Turbo Tax issues

[simpsongal]

Anyone else having issues this year? 

DH and I spent hours trying to figure out why our mortgage interest wasn't pulling through all the way.  We finally figured it out.  The software was treating our refinance numbers incorrectly - it was treating our mortgage interest as if we had multiple properties - mortgage interest is only deductible on mortgages of up to $750K (we've only ever owned one home).  

We're also have issue w/the childcare expenses...what a nightmare.  We called turbo tax to troubleshoot and the guy suggested we change all our decimals to zero....I'm underwhelmed.

Oh, and I selected to pay w/my federal refund and noticed they're charging $40 for that! (I don't think they used to charge for that).  So beware on multiple levels this year.

[redheadk]

I'm sorry. We refinanced last year and didn't have any trouble with ours. I'm not sure why? I did find it confusing to enter, though, and feel like they could have more clarifying language about what goes where. We had our original mortgage, the refi, and then our mortgage was sold (to the same bank as our original, so I had to keep all that straight in TT), and all of those had interest paid to enter into TT.

They have always charged to pay your TT fee with your refund, I remember noticing that when doing our taxes early in our marriage, so 15 years ago.

[simpsongal]

redheadk, yeah, the pay by refund, maybe I just didn't remember? but the mortgage interest was confounding - we entered all the 1098 info exactly as we got it.

[ssmjlm]

Are you entering each set or mortgage interest separately?

Even though we refied with the same company, I entered the 2 loans separately and TT asked me if one was a refinance of the property.

As for the $40, that’s always been their MO. Don’t do it as that messed up people’s stimulus during the 2nd round.


I’m trying to figure out my PayPal 1099k. I found a thread on TT boards, but want to confirm what to enter.

[dr.girlfriend]

Ugh, I hate TurboTax but every year I'm too lazy to switch. It drives me up the wall that EVERY YEAR it makes me hunt down my childcare expenses only to tell me I'm not eligible for the benefit. You'd think it could just say from the start, "Don't bother doing this at your salary unless x." And every year it can't import charity stuff from It's Deductible, even though it's their own damn product. Anyway, sorry. No advice, just sympathy!

[Mushe]

Ugh yes. My husband did this mega backdoor Roth through his work for the first time, and it took us hours to figure out how to get it to accept this without saying we owed a penalty. Something H did in this tinkering took our federal refund down $1k. Harrumph. I try for zero net, and this was somehow a net $800, so this swings it to a net due of $200ish. I’m fine with either result; I just want to know which one is right.

I haven’t checked the child care yet to see if it’s correct.

[tacokick]

I did my mom’s estate taxes on it and it had me pay for file for the state then it told me that I didn’t need to file for the state. Thanks!

[mccallister84]

I sold a rental property this year and it was a nightmare trying to figure out where to enter that data. It’s also a property I co-owned with my sister and for most of it I enter total expenses and TT does the split automatically but for a few things I had to do it myself - which I mean dividing by 2 isn’t hard but whyyyy isn’t it consistent?

[mccallister84]

Feb 28, 2021 23:51:46 GMT -5 mccallister84 said:

I sold a rental property this year and it was a nightmare trying to figure out where to enter that data. It’s also a property I co-owned with my sister and for most of it I enter total expenses and TT does the split automatically but for a few things I had to do it myself - which I mean dividing by 2 isn’t hard but whyyyy isn’t it consistent?

. Oh and ditto PP - unless you really need to I wouldn’t have the TT fee taken out of your refund.

[simpsongal]

ssmjlm, yes, we checked all the boxes correctly re: the refinance with the questions and amounts. You could weave together the 'story' of 1098s (we had one mortgage for like 6 months, then a refi which was quickly resold). But for some reason, the software wasn't considering the 1098s for our home 1 mortgage - it kept tallying them up like we owned multiple properties). We saw online that this was a common problem for folks this year. I hope this PSA helps others!

[rubytue]

Feb 28, 2021 23:51:46 GMT -5 mccallister84 said:

I sold a rental property this year and it was a nightmare trying to figure out where to enter that data. It’s also a property I co-owned with my sister and for most of it I enter total expenses and TT does the split automatically but for a few things I had to do it myself - which I mean dividing by 2 isn’t hard but whyyyy isn’t it consistent?

Yes! I just did it tonight and I don’t feel it was done right. I did it under just a home sale, which asked me for my cost basis and depreciation. But never asked if it was a rental/investment property. I’m convinced I did it wrong to recapture my depreciation. I just want to preview my form and see if it make sense. Arrrrg!!

[sicilygirl]

Feb 28, 2021 13:34:55 GMT -5 simpsongal said:

Anyone else having issues this year? 

DH and I spent hours trying to figure out why our mortgage interest wasn't pulling through all the way.  We finally figured it out.  The software was treating our refinance numbers incorrectly - it was treating our mortgage interest as if we had multiple properties - mortgage interest is only deductible on mortgages of up to $750K (we've only ever owned one home).  

We're also have issue w/the childcare expenses...what a nightmare.  We called turbo tax to troubleshoot and the guy suggested we change all our decimals to zero....I'm underwhelmed.

Oh, and I selected to pay w/my federal refund and noticed they're charging $40 for that! (I don't think they used to charge for that).  So beware on multiple levels this year.

I know this is not the point of your post (and may not be applicable in your situation), but just thought I'd put this info out there since it's related:

If your original mortgage was obtained prior to 12/15/17 (when the mortgage interest deduction limitation was changed from $1M of debt to $750,000 of debt) and you refinance your mortgage, you can be grandfathered in to the old limitation.  The only condition is that the amount and term of the refinanced mortgage does not exceed the amount and term of the original mortgage.  You can even refinance multiple times but always look back to the date of the original mortgage to determine the limitation if you meet the conditions regarding amount and term.

Just thought it was worth mentioning since many don't realize this!

[meganiv]

I am wondering if everything is set for you guys now? I am also having some discussions with turbotax customer service and they seem very helpful so far. I am so bad with all the taxes and payments calculations, i really wish someone would just do it for me.