Sneaky TurboTax

Financial Planning Tax Strategies
1

I’ve used TurboTax for years. Until this year I’ve always run it on an old laptop. Since last year’s taxes I’ve moved everything - especially the tax files - to my main computer, and that is where I installed TT this year.

Connecticut has income tax so I get the TT version that includes one state. Yesterday I got toward the end of entering everything, and it all looked find until it required the income number from last year’s CT form for this year. So I went looking at all those files I transferred and nothing. There were files going back to 2010* but the most recent file with a CT in the name was from 2019. That old laptop had been cleaned up, so I figured I was screwed. Which confused me, as I was certain I had brought everything over. I didn’t have last year’s software anywhere either. So I set about trying to come up with a number that would be close. I found the brackets and rates from 2000, then opened the pdf of the Federal side to get that income figure. What did I find? In the same pdf, printed after the Federal forms, were the CT forms!

Without that number TT said I would have a $68 penalty to CT, despite getting a CT refund. Taxes are strange. I get refunds from both federal and state because I withhold based on the standard deduction but have been able to itemize the last couple of years. The down side is this left some room at the top of my bracket that could have let me do a larger IRA to ROTH conversion.

*(2010 is also when I started following this board, which has been of tremendous help. The thread last December about selling my home saved my buns yesterday. Thanks again to everyone)

2

I believe the fed and state returns are saved as 1 file in TTax by default. I can’t remember when it’s been different.

You can choose which forms to save (all and/or all with all supporting docs).
Perhaps you saved just the CT from 2019 separately that year? Just a guess.

nag

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3

My state’s Franchise Tax Board has the option to setup an online account to verify tax information and download summaries of recent tax returns. It can be very useful.

4

I believe the fed and state returns are saved as 1 file in TTax by default. I can’t remember when it’s been different.

You can choose which forms to save (all and/or all with all supporting docs).
Perhaps you saved just the CT from 2019 separately that year? Just a guess.

That sounds logical, but at this point I’m just glad nothing is missing.

My state’s Franchise Tax Board has the option to setup an online account to verify tax information and download summaries of recent tax returns. It can be very useful.

I looked for anything like that for CT, but all I found was one for businesses with a note that it was supposed to be expanded to individuals some day.

5

I know that scary feeling.

A few years back, I realized I hadn’t saved a few prior returns as a .pdf.
The actual program was on a long gone computer and I had tossed the programs disk.

Luckily, I did have a paper copy, that I then scanned in to have it as a .pdf.
I never did actually need it, but was concerned that something would come up with it.

nag

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