Ok son was born in 2013 and we opened a 529 start savings account for him last year and deposited 15k to the account and that was the only deposit for him. My question is when filing state tax (married filing jointly), will I enter $4800 as my deduction or can I put $14400 as the deduction. Here is what the state says about it. I just need some help interpreting it lol

"Deposits made to an account may be excluded from taxable income reported on the Account Owner's Louisiana tax return, up to
$2,400.00 per year per Beneficiary for single Account Owners and up to $4,800 per year per Beneficiary for Account Owners filing a
joint return. Any unused exclusion may be carried forward to subsequent tax years. "

My thinking is since we didn't deposit anything for him in 2013 and 2014 can those years of unused exclusion be carried over to 2015 ($4800x3 =$14400)?!?!?

This is our only tricky item for our taxes so would rather file ourselves, thanks for any help given!

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Posted by JamalSanders

On a boat

Member since Jul 2015

12135 posts

Posted on 2/29/16 at 8:46 am to Wootwoot

Not a tax pro or even novice, but I would assume that you would need to file an amended return for 2013 and 2014 deducting the $4800 each and when you file for 2015 just deduct $4800. Then when you file 2016 assuming you didn't add any more money to the plan you would deduct $600.

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Posted by lsufan1971

Zachary

Member since Nov 2003

18278 posts

Posted on 2/29/16 at 9:47 am to Wootwoot

I am in the same boat for 2015. I have my CPA researching this now. I put in $8000 in my oldest daughters account last year.

ETA: Just talked to the Start people with the state. Basically you add up the total deduction for how long you have had open (joint is $4800 per year)- what the deduction you have taken= what you can claim for this year.)

In you case if you just opened the account last year your probably screwed.

From an email I received from them.

quote:
The amount of the Louisiana Income Tax Deduction is $4,800.00 per child, per year. Therefore, the annual deduction you could have taken was $19,200.00 per year. The Louisiana law/rules allow you to make up any differences between the amount authorized and the amount you actually deducted on your tax returns from 2012 thru 2014 if you did not deposit the authorized deduction amount. Therefore, you may deposit the difference in a subsequent year and deduct up to that amount on your Louisiana taxes in addition to the amount authorized for the current tax year.

This post was edited on 2/29/16 at 11:46 am

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Posted by Wootwoot

Member since Sep 2010

29 posts

Posted on 2/29/16 at 1:59 pm to lsufan1971

Thanks. I was just hoping that somehow it would be from his date of birth and not the year of opening the account. Wishful thinking on my part lol

ETA: I found a little more info that supports what you just said
" Any unused cap amount with an active account may be carried forward to increase the cap in subsequent tax years."
So I am out of luck for the rest of amount that we deposited last year as it can only be carried forward.

This post was edited on 2/29/16 at 2:33 pm

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