Error with "Single" status

[toast_tax]

I've seen some posts in the distant past that are similar in nature but it's now 2023 and I'm a little baffled by previous posts, so I'm posting in here with the hopes that I can get assistance soon.

I was living common law until March 2022. I previously filed individually but indicated in TurboTax that I was still common law the previous year (2021), since that was true. Now, this year, there's a page where it asks for Changes in Marital Status. Ok, so I fill that in:

"What was your marital status as of December 31, 2021?" Living common law
Date your marital status changed: (I put the date in March 2022).
Then on a later screen it asks for my former spouse's income last year and SIN. So, I put those values in but my tax return is immediately slashed by 2/3rds. Why??? We barely lived together for 2 months out of 12. This doesn't make any sense to me. She's been out of my life for more than a year now. I try to remove my former spouse's income from that page and check off that I don't know her income. It changes nothing, though.

Anyway, I get to the end and I get an error: "Your marital status cannot be single if you've entered information about your spouse/partner" and it takes me back to the "Changes in Martial Status" page. Why? I put Single in my CRA info after the separation, and I put the date that my status changed to single on that same page. This error makes no sense to me at all.

1. How can I undo whatever messed up calculation TurboTax is doing there?
2. How can I resolve the error with my marital status? I'm single now, but no changes I make within my tax return gets rid of the error.

[TurboTaxSusan]

If you were common-law with someone during the the first part of 2022, and broke up, then you would be separated, not single. If you have separated or divorced, then you can't be single ever again. You are either separated or divorced until you remarry/partner with someone, at least in the eyes of the CRA.

The way you answered it originally told the program that you were common-law *starting* from March 2022. Switching to single after entering that you were common-law didn't delete your ex-partner's info, hence the error message.

[toast_tax]

@TurboTaxSusan Thanks for that info - I didn't know that about the status change and I assumed Separated status was only after someone was previously married (licensed and all that). I've since changed it to Separated and that resolved the error. I wish the TurboTax error was clearer in that respect. I'm unable to update my CRA profile with that status, though - there is no option to do so, and that was part of my original confusion.

I actually called the TurboTax customer service and screen shared with the assistant about that issue before you replied here, and they told me that everything looked fine and that I should just "ignore" the error... 😑

"The way you answered it originally told the program that you were common-law *starting* from March 2022" I don't think that was the case here... but maybe I wasn't clear with the TurboTax text. The form now reads (after my status change to Separated in a previous form): "Date your marital status changed to separated: (dd/mm)" [with the date].

In any case, I still find it very odd how my return dropped by about 2/3rds after I put in my former partner's info since we were separated for 10/12 months of last year. Maybe starting from scratch instead of importing from the previous year will confirm the numbers I saw before, or maybe that was a bug that was fixed in a recent update.

[SF68]

I've been following this thread as I've been having this same issue, as my spouse & I separated in September 2022. Based on the advice of @TurboTaxSusan  I changed the marital status to Separated from Single , which now switches the tax owing to a tax refund, but I still get the error message when I do the review. 

I too had called Turbotax two nights in a row & both agents I spoke to went through the steps with me, but couldn't fully understand the problem.  

In the Personal information box, I have switched from Single to Separated, along with the date in September. 

When I do the Review, the Error message comes up that I have to enter my Spouse's information if there was a Marital Change since 2021. When I go to the screen, Marital Status in 2021 it is Common Law & then under the Details of changes in Marital status in 2022, I have put the date in September we separated. Based on the advice of an agent, I had also put Separated under the Details of a change in Marital Status in 2023, but after some consideration, I have removed it, as I don't think it applies.

I have left all information of my spouse blank, but I am still getting the error message. If I ignore it, I cannot Netfile the return. If I enter the information, the amount swings $3k in the other direction & I owe money instead.

If I am missing something that you had done @toast_tax to remove the error message & be able to Netfile the return, I'd appreciate it if you could point me in the right direction. Thanks!

[toast_tax]

@SF68  It sounds like you did basically all the same steps as I did. Maybe go back through the steps and click on the Next / Complete buttons in the tax forms to ensure that the background calculations / data is updated. I haven't officially completed the Netfile as of yet (I still have some tax info to enter) but if I find any fixes then I'll mention them here.

On the other hand, my previously generous tax refund hasn't returned, even after redoing the transfer from 2021, so at least you've gotten TurboTax to acknowledge the difference there, whereas I haven't been able to sort that part out yet.

[SF68]

@toast_tax I spent a couple of hours last night using different combinations of answers, but no luck. You mentioned in a previous post of not importing the data from a prior year, so that is likely the route I will take & input everything fresh. 

I won't mention the separation in Turbotax & just use Single. CRA already is aware of the September 2022 separation and the refund is the same anyhow. Thanks for your comment & please let me know how you make out. 

[TurboTaxBrenda1]

The reason why you need to enter your ex partners information is so that TurboTax can calculate and pro-rate the amount of credits you can have. Next year you will be free from adding your ex partners information but your marital status as required from the CRA must be "Separated".

Thank you for choosing TurboTax.

[SF68]

@TurboTaxBrenda1 Yes, I ended up putting my spouse's information in after I discovered that even though I put Separated & the date of separation, Turbotax inputs a Spouse or common-law partner amount of $16,748 on Line 30300 in Part B of the T1 General, which is why it shows a larger refund. By inputting my spouse's information, it removes the Spouse amount, thus reducing the amount of the refund. 

As a test, I did input all information fresh, without rolling it in from the previous year & the refund was the same as when I inputted my spouse's information, so I was satisfied with the result. 

Thanks for your assistance.  

[TurboTaxBrenda1]

Good to hear- see  you next season- TurboTax.