LA Preparers: Problem with Credit for State Taxes Paid to Another State

[Cathy]

It appears that the Louisiana return either has a glitch or Louisiana incorrectly wanted the worksheet for "Taxes Paid to Other States" to reflect JUST the out of state returns contained in the return.

 

....in other words, the ATX worksheet where you list the State and taxes paid will not let you add another line for taxes paid to another state without having an out of state return for that state along with the 1040, etc... 

 

 

However, MS is one that doesn't include gambling on it's return so, as you know, we include the MS income taxes on the worksheet which flows to the Credit for Taxes Paid to Another State.

 

 

Furthermore, the worksheet for 2014, unlike 2013 won't let you add any lines at all....when you are preparing the out of state returns, the State automatically appears on the worksheet.

 

 

I'll get with Louisiana E-file office tomorrow and ATX and see what I can find out and will let everyone know....in the interim, if it's me that's the problem, please let me know!

 

Thanks,

 

Cathy

 

 

P.S.  I just checked the Mississippi website and there was no change for the 2014 returns insofar as the MS withholding taxes on gambling income is concerned.  I have been handling MS gambling State taxes on the Louisiana return since Mississippi quit showing gambling income on their State returns....Louisiana even put out a memorandum on this situation within the last couple of years acknowledging that the way to handle it would be to show the MS taxes withheld on the Louisiana return and to send in copies of W-2G for Mississippi with the Louisiana return as proof.

[Lynn EA USTCP in Louisiana]

Cathy, will you post the telephone # for LA Efile help desk, please? I need to call them and am unable to find the number. thanks,

Lynn

[Cathy]

Lynn,

 

The following link will get you to the Mef Handbook/Personal  2014 (don't know if it's for the taxable year of 2014 or was printed in 2014..

regardless, GO TO PAGE 5 FOR CONTACT INFO...(SURE YOU'LL FIND THE DIVISION YOU NEED)

 

http://revenue.louisiana.gov/Miscellaneous/2014LouisianaEFileHandbook.pdf

[Cathy]

UPDATE:

 

While the State of Louisiana and ATX talk back and forth (48 hours now), they haven't come up with an answer as to whether it's ATX software or a change made in error by the State to the requirements of the software...

 

In the interim, the following is the work-around that I discovered:

 

Add a MS return to your client's file and enter the total Mississippi State Income Taxes withheld as the total tax liability on the Mississippi return...you don't need to do anything else....don't worry about anything else on the MS return.  After you do that, there will be a line on the worksheet for Line 1 of Sch. G (LA return) that lists MS as the State and the total entered on the dummy MS return as the credit.  Of course, don't e-file the MS return...and ATX won't automatically add the e-file forms for MS anyway!