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March 25, 2020
Question

My husband is active duty military but TurboTax is flagging our military income on Schedule M and won't let me efile. It's the exact same number on our Federal.

  • March 25, 2020
  • 2 replies
  • 0 views
We have been filing both federal and state for years without issue and I am getting an error saying that military pay doesn't qualify for a military pay deduction on IL return, Schedule M.  I checked all my previous returns and TurboTax filled out our state returns exactly as they're filled out now and our tax situation hasn't changed.

2 replies

March 25, 2020

You are correct that Illinois deducts Military Pay from IL Taxable Income.

 

The instructions for IL Schedule M say:

 

"Line 21 — Military pay earned Enter the amount of military pay that you received from the U.S. Armed Forces or the National Guard of any state, or that you received as a dual status military technician. You may not subtract the following: combat pay that is not included in your federal adjusted gross income, Form IL-1040, Line 1 pay you received under the Voluntary Separation Incentive, from the military as a civilian, under the Ready Reserve Mobilization Income Insurance Program, or for duty as an officer in the Public Health Service. "

 

If you are not able to enter the amount of Military Pay as as 'Subtraction from Income', in your IL return, go back to the W-2 entry in your Federal return to be sure that military pay is indicated on your entry. 

 

Also, check the My Info section to be sure you indicated your husband is in the military.

 

Click this link for IL Schedule M Instructions. 

March 27, 2020

Thank you, but I did all that. I even deleted and re-entered his W-2 and got the same error.

March 28, 2020

I am having the exact same issue......there is definitely a glitch in the TurboTax software which is preventing me from EFile due to this Schedule M flag which I am 100% sure I filled out correctly like every other year.....get your act together and fix the issue TurboTax

March 28, 2020

I am having the same trouble with e-filing rejected.   the W-2 box is checked for active military, but still flagging an error of IL Form M, Line 21.

March 29, 2020

I just got off the phone with TurboTax support.  E-filing was not working because of the error.  I missed one "Yes" or "No"  button under "Personal Info" that was needed to indicate "Active Military."  After I clicked "yes," no error was found on IL form M and the e-filing went through.

March 29, 2020

How did you contact them? The only way I could see was by paying for live chat.