My client is in the military. Operation Inherent Resolve nor Combat Zone are listed in the Special Military Processing drop-down menu. How is this resolved?
"There is no required action for you to receive the exclusion. Each military organization will automatically certify your entitlement by excluding reportable income on your W-2. If you believe you are entitled, and your W-2 reflects your full, unadjusted annual pay and benefits, contact your military pay office to issue a corrected W-2."
There is an error in my question. It should read "Operation Inherent Resolve or Combat Zone are NOT listed in the Special Military Processing drop-down menu. How is this resolved? Diagnostic says: "Military Combat pay was reported on Form W-2 but no Special Military Processing for members of the U.S. Armed Forces was indicated in the e-file Miscellaneous input screen." If you go to EF (4.4) Miscellaneous / Special military processing / drop down menu.....there is not a listing for "Operation Inherent Resolve" or "Combat Zone." "Combat Zone" was listed as an option last year, but not this year.
Was this ever resolved I have a return I cannot file because the combat pay was for Operation Inherent Resolve. I'm thinking of just putting in the newest Iraq mission listed there and adding a note to the return.
This issue has not been resolved. I had the client paper file the return with an explanation as to why it was paper filed. I did not want to choose another mission which might create a conflict with the "entry date" of the mission.
"There is no required action for you to receive the exclusion. Each military organization will automatically certify your entitlement by excluding reportable income on your W-2. If you believe you are entitled, and your W-2 reflects your full, unadjusted annual pay and benefits, contact your military pay office to issue a corrected W-2."
is what I was referring to...sounds clear to me....no action required....report the W-2 as issued.
I bypassed the e-file diagnostic error and added a note to the return with the mission name and explanation. Since my client doesn't have EIC or the Dependent Care Credit so no special processing was needed. You can not e-file without either checking a box or bypassing the e-file diagnostic error. Return was accepted.
As of 2-1-24, this issue still exists in Lacerte 2023. The IRS has a list of approved combat zones that is not consistent with the drop down in Lacerte. I don't know why Desert Storm is still listed 30 years later, but the list has not been updated with current combat zones.
I just did an error bypass on this last year since I knew the return was correct. It was filed no problem - will likely be doing the same this year since I'm doing a return for that same client again.
I don't know why they don't just update it though - when I told my military client what was listed he said none of those were current for the most part.
