under spouses additional information it asks for net income from 2022 federal tax return (line 23600) but I can't finish any tax return for 2022 without this information. Is this a typo and is meant to be 2021 income? I don't understand as it won't let you continue without this information.
If you are married, you will need to provide your spouse’s 2022 income even if you are preparing your returns separately. If you don’t know what it is, you can enter an estimate to continue your return. Then when your spouse has completed their return you can go back and put the correct income in before you file.
I get that. However, he needs my income to file and I need his to file. But we can’t get our income number until we each file. I don’t understand.
This is why we recommend preparing your returns together with your spouse, so that TurboTax can just deal with these numbers in the background. And the CRA usually won't process one spouse's return until they get the other return too.
However, if you can't file together, you don't need to go as far as filing the returns, you just need to enter all your income (and income related expenses) to get the Net Income amount.
This still doesn't make any sense.
You can't get line 23600 without at least one person filing.. but both returns are required to enter this information before filing.
My spouse and I have this problem too. Here's what we did:
In our case, we're not doing anything like income splitting, so maybe this is easier for us, but... Hopefully that helps!
Turbotax is making it difficult for people to file separately. Was a lot easier when they showed the line numbers at the end.
If you do not have the exact amount, the Canada Revenue Agency suggests that you do your best to estimate the amount. It is important to enter it because it is used to calculate certain credits that you may or may not be entitled to claim. You can return to edit the entry once her return is completed.
Please see the image below to view the Detailed summary which shows you the lines in your return.
Thank you for choosing TurboTax.
@mbragdon I have passed on your suggestion to our product development team. Thank you for your input.
This is also difficult in the case of a spouse who dies - where you need the line 23600 amount of the living spouse to complete the file for the deceased spouse. Not fun trying to figure this out in such circumstances!
Having same issue in 2025 for 2024 taxes.....My husband and I cannot file together because of his personal bankruptcy. I just added up his T4 and T4E which was his only income for the tax year. This is the only thing I could think of to put down for that line, is it going to be sufficient?
Yes. You can put your estimate for now and then put the correct number before you file.
If you are using TurboTax Online:
Your spouse/partner's net income (Line 23600) is calculated by subtracting social benefit repayments (Line 23500) from their net income before adjustments (Line 23400).
Line 23400 less Line 23500 equals Line 23600. So, if your spouse didn't have any social benefit repayments, then Line 23400 is the same as Line 23600.
Any amount I put in "Net income from Crystal's 2024 federal tax return (Line 23600)" won't take. Just keeps giving me an error.
@terrygill13 What is the exact error message that you are getting? Did you enter something in Line 23400?
I would like to add in that I am having the same issues as everything above. Its extremely frustrating when just the initial setup is taking almost an hour. It really should not be this difficult. Every year there is a similar headache. This needs to be addressed or simplified. Line 23600 Cannot be found anywhere (for current tax year) even within my own CRA profile. Any numbers I input just don't work and makes me try again.