Friday, February 03, 2006
Does Not Being Disabled Pay?
So's I'm doing my taxes online (TurboTax) and I get to the part of the state return where it asks if you want to file the long (40) or short (40S) form. The long form runs through a bunch of possible deductions, so I click to go for it.
I go through all the questions and it turns out I don't qualify for any extra deductions, but I still get a nice refund. (Technically, Dina and I, we get a nice refund...)
I ask my CPA sister, Julia, to run the numbers and she comes up with $99 less in the refund. What the ?!?!?!
Turns out she did the short form route. I run the short form on TurboTax and, yep, $99 less for me (and Dina).
So I fiddle some more and it turns out if I answer that neither Dina nor I are disabled in the long form we get $99. If I answer the same question the same way on the short form, we get bupkis. (Incidentally, if I say "yes, we're disabled" I get $150/$300 more back from the state depending on how many of us are disabled.)
I spent some time chatting online with someone from TurboTax and she agreed that that this was very interesting. I scheduled a phone call for Sunday night where supposedly someone will be able to look at what/how I'm filing and figure out where the discrepancy comes from (I can't see the paperwork unless I pay $35 ahead of time for state/federal filing).
Dina's in town now and she's going to bring a copy of the long-form paperwork home. I'll do the hard copy and see if I can figure out what's going on. Maybe I'll get a t-shirt or hat or something ($99 would be nice) if it turns out I'm debugging their software.
Stay tuned.
I go through all the questions and it turns out I don't qualify for any extra deductions, but I still get a nice refund. (Technically, Dina and I, we get a nice refund...)
I ask my CPA sister, Julia, to run the numbers and she comes up with $99 less in the refund. What the ?!?!?!
Turns out she did the short form route. I run the short form on TurboTax and, yep, $99 less for me (and Dina).
So I fiddle some more and it turns out if I answer that neither Dina nor I are disabled in the long form we get $99. If I answer the same question the same way on the short form, we get bupkis. (Incidentally, if I say "yes, we're disabled" I get $150/$300 more back from the state depending on how many of us are disabled.)
I spent some time chatting online with someone from TurboTax and she agreed that that this was very interesting. I scheduled a phone call for Sunday night where supposedly someone will be able to look at what/how I'm filing and figure out where the discrepancy comes from (I can't see the paperwork unless I pay $35 ahead of time for state/federal filing).
Dina's in town now and she's going to bring a copy of the long-form paperwork home. I'll do the hard copy and see if I can figure out what's going on. Maybe I'll get a t-shirt or hat or something ($99 would be nice) if it turns out I'm debugging their software.
Stay tuned.
Mikesell
1 Snarky Remarks:
actually, i did the long form, but we use professional software. many cpas hate turbo tax for the very issues you bring up. i had a client one time who prepared his return on TT and his federal income reported on his CA return did not match the federal income on his federal return! i'm not saying our professional software doesn't have its issues - it does (just not as many) the main point is people must always review their returns no matter who prepares it or which software is being used. JM
Anonymous, at 11:06 PM
