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JakeTurner
Sep 27, 2015, 11:34 AM
Hi,
I'm filling form 540NR (Short). The result on line 19 (total taxable income) was less than zero in my case, so I filled zero on this line according to instructions. Later in form 540NR, I need to get lines 36 (CA Tax Rate) and 38 (CA Exemption Credit Percentage) by dividing lines 31 and 35 by line 19.
Can you please tell me, what value should I put on lines, where I'm dividing by zero?

Thank you very much

paraclete
Sep 28, 2015, 03:31 AM
logically when you divide by zero you are left with the value you started with. This logic does not translate to many programs which render this procedure as an error. Assuming one part of this equation is two values multiplied by each other to give you an applicable tax rate, when that is applied to a zero income figure the result will be zero

AtlantaTaxExpert
Sep 28, 2015, 06:57 AM
Agreed; zero is the only logical result.