NC Form D-400 / Layout Changed

[JohnH]

Somehow I failed to get the memo, or slept through the CE.
I thought my software had really goofed on the NC return.
Today I happened to notice that it started with AGI on line 6 and actually began calculating from there.

Now that I've studied it, the new layout actually makes a lot more sense - not as many hoops to jump through.
There's much less add-back and subtract-out silliness for standard deduction and personal exemptions.

Wonder why NC didn't do this years ago?

[FEDUKE404]

NC return improvements

Somehow I failed to get the memo, or slept through the CE.
I thought my software had really goofed on the NC return.
Today I happened to notice that it started with AGI on line 6 and actually began calculating from there.

Now that I've studied it, the new layout actually makes a lot more sense - not as many hoops to jump through.
There's much less add-back and subtract-out silliness for standard deduction and personal exemptions.

Wonder why NC didn't do this years ago?

I think perhaps the crooks in the NC Legislature enjoyed receiving the extra funds generated with all of the weird add-ons, which to a certain extent kept NC taxes stuck in the past while the IRS regularly raised the year-to-year personal exemption and standard deduction amounts. It was quite common for NC 2011 taxable income "to increase" by $8k+ as a result of those adjustments. To further aggravate things, it was possible for a person to have zero federal tax liability and yet, as a result of the add-ons, to have a NC tax liability. Try explaining that to your clients!!

The new NC Form D-400 is now more in line with most other states as for "additions" and "deductions" from federal AGI.

BTW: How do you like that little goodie on line 48 of the 2012 Form D-400 ??

FE

[JoshinNC]

I go through the NC return line b line with my clients

I sounded like a blithering idiot on the first two! It really tripped , me up, but it does actually make more sense for the non-pro to read in the new format.

[Burke]

As an out-of-stater, am really glad to hear this. Do NC returns every year. This makes it like Virginia so should be a piece of cake.

[JohnH]

I sounded like a blithering idiot on the first two! It really tripped , me up, but it does actually make more sense for the non-pro to read in the new format.

I can see how that would trip you up at first:

Conversation with client:
"Well, you can see this AGI entry is just for information purposes only. We actually start with Federal taxable income and make adjustments. No, wait a minute, there's no Federal Taxable income here! What? They're making adjustments directly to AGI? Now I'm really confused. Can you folks come back tomorrow?"

Beginning of conversation with software provider:
"Hello, customer service. I need to report a problem with the software..."

End of Conversation with software provider:
(sheepishly) "Oh, OK. Thanks for that info. Sorry I wasted your time..."

Next conversation with client:
"No problem folks, it took a while but I finally got the software people straightened out. We don't need to waste time going over the NC return. Just sign and let's move on."