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Within Drake, go to the state tab and open the PA area. From there, you'll be able to generate the W2WK schedule to explain any differences from the W-2 wages to the PA return. That schedule reconciles the Fed and Medicare wages to the PA wages. For a PY or NR, you may need to make a manual entry for wages earned (calc'd on the basis of what PA taxes) during the period of nonresidence. PA does not allow a deduction for retirement plan deferrals such as 401K contributions so those are an add-back on the worksheet, but it does not tax GTLI reported on W-2 box 12 as code C so that would be a subtraction. You'll notice on the W2WK worksheet that those 2 items already have predefined boxes in the appropriate columns for proper reconciliation. With some PY PA returns, I found that having the paystubs for year-end and the one immediately prior to moving in or out of the state to be extremely helpful. There have been times where I attached my own reconciling schedule as a pdf. If client has Sch D that is a net loss, that amount will show up on Sch D and will carry to the PA-40, pg 1, but it will not be included in the math total to arrive at taxable income because PA taxes income and doesn't allow losses. Cap gain dividends do NOT flow to PA Sch D but are included in the dividend line on the PA return. PA doesn't have itemized deductions, but some employment-related deductions are still allowed for employees that receive a W-2 and have unreimbursed job-related expenses. If your client is in a profession that may have those, such as salesperson, you may want to check out Sch UE, and those flow to PA-40 pg 1 and are shown as a reduction of the PA wages. PA allows a deduction for 529 plan contributions made by the taxpayer. Schedule O. Off the top of my head, I'm not sure exactly how this is handled for PY returns though, so if you have this, you'll have to check the instructions on that one. PA return, you'll need to enter the school district that the client lives in and the dates of residence. That's on the PA tab. For the local return, Drake has a separate tab for that. You'll have to look up the municipality and its rate. PA does allow a credit for income taxed in two states, if you have that situation, and the local return will allow that also, and that is calculated similar to the state credit but is further reduced by the amount that was already used on the PA state return. Also for the local, you'll need to get the instructions from the locality or collection bureau that they live in. Each municipality has their own rate, and you'll have to read the instructions to find out how it allows for withholding if the taxpayer works in a different municipality than where they live. I'll wish you good luck with the input. I find the PY returns particularly fiddly and feel like I always waste some time getting it to present properly even when I'm certain of what the outcome should be.

I always do the same. Sometimes just to protect a loss carryforward even if no tax owed.

@Patrick Michael You just got a PA master class for free. Lucky you. @jklcpa You are the bomb! Tom Longview, TX

I would think it would be basis only deductible if the coop liquidated and ceased to exist.

After reading the comments I have decided to go ahead and file the return. She will in fact have that loss to carry forward and brokers being brokers this probably will not be the only trade effected in this account. As noted a trade may be profitable requiring a payment of tax.

But still you added an unnecessary step.

Usually SS monthly benefits are paid about the 10th of the month. If the recipient passes away before the end of the same month, the SSA will reach out and take back that month's payment. I am not aware of any reason that adult children will receive anything other than the death benefit or $255.

I would also suggest filing, especially if including only the gross proceeds in income will put this client over the threshold. To do otherwise, the client may receive a CP2000 notice because IRS doesn't account for basis.

That still takes longer than just entering the totals. Plus it makes the the file size larger and the return longer.

Last year, the IRS started allowing efiling of superceding returns: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-taxpayers-now-have-more-options-to-correct-amend-returns-electronically But not all software supports it.