8962, Part V: Alternative Calculation for Year of Marriage

[jklcpa]

@mcb39  Marilyn, I am coming up with a repayment of $550, and this couple would have a repayment cap of $1,900 anyway  according to the figures and the table in the 8962 instructions. You can ignore names and SSNs as this is from one of Drake's practice returns that I modified to fit the purpose. 
Please check forms to see that I've entered dollar amounts correctly and the answers to questions about the coverage and marriage date.  You can download and print the pdf, and I've attached screenshots to view on screen for anyone that may want to check my work (probably a good thing at this point, very tired after really bad last 3 days.
8962 Alt Calc-Married Nov.pdf

 

8962, page 2 is mostly blank except for Part V that shows this:

MAGI 8962 worksheet:

Alternate Calc in Yr of Marriage Eligibility Worksheet:

Worksheet for Spouse Alternate Monthly Contribution Amount:

Last worksheet, Alternate Calc for Year of Marriage Totals Worksheet

 

[mcb39]

I haven't even left yet and you already have the answers.  I can never thank you enough.  Some of these extensions are worse than the entire tax season in real time.  Either our brains are fried or we just want to be done.  So kind of you.

[jklcpa]

18 minutes ago, mcb39 said:

I haven't even left yet and you already have the answers.  I can never thank you enough.  Some of these extensions are worse than the entire tax season in real time.  Either our brains are fried or we just want to be done.  So kind of you.

Now you have to get the ATX program to produce that same result, if it is correct, and I can't help with that. 

[mcb39]

On 5/2/2025 at 8:41 AM, jklcpa said:

Now you have to get the ATX program to produce that same result, if it is correct, and I can't help with that. 

After four tries, I cannot get it to accept.

[jklcpa]

56 minutes ago, mcb39 said:

After four tries, I cannot get it to accept.

Did you get my result?

What does the reject error say is wrong?

[mcb39]

11 hours ago, jklcpa said:

Did you get my result?

What does the reject error say is wrong?

I did get your results and changed everything; one step at a time.  I get a different rejection notice every time.  I change what they want changed and the next time it is something else.  I just refiled it again.  Sometimes it  comes back with several of the numbers changed.  I am furious.  This time it was just one number that had to be changed.  I will let you know in the morning.  I am tempted to just let it go; but in my heart I know that she doesn't owe all that money.  Once they didn't like the $49 and changed everything to $79.  I changed everything back.  They found something else they didn't like.  One more time, I will delete the 8962 and start all over.  There has to be a solution.

[mcb39]

The rejection this morning said "Form 8962, Line 36b 'Monthly Contribution Amount' for the Spouse must be equal to the amount comuted using the Form 8962 instructions."  

As far as I can tell, they are equal at $49.  I totally don't know where to go with this.  Thank you for trying to help.

[jklcpa]

5 minutes ago, mcb39 said:

The rejection this morning said "Form 8962, Line 36b 'Monthly Contribution Amount' for the Spouse must be equal to the amount comuted using the Form 8962 instructions."  

As far as I can tell, they are equal at $49.  I totally don't know where to go with this.  Thank you for trying to help.

That is the exact same rejection error that Jason, the OP of this topic, had started with.

Make sure that ATX produces these results:

8962, line 1 is a "2"

box 9 is "yes"

box 10 is "no"

page 2, part V - should be blank for the taxpayer and filled in only for the spouse.  In other words, make sure that ATX isn't calculating any alternative calculations for the taxpayer, it should be creating those only for the spouse.  It sounds like somewhere along the way you have made an entry for the taxpayer to be included in the alternative calcs for ATX to be producing that error.

How much of the alternative worksheets does ATX require you to manually enter, or is it producing my results based on very limited input from you?

 

[jklcpa]

My other thought is to make sure that the 8962 entry area indicates "S" that it is only for the spouse and that whatever entries are there are all for the spouse (if it requires entries for her name, SSN, dates of coverage, etc) so that nothing indicated relates to the taxpayer. That would be something easy to overlook if you've deleted the input and reentered multiple times.

Sorry that I can't see your input to help directly with whatever ATX thinks it needs to make this work.

[mcb39]

7 hours ago, jklcpa said:

My other thought is to make sure that the 8962 entry area indicates "S" that it is only for the spouse and that whatever entries are there are all for the spouse (if it requires entries for her name, SSN, dates of coverage, etc) so that nothing indicated relates to the taxpayer. That would be something easy to overlook if you've deleted the input and reentered multiple times.

Sorry that I can't see your input to help directly with whatever ATX thinks it needs to make this work.

We rejected again.  We redid all of the calculations and came up with a slightly different number of $55; so tried that.  If this fails, I have no idea what to do.  I do not have an option to change the 8962 to her name without changing all of the main information entry.  It will not allow me to override.  This has been the horror story of 2024.  I hope I never have another one of these.

[jklcpa]

Unless you are changing or adding items of income that are affecting MAGI, I really don't understand how the spouse's monthly contribution amount keeps changing. That makes no sense to me.

[mcb39]

11 hours ago, jklcpa said:

Unless you are changing or adding items of income that are affecting MAGI, I really don't understand how the spouse's monthly contribution amount keeps changing. That makes no sense to me.

The original MAGI that I gave you did not include the addback of the portion of SS that was  not included in taxable income.  Who knew?  Would it be advisable to paper file this return and put it to rest?

[jklcpa]

Marilyn, I'm surprised that ATX doesn't calculate the MAGI for you. If you give me revised figures I can have a new result for you in a couple of minutes.  At least you will know what to aim for.

The other thing I realize is that you are getting a variety of error messages because you are deleting the 8962 with each reject instead of trying to use the rejected one and fixing the error it generated.

There should be "2" as the family size on line 1 of the 8962, but on the spouse's alternate worksheet the family size should be "1". You shouldn't have any entries anywhere for the husband except how the joint MAGI and joint poverty level affects the calculations in the first section at the top of the 8962 and where the joint MAGI is divided in 1/2 on the spouse's worksheet.

Are you willing to try again?

[jklcpa]

If you want, I will plug in the new income numbers. If you give me:

• total AGI with the taxable SSA included,
• gross SSA, and
• taxable portion of the SSA

I should be able to get the worksheets to show the amounts on their proper respective lines.  Nothing else changed?

[mcb39]

51 minutes ago, jklcpa said:

If you want, I will plug in the new income numbers. If you give me:

• total AGI with the taxable SSA included,
• gross SSA, and
• taxable portion of the SSA

I should be able to get the worksheets to show the amounts on their proper respective lines.  Nothing else changed?

Total AGI  61531

Gross SS 16860

Taxable SS 13736

The only other thing is that I cannot get her name on the top of the 8962 without reversing the names in the  setup.