Itemized deductions - not sure if calculating properly in FreeTaxUSA

Ironman0723

Hi! For the 2025 tax year, I lived in Maryland and worked in Pennsylvania for the entire year. My wife was the same - we work for the same company, and we are filing married jointly. Each year I do the taxes in both Turbo Tax and FreeTaxUSA to see if I can get the numbers to match, then I file in FreeTAXUSA. Kind of just a way for me to verify I input everything correctly if I can get them both to match.

I'm noticing that Turbotax is giving me a slightly higher amount for my itemized deductions than FreeTaxUSA is giving, by about $144. This is making my refund in Turbotax about $31 higher.

After digging in, I noticed the only number that $144 could be, is Pennsylvania State Unemployment Insurance - about $77ish for me and around $66ish for my wife which add up to the $144. Which leads me to believe that TurboTax is adding the amount I paid for PA SUI to my itemized deduction total, and FreeTaxUSA is not, despite the amounts being recorded in my Wage/W-2 sections in both platforms.

So my question - should the PA SUI be contributing to my Itemized deduction amount, and if so, how do I ensure it is contributing to this total in FreeTaxUSA? From what I can tell everything else pretty much matches exactly in the itemized deduction section between the two systems, so this has to be it.

Thank you!

JohnV

Hello Ironman0723 - PA SUI is deductible for federal itemized tax deductions as State and Local Tax, or SALT. However, it is not entered until the itemized deductions section. Since PA SUI is listed on your W2, it will be under the Wages W2 section.

When you entered your W2, and entered PA SUI on box 14, then select Continue, and keep going through the Wages W2 section. One of the page will ask "if any SUI, or State Disability Insurance (SDI) or Family Leave Insurance (FLI) was withheld from your wages and is shown on your W-2, enter the amount."

You would answer Yes, and then enter the PA SUI amounts for you and your spouse, and the amounts will get deducted on Schedule A, itemized deductions.