Did my taxes using 2 different software with 2 results

[Anonymous]

And I can’t figure out where the discrepancy is for federal. Tax act online won’t allow me to input the MD 529 college investment contribution. But other than that frustrating glitch, not sure where the issue is. Gone thru twice to make sure no user error. Both are the online versions so can’t view the form until I pay. Hate this time of year and can’t find a decent acct. our last 2 made mistakes which is why I do them myself now.

[Anonymous]

Do you have a question

[Anonymous]

Pay for the full version. I have used turbo tax and paid for audit protection for years. Always works. One year we got audited as the sw messed up something about Ira contributions. Because we had audit protection turbo tax accountants had to deal with it. It was 2 months of them communicating with its and sending additional info. We owed like $2k extra but we didn't pay anything extra for the their services to sort it out and get us out of tax issues.

[Anonymous]

Do it on paper and see if you match either one.

[Anonymous]

How difficult were they?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How difficult were they?

*different

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And I can’t figure out where the discrepancy is for federal. Tax act online won’t allow me to input the MD 529 college investment contribution. But other than that frustrating glitch, not sure where the issue is. Gone thru twice to make sure no user error. Both are the online versions so can’t view the form until I pay. Hate this time of year and can’t find a decent acct. our last 2 made mistakes which is why I do them myself now.

Isn't this only reported on the MD state return? I've used Tax Act and Free Tax in the past and I didn't input this info until I was doing the state tax return part.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And I can’t figure out where the discrepancy is for federal. Tax act online won’t allow me to input the MD 529 college investment contribution. But other than that frustrating glitch, not sure where the issue is. Gone thru twice to make sure no user error. Both are the online versions so can’t view the form until I pay. Hate this time of year and can’t find a decent acct. our last 2 made mistakes which is why I do them myself now.

Isn't this only reported on the MD state return? I've used Tax Act and Free Tax in the past and I didn't input this info until I was doing the state tax return part.

Yeah, I also don’t have a problem noting the contribution for deduction for state tax purposes.

The only time it comes into play for federal is when you start withdrawing to pay for education. You get tax forms from the private school/college and just indicate it was all for legit purposes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And I can’t figure out where the discrepancy is for federal. Tax act online won’t allow me to input the MD 529 college investment contribution. But other than that frustrating glitch, not sure where the issue is. Gone thru twice to make sure no user error. Both are the online versions so can’t view the form until I pay. Hate this time of year and can’t find a decent acct. our last 2 made mistakes which is why I do them myself now.

Select the one with the more favorable result and pay for audit protection.

[Anonymous]

whats the difference? Did you try freetaxusa? You have to go line by line to try and figure out what the difference was as this happened to me but it wasn't much off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And I can’t figure out where the discrepancy is for federal. Tax act online won’t allow me to input the MD 529 college investment contribution. But other than that frustrating glitch, not sure where the issue is. Gone thru twice to make sure no user error. Both are the online versions so can’t view the form until I pay. Hate this time of year and can’t find a decent acct. our last 2 made mistakes which is why I do them myself now.

Isn't this only reported on the MD state return? I've used Tax Act and Free Tax in the past and I didn't input this info until I was doing the state tax return part.

Yeah, I also don’t have a problem noting the contribution for deduction for state tax purposes.

The only time it comes into play for federal is when you start withdrawing to pay for education. You get tax forms from the private school/college and just indicate it was all for legit purposes.

Came to say this. 529 isn't beneficial for Fed taxes until you're withdrawing.

[Anonymous]

Did you participate in the save4college program? They don’t let you get the tax break on 529 contributions any more if you also participate in save4college. I used h and r block and thought I was losing my mind bc the Maryland tax site had me owing more, but after doing some digging that’s what the problem was. H and r wasnt updated with that change.

[Anonymous]

Tax preparation is both and art and a science. Given the complexity of the tax code some minor variation is to be expected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tax preparation is both and art and a science. Given the complexity of the tax code some minor variation is to be expected.

Right, but how much leeway do you have until they ding you for it? That's the question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tax preparation is both and art and a science. Given the complexity of the tax code some minor variation is to be expected.

Right, but how much leeway do you have until they ding you for it? That's the question.

To be clear, you're asking how much you can cheat before you get caught. I would say, it's not worth the hassle of an audit even if the chance is low (of course this depends on the $$$ at stake).