Iowa State Tax Return

[Shirley79]

Just wondering why ProSeries Basic does not automatically choose a joint Iowa return when it is more beneficial than filing a married/separate return.   The married/separate return is where Basic takes you.   It makes quite a difference for some older retired people to file jointly in certain situations.

[IRonMaN]

You say it helps some folks.  But are you saying the separate filing helps most folks?

[Shirley79]

On Iowa tax return - ABSOLUTELY - especially with two wage earners.

[IRonMaN]

Then I'm guessing it defaults to what it believes is the most beneficial route for the most taxpayers.  Why would you want it to default the other way around?

[Shirley79]

As smart as this software is and as much as it costs, it should default to the best outcome for the client.  Someone new in the tax preparation field and new to preparing an Iowa return may not know they should check both filing statuses.   There - I let off steam - that's all I wanted to do and possibly help another tax return preparer.

[IRonMaN · Accepted solution]

The software isn't as smart as you give it credit for.  But as long as that steam got released you must be feeling better now.🙂  Good luck with the rest of tax season ----------------- hopefully this is the only issue you encounter with the software this year 👍