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January 14, 2022
Question

Utah retirement tax credits

  • January 14, 2022
  • 2 replies
  • 0 views

I am a Utah resident, older than 70, get a Military retirement pension and Social Security. This year's state tax law changes allow me to take a Retirement Tax credit or credits for Social Security taxes and Military taxes. But the program is only recognizing the Social Security credit. How do I get the program to give me both credits?

    2 replies

    SteamTrain
    Employee
    January 14, 2022

    @Earlpsu70 

     

    1)  IF you are using the Desktop software, make absolutely sure you have updated your software...the final UT forms are "supposed" to be ready, but yeah, there could be a mistake.

     

    2) after #1, go thru, and review the entries on your Military 1099-R again in the Federal section.  For many states with similar exemptions, there is a follow-up page after the main entries where you indicate that the 1099-R is a military (or sometimes Federal Employee) pension.   IF it's in that follow-up page, the "state distribution" amount must be set to the value of box 2 on the Military 1099-R form (or the Federally-taxable amount of box 1 if box 2 is empty).  

     

    Otherwise:

    3)   Give Customer Support a call on the phone.  They can check the current status of the software, show you how it is handled IF there is a special place to make the proper entries....or.... issue a correction ticket to get the software corrected, if needed.

    _________________________

     

    What is the TurboTax phone number? (intuit.com)

    ____________*Answers are correct to the best of my knowledge when posted, but should not be considered to be legal or official tax advice.*
    January 22, 2022

    Why doesn't the online version of TurboTax account for the new Utah military retirement tax credit.  Will this be fixed or do I need to use different software like H and R Block or something?

    January 23, 2022

    I followed the advice from SteamTrain and it seems the only way to solve this is to call customer support and let them realize that the program is not doing what it should. They will then report the problem.

    I have not used the online version so I cannot offer any assistance there. Sorry. But in the Windows version, you can change to Forms view and override the blank military retirement credit to remove the amount of your retired pay. Not the way it should work but it makes it right.

    February 4, 2022

    I completed my tax return (entering all data) for both Federal and Utah State.  I knew that Utah has changed the taxation law regarding Military Pensions being Taxed.  I worked for several hours to figure out how to enter the correct Code, and calculated tax credit.  No luck, called Turbo Tax Saturday 29 January.  Was on the phone for 1 hour, was told to reenter the data, customer service was back and forth with higher level support.  They agreed to research and call me back with potential solution.  Called back on Tuesday 1 February another hour trying to reenter data.  Still, no success in getting the correct code to ID retired pay tax credit to replace the Social Security tax credit.  The customer service representative was very pleasant and courteous and from my  experience they have a significant software problem.  What I can't understand is that the law changed over 9 months ago why we the Utah Military Veterans who have a pension have become the Beta Testers. Shame on turbo tax.  I will give them until Monday before I head to a CPA.  They have lost a 30 + year Turbo Tax Customer

    February 4, 2022

    Two things - if you are drawing social security and a Military pension (codes AH and AJ), you are eligible for both credits as long as you don't take the retirement tax credit (code 18). This is per the Utah State Tax Commission. I have checked and double checked! To make TurboTax give you the proper credits, go to Forms and work your way down to the tax credit work sheet. There you have to override the blank Military section and put in your amount from block 2 of the 1099-R. 

    In their defense, TurboTax has sent me weekly emails saying they are working on the issue but I haven't seen a resolution yet and I am not sure they will implement it correctly as the Utah code 18 writeup is misleading, and you can get both AH and AJ credits.

    February 6, 2022

    We have identified an issue with the military retirement credit in Utah and are researching it.

     

    The actual change to the tax code in Utah was that taxpayers receiving military retirement income receive a non-refundable tax credit of 4.95% of the distribution reported in income, so the military retirement still appears as taxable income but credit is applied to compensate for it. See this Utah page.

     

    NOTE: you can't take the military tax credit if you claim either the Social Security Benefits Credit or the Retirement Credit. Please see this Utah page.

     

    TurboTax will identify which of the credits gives you the best result and apply it automatically.

     

    Let us work on the military retirement credit...

     

    @dkubiaksr

    @ewjohn1

    @Phillysteak19127

     

    Utah Military Retirement Updates