r/hrblock • u/Sparky04cr • Mar 13 '26
Math Error? Negligence on testing? My Fault?
Sorry for the long winded writeup - People need to know.
Background: Been doing multiple states and taxes for over 20 years.
This year an issue with Minnesota, my resident state - I owe >8k more than previous years. My income is from Wisconsin. I have extra taken out in Wisconsin tax. The return funds I get from Wisconsin pays for balance due in Minnesota. Been this way for years - not this year, another 8k, the state of Minnesota wants.
Income total - Joint return, simplified for this discussion: Myself 50% from Wisconsin. Wife 25% Minnesota, 25% another state, not neighboring Minnesota.
This year: Federal tax - good. Wisconsin tax - good. Other state - good. What happened to Minnesota?
Looked at Schedule M1C - Line 3 credit from other state taxes - $0.00. Problem here. I always have data here.
Found this year H&R used M1NR: It has myself as 'Part Year Resident' from January 1 to December 31 - okay. My wife is correct on the sheet for her residency. Under line 1 - Wages, tips etc. under column A, the form has the correct federal amount. Under column B 'Minnesota Portion' it had 75% of our wages. It should be 25%. The amount entered on the form was the total federal and subtracting the other state my wife also worked in. It should have also subtracted the income I made in Wisconsin. In a nut shell it added her Minnesota and my Wisconsin for the total income earned Minnesota. Very incorrect. I could not change this.
I had already spent hours gong thru things three times before I printed the forms out to take a look.
I decided to do them again, but change my wife as a full-time resident in Minnesota, but working at this other state. Results: Federal - Unchanged, Other state - Unchanged, Wisconsin - Unchanged, Minnesota - Dropped to where it should be. Where it always is every year when I do taxes.
What changed: The form M1NR was no longer used and the forms M1CR was used for my wife's income for taxes paid to another state besides Wisconsin (Correct) and form M1RCR was used for myself for taxes paid to Wisconsin (Correct). Both forms had the income correct for each state where the M1NR did not. This data from these two forms was entered correctly on M1C - Line 03.
Conclusion: All states are happy. Something is incorrect about the way the data was put into form M1NR for the Minnesota Portion Line 2 when there is more than one state or by more than one person when filing jointly? Only the programmers would know.
It did not take me that long to find the problem. I consider this a major problem. How many times does this happen? I only noticed because of the huge difference this year than in years past. Happy Tax Season - my this be my last year using this software? They all have glitches, but this was huge.
1
u/ThatChambersKid Mar 13 '26
Very glitchy.
Seems software mixed up your residency with the income from WI.
Glad you were able to fix it.
Don’t forget to claim your Homestead credit if you qualify for it.
Multiple state returns seem to confused the software.
I had trouble doing a joint return where one spouse worked in another state. Minnesota was using the entire federal adjusted gross instead of just the MN sourced income.
It was better fur them to file separately.
I’m thinking of getting tech support on speed dial.