep in mind that the California return reports Federal Adjusted Gross Income after state wages. The IRS will first begin receiving returns February 12, 2021. Until then, the California tax return cannot be finalized. 

For the most recent status, click the link for California forms availability, which is regularly updated.

For Forms 3849 and 3853 and their related instructions from California, see:   

• 2020 Form 3849 Instructions for Premium Assistance Subsidy (PAS) is used to compute the taxpayer’s premium assistance subsidy and reconcile it with the advanced payment of the premium assistance subsidy (APAS) paid for the taxpayer or an individual in his or her applicable household.
  • PAS is a refundable tax credit to help to pay insurance premiums for qualified health plans in the California Marketplace.
  • APAS is the amount paid to your insurance provider on your behalf that pays for part of the premiums. The APAS is based on the Marketplace’s estimate of the PAS.
     
  • Taxpayers must reconcile any APAS with the allowed PAS amount based on your actual household income for the year, less federal Premium Tax Credit (PTC) amounts.
     
• 2020 Form 3853 Instructions for Health Coverage Exemptions and Individual Shared Responsibility Penalty, used to claim an exemption to the health care mandate

For more information, see: What is the Premium Tax Credit (Related to health insurance)?

What health care penalty exemptions can you claim if you weren’t required to get insurance?

[rfisher71]

Form 3849 was released today however it is not working correctly.  I sent the following to TurboTax but I don't know if it just goes into the round file.

California Form 3849 is not calculating correctly.  In particular rows 12-23(b) which then affects rows 12-23(f).  I do not know if the cause is either a) your form calculations are wrong; b) I had already entered all of the information (federal 1095-A and state 3895) before you released form 3849; or c) I have two Form 1095-As and two Form 3895s which I had to enter and only one of them seems to get transferred to Form 3849.  I filled out Form 3849 using a pencil and the results are quite different.

[SaintSteven7]

Just downloaded 3849 and having the same problems that it's not calculating correctly. It's the last form I needed to complete my taxes, so is there any estimate as to when this will be fixed?

[WendyN2]

States are aiming for any/all updates and finalization to their forms to be completed by the 12th, which is the date that the IRS will begin accepting returns for processing. Please try again closer to that date (even as close as the 11th) and see if hopefully it has been resolved. 

[rfisher71]

@WendyN2  California released Form 3849 and it is correct as far as I can tell (I filled out a paper copy to see how my taxes would come out). TurboTax has released California Form 3849 however TurboTax's implementation is NOT correct (as I detailed in my response above).  It would be nice if TurboTax had some "official" way of submitting bugs, responding that they have received the submission, and relaying the status of the bug (under review, resolved, not a bug, etc.).  I realize that probably 99+% of the problems are not real bugs but user inexperience or lack of knowledge.

[rfisher71]

TurboTax released a California update on 2/10/2021 but it does not appear to fix the Form 3849 calculation problem.

[SaintSteven7]

The California update yesterday fixed 3849 for me, so I was able to get everything past the smart check and finally file. 

[rfisher71]

@SaintSteven7   

That is good news!

I figured out what is wrong with Form 3849 with me.  After you stated that Form 3849 works for you, I decided to delete my Forms 3895 and re-enter them in case that was the problem.  While re-entering the two Forms 3895 that I have (most people will probably only have one), I discovered that in Form 3849, rows 12(b) - 23(b) only take their values from rows 6(b) - 17(b) of the last Form 3895 entered and not the sum of the values of both (or all) of the forms.  For me only one Form 3895 really affects my taxes so I can enter it last but for others that have multiple Forms 3895 this won't be the case.  So please, TurboTax, fix this problem.  This can really affect someone's taxes.  Depending on the order that I enter my two Form 3895s, I either owe $4,700 in taxes or receive a $150 refund.  Luckily the latter is the correct case for me.