The 100% unemployment exclusion from taxable income is based on MAGI not exceeding $150,000 per return so the exclusion on a Married Filing Separately (MFS) would be $150,000 on each return. However, the MFJ vs MFS Worksheet in ProSeries does not compute this properly. Instead, the worksheet incorrectly shows unemployment income as taxable income when the taxpayer's MFS's MAGI is under $150,000 but their joint MAGI is over $150,000. Please fix that as this is critical this filing season.
Fix a lot of other things first. That's just a "nice to know" worksheet, not something critical that is needed for a tax return. A couple keystrokes can fix it with a manual entry.
Thanks for the comment, but with unemployment taxation being subject to a CLIFF at $150,000 per return, I am doing a lot of MFS returns this season ... unlike in the past.
My 10-year-old granddaughter could be taught to recognize joint returns with 150K+ income that includes unemployment. She would probably ask me why I am putting all that work into a joint return when I know it's going to be MFS. When the software does all the thinking for me, that's when I worry about her taking over the whole operation.
