Question

TurboTax fails to include Massachusetts form M-2210 with E-file when penalty is zero.

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
April 9, 2023
1 reply
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There's a longstanding bug with TurboTax Desktop edition (may be online version also has this bug but I don't use it). For tax year 2022 My MA taxes withheld were less than the total MA tax I owed. So as part of the state interview TurboTax fills out form M-2210 to calculate the penalty for Underpayment of Massachusetts Estimated Income Tax. This forms takes into account both taxes withheld and estimated taxes I paid during 2022. If the calculation determines that the penalty is at least $1 everything works correctly and the completed form M-2210 is included with E-file'd return. However if the penalty ends up as zero because you paid enough estimated taxes form M-2210 is not included in the E-file and not printed or saved during E-filing step. Note even when penalty is zero M-2210 still needs to be included with the filed return if tax withholding alone didn't cover your tax liability and your remaining tax due is more than $400. This is particularly important when Annualized Income Installment Method is used since the state tax authority (MA Department of Revenue) has no information about your uneven income in each quarter. So even with zero penalty you still need form M-2210 filed (for remaining tax due over $400) to prove that your penalty is indeed zero.

How do I know M-2210 is not filed when calculated penalty is zero? First I noticed M-2210 is not included in the list of saved or printed forms when you go through E-filing process. Second after E-filing I called MA Department of Revenue and confirmed with them that my return did not include M-2210. So I had to refile my MA return by regular mail instead of e-file. I first noticed this problem in 2018 with my 2017 MA return. And this problem is still here in 2023! I verified that the bug is present for both annualized and non-annualized methods to determine if you owe a penalty.

Please fix this bug. Without the fix people who diligently pay estimated taxes to make sure the underpayment penalty ends up as zero can't e-file their MA returns with TurboTax especially when annualized method is used to achieve zero penalty.

H

Howdy2u

I just finished with TurboTax 2023 Deluxe and fortunately found the same problem described by “Wired” before initiating an eFile. Sadly, once again the list of included forms for filing in Massachusetts does not include my completed M-2210. The longtime “bug” described by Wired has not been fixed!

Because TurboTax 2023 doesn’t assemble the required forms properly, I will be mailing my Federal & State tax filings to ensure all required forms are included.

Y

yuksam

I am in the same boat.

Unfortunately, I did not know this bug and paid TurboTax to e-file my MA tax return (I am using the Desktop version and had to pay an extra $21.25 for a state e-file.)

Later, I found that my M-2210 form (including an annualized income method) was not submitted, and MA calculated a penalty for me.

I cannot amend using TurboTax either since the bug is still there, and I should print and mail my forms.

This is very frustrating, and TurboTax should give me a refund for my state e-filing!