Working on your own taxes can be frustrating no matter what software program you’re using.
First, full disclosure: I love Turbo Tax. I used to tell people that I’d do TV commercials for it. I even seriously considered going to work for the company. I have worked for one of their competitors – and I still like Turbo Tax better. So when I title this blog post as “Problems With Turbo Tax”, you’re not going to find an exposé of all things bad with the company. This is just a heads up for people using the number one tax software in America.
Problem number 1: “The program won’t let me…” This is the one I hear most often, “The program won’t let me change the number, it won’t let me delete my neighbor’s child.” Turbo Tax is great when you’re in the act of preparing your taxes, but it’s not as easy to go back in and make a change if you’ve done something wrong and need to correct it. For example: one of the things I do is review tax returns that people have prepared for themselves before they send them to the IRS. (I charge a fee for that but it’s much cheaper than paying me to do your taxes for you.) One year, I reviewed a woman’s return and she had put a $4,000 tax credit on her return. That was wrong; the $4,000 belonged someplace else. I explained the problem and where the $4,000 needed to go. Granted, she wasn’t going to get that big refund she was expecting, but her return would have been right. Anyway, a few months later she was in my office again. She had received a notice from the IRS stating that she wasn’t allowed to claim that $4,000 tax credit I had warned her about. I asked her, “Why didn’t you change it like I told you to?” “Because Turbo Tax wouldn’t let me,” she said.
Dealing with that problem: First, you need to know that “Turbo Tax wouldn’t let me,” is not an acceptable excuse in Tax Court. Second, one thing that Turbo Tax does well is that they have real people who can answer your questions. You call the phone number and you get to talk to an Enrolled Agent who understands tax issues and the Turbo Tax software. You can tell her you’ve got a number on line 53 but it really belongs on line 29 but you can’t figure out how to make it work and she’ll guide you through it. You might pay a little more for Turbo Tax to get that service, but it’s there when you need it so don’t be afraid to use it.
Problem 2: Choosing the right product. Turbo Tax has 5 versions of its product, plus its online applications. In the store you can buy:
- Basic – for simple tax returns with no itemized deductions
- Deluxe – for regular 1040 returns with home mortgage interest and charitable deductions
- Premier – which includes everything in Deluxe but also handles investment income and rental property
- Home & Business – which is for sole proprietors
- Business – for persons filing corporations, partnerships and LLCs
I cannot stress this enough, if you need the more expensive package, don’t be cheap – buy it. I’m always amazed when people call me for help because they want to depreciate their income property by hand because Turbo Tax won’t do it for them. Yes it does, if you buy the Premier edition. Of course I will gladly prepare a depreciation schedule for your property (for a fee), but if you don’t use the correct software when preparing your tax return, there could be other problems that you won’t realize like passive income limitations (sounds like I’m speaking Geek doesn’t it? I am.) The right software will keep you out of trouble. And there’s no excuse for buying the wrong one: go to their web site and do their quiz to determine which package is right for you.
Problem 3: Not updating the program before you e-file. This isn’t a Turbo Tax problem so much as it is a user error. You have to install the updates before you file your tax return or it could easily be wrong. Let’s be realistic about this. Turbo Tax tries to get its product to the shelves by December for customers to buy it. This is a pretty good business plan. The problem is; there’s always some last minute change to the tax code. Last year, Congress changed the tax rules on December 17th. They messed things up so badly that the IRS computers weren’t able to accept certain returns on the normal date. Intuit (the Turbo Tax Company) has to get its product out to the stores in time. The only way for them to get the product to the store shelves and have it work correctly is to have people install the updates to the software before they file their returns. If you didn’t install the update, your return could easily have been wrong. Installing updates is a normal part of doing taxes – I update my professional software almost every day. If you don’t have internet access and cannot install the updates, the box might not be your best option.
Now I wrote about these Turbo Tax issues because these are all problems that I have helped people with because they had filed taxes and there was a problem. If you file a bad return and the IRS sends you a letter, I charge a lot to fix it. All of these problems I mention are preventable. You will save yourself lots of money by buying the right program, updating before you file, and making use of the Turbo Tax 1-800 number provided in your box.
Final disclaimer—if you haven’t already purchased your tax software, let me recommend clicking on the “Do Your Own Taxes” page at the top and take a walk through my 1040.com program. It doesn’t have the famous name recognition, but it is a good, solid program. If it wasn’t, it wouldn’t be on my website.
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Hi Barbara,
It depends upon what state you’re in. There’s a Missouri Property Tax credit for disabled people and senior citizens. There’s also a Pennsylvania renters rebate. I believe there are some other states that also have something similar.
In general, you’ll need to download the state program in order to do that in Turbo Tax. But – if you’re trying to do it for free – some states will let you file those returns online. Missouri definitely does. Here’s a link to the Missouri Free File information.
Hi Paul,
You have an even bigger problem than Turbo Tax. You see, Turbo Tax is not to be used by tax professionals. Intuit (the company that makes Turbo Tax) makes a professional software. There are forms that I, as a tax professional, have to complete that you would not have to file if you filed your own tax return. In the Turbo Tax software, those forms are missing – because it’s not professional software!
So when you say your tax professional used Turbo Tax – it tells me you should probably hire a different professional. Here’s another clue. Did your tax guy sign your return? Did he have something called a PTIN number that he put on your return? If not – then definitely find a new person. (If the $170,000 tax bill didn’t have you running already.)
Hi Tom,
I often have this problem with my software as well. I’m not sure if this will work in Turbo Tax, but in my software, what I do is prepare 2 Scheudle Cs. One for each state. So I allocate the income and expenses proportionately. For example, let’s say you had $100,000 of revenue and $50,000 of expenses. You’d put MA as the state on the first schedule C and you’d put $25,000 of income, and $$12,500 of expenses. Then, on the next schedule C, listing Illinois as the state, you’d put $75,000 of income and $37,500 as the expenses.
In reality you’re use whatever your actual numbers are. But you get the picture. 2 Schedule Cs – that’s how you will break up the income.
Hi Christina,
You have to have some income for the return to print. So – you need to stick a dollar of income on line 21. Read, How to File with No Income
My recommendation though, is to make sure you dot your i’s and cross your t’s to make sure that the relative living with you has the legal right to claim the children.
Hi Luther,
I’d call the people at Turbo Tax on that one. Sorry
Hi Joan,
I’m sorry, I don’t know.
You call the phone number and you get to talk to an Enrolled Agent who understands tax issues and the Turbo Tax software.
What phone number?
How do I file. Renters rebate for disabled people
My tax preparer used turbotax. outcome was it said I owed $170,000 in AMT
Why that didn’t raise a ted flag, I don’t know. The problem was a bug in Turbotax that does not subtract carryforward losses from capital gains when calculating AMT. Putting that right, my tax bill went to $17000. Tjat still looked too high. Next Turbotax bug found was it was not giving me any foreign tax credit. Reason was it had foteign source income zero. It does not have a means to report how much of your dividends csme from foteign sources. Putting that rught reduced my tax bill to $14000. Next error found was that my state tax deduction was $5000 low. I could go on and on but suffice it to say that even in the hands of professionals , Turbotax is dangerous, buggy crap.
This is a helpful post thank you. I’m having trouble right now with TurboTax. I have a home business and we moved from MA to IL on April 1, 2017. In the MA Form 1-NR/PY, turbo tax is entering my Business/profession income on line 8a as the net income from the ENTIRE year, even though above it on line 5 it has my wife’s wages properly fractioned, and line 3 has the correct part-year resident percentage. I can’t manually edit that line 8a and I can’t figure out how to change it on the EasyStep side of things.
Not sure what to do because it’s drastically increasing my MA taxes due because it’s showing 100% of the year income from my business in MA even though it should only be 25%.
I used the free version of Turbo Tax 2017 to create a zero income, zero balance, zero refund return, so that I could file it with the IRS and show that a relative would be claiming my children as dependents because he lived with us most of the year and had a higher income (as asked by the system in the process)(my ex-husband is threatening to file a fraud report because I wouldn’t let him claim the children, because they did not live with him and he did not pay half their support). BUT when I did the print & file, no EZ1040 printed! Do you know why not? Turbo Tax is not being much help on the matter.
HOW do I start fresh with 2017Delux? or is it posible
My husband was on the phone with the Turbotax Enrolled Agent [3 of them actually] and nobody was able to help him get the program to print his numbers on the correct lines. They said they will call back if they figure it out. What is up with that? We have the premier version.
Hi James,
I would contact Turbo Tax. That’s out of my league. If you absolutely cannot open your file and you need your tax information, you may get an income tax transcript from the IRS. IRS Transcript I know that’s not the answer you want, but at least you can still get that information if you need it.
We can no longer open the TurboTax icon/file we saved on our desk top from 2016. We get an error message that says,,,The file c:program files ( x86 ) Turbo Tax Premier 2016 / 32 bit / url. config has an invalid signature. Please reinstall this application.
We need help !
Hi Dan,
I don’t prepare Turbo Tax returns. You need to contact Turbo Tax support for them to help you. Sorry.
Hi. I’m behind in filing my taxes and I have a question on TurboTax 2014. I’ve got the home and business version and I’m trying to figure out the depreciation on my vehicles. I decommissioned one vehicle and purchased another. 100% business use. I’m getting an error: Check this entry – Form 8824: Line 25 Wks, Line A – Reg must be entered. I’m sure you’ll need more info to figure this out. Please email me for details. Or you can generally let me know what number should go in that field. Whether it’s the cost of the new vehicle, or cost less trade-in or something. Didn’t want to put in a number and it be wrong and I can’t get back to that line. Thanks.
Hi Minerva,
Your best bet is to contact Turbo Tax directly. There should be a phone number on the box. That said, I have a few ideas:
1. Have you done an update lately? If you had downloaded the product earlier, there may be an update that will fix your problem. I know it seems crazy, but I just did an update of my software (not Turbotax) this morning. There’s always some new fix.
2. Are you using the right Turbo product? I know that if you download the basic, but you need the landlord edition or something like that, then the forms you need won’t be available.
So, those two would be my first thoughts, but your best best is probably going directly to Turbo Tax for more help. Good luck!
Hello I’m trying to file my 2016 taxes 1040 form through turbo tax and at the end of all the steps it gives me error saying
“Form is not available”.
Not sure what to do!
Hi Penny,
I don’t believe that you can e-file a back year tax return with Turbo Tax online. So you’ve got a problem. One of those returns was filed, the other should have been rejected. You’ll have to figure out which one the IRS got.
If the IRS received the 2016 return – you’re good. If not, then you’ll have to amend your 2016 with the correct figures.
You will need to file your 2015 tax return no matter what. There are some programs that allow you to e-file back taxes. You might try Freetax USA. Or maybe you should try a tax professional – we have software that can e-file back returns.
Or, you can go to the IRS website and print out the paper forms and do the returns by hand. Bottom line though, the 2015 tax return must be on 2015 tax forms.
Hi Wesley,
Hmmmm…. I’m trying to think of what could cause that but I’m at a loss. But you do get the correct amount when you print? I’d call the Turbo Tax support team. I’m curious as to what’s causing it. Thanks for reporting it though.
i efiled my 2015 taxes this year 2017, and also my 2016 taxes and come to find out when i printed them out they both have 2016 on them uugh!! what do i do??
I am using TurboTax 2016 and I think it has a good old bug. I entered Mortgage Interest, if I drill down I get the correct amount, if I print I get the correct amount, but on the “Your 2016 Deductions & Credits” it shows an incorrect number for 2016 AND the comparison amount for 2015.
Hi John,
I don’t know the answer, but I’m posting this to see if anybody else can help you. Sorry. Do try calling the Turbo Tax tech support people. I know, you might be on hold for awhile, but they’re probably your best bet. Good luck.
And of course, there’s always Do Your Own Taxes Online Sorry, but you left me with a sales pitch opportunity.
Anyone having trouble with TurboTax 2016 while in the forms menu? When I click on a different form it sends me back to windows10 start window. I can click on the TurboTax icon in my tray and it then goes to the selected form. Any ideas?
Hi Matt,
That’s kind of weird. I saw a similar problem a few years back on a different software (but they fixed it, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who complained!)
Sometimes, AMT can kick in if you’ve got a lot of exemptions – like if you have 8 kids, I’ve seen that. But I think you’re right, that at your income, you shouldn’t be paying AMT.
But, just to be safe – the IRS has something called the AMT Assistant. Basically, you take your 1040 numbers, and answer some questions and it will tell you if you’re going to get hit with AMT or not. Here’s the link: https://www.irs.gov/individuals/alternative-minimum-tax-assistant-for-individuals
I’d go check it out. My guess is that you shouldn’t owe AMT, but I’m wondering why Turbo Tax led you to AMT in the first place – maybe you do have something that needs to at least be double checked. The AMT assistant is free. Better safe than sorry!
I think turbo tax tried to make me pay the alternative minimum tax even tho I was below the exemption. I did the amt calculation and it took away my refund then I undid the amt and got it back. I was thinking about it recently and was worried I’d owe back taxes and discovered the exemption. I didn’t make anywhere near 56,000 so I’m exempt from amt. But it tried to take my refund. I bet a lot of people lose their deductions because of this. Amt cancels all of your deductions and makes you pay tax regardless of your deductions but only above a certain amount of money. Those numbers for different people are the exemptions.
Hi Barbara,
I find it very difficult to go back and change a number in Turbo Tax (but I don’t actually use it anymore so recognize that I could be off base here.) I have a suggestion that might work for you though. You’ll probably be better off calling Turbo Tax directly, but here’s my suggestion.
Go in and make a negative adjustment to the “misc” income. For example: let’s say you had jury duty income on line 21 for $50 but it was supposed to be $15 instead. Enter: correction to jury duty -50. Then make another entry: actual jury duty income $15.
That should take out the old, and give you the new. But I’m thinking the Turbo Tax call line will probably have a better solution for you. Good luck.
Hello! I also like Turbo Tax and have used it for years. I am working on correcting an amount in the “less common miscellaneous income” (No W2, 1099s). When I thought I was correcting the numbers it keeps adding the corrected amount as if it is a NEW amount, practically tripling the correct amount. Any suggestions?
Thanks! Barbara
Hi Eric,
It sounds to me like you did the right thing. You shouldn’t owe additional tax as you’ve already reported it, just on the wrong line. I’d let the IRS process your letter. I think you probably won’t have to amend. You sent them all the information they need.
If you haven’t heard anything within 8 weeks, give them a call to follow up. (They’ll probably tell you 12 weeks, but I like to check in at 8, just to be safe.)
Sounds to me like having to amend is your worst case scenario, but I think you won’t even have to do that.
I recently received a CP2000 for my 2013 tax return. They are saying I owe $4000 due to not claiming my Unemployment Salary ($9,800.00). I did claim it but accidentally combined it with my other income and put it in box 7 (Wages-W2) instead of separating it and putting it in Box 13. I wrote them a letter and faxed it along with all my documentation. I havent heard anything yet. But am I going to end up filing an amendment and will I really owe that much even though all I did was reported the Unemployment wages in the box with regular earnings instead of separating it into Box 13? Thanks
Hi JProse,
Have you entered the fiscal year dates into the system yet? If you don’t have the fiscal dates, the program assumes a calendar year and won’t allow the 2015 dates.
If you’ve done that, is the sale date after the fiscal year end?
If you’ve covered all that, then you’ll have to call the Turbo Tax help line.
Using Business 2014 and trying to file a fiscal year 2014/2015 1041 Estate. I have a home sale in 2015 but TTax gives me an error that the sale date is invalid. It will not let me enter a sale date that is not in 2014. On the 8949 the purchase date shows as the date of acquired instead of the word “INHERITED” . If I try to override, it shifts the whole transaction down one line on the 8949.
Hi Bill,
You’re definitely not alone, but this isn’t a problem unique to Turbo Tax. It happens all over the place, with all kinds of programs. And there are lots of ways this happens but I can’t tell which one happened to you. It could be that your return was filed and rejected. It could be a glitch in the system that day. It could be that you thought you hit the send button and didn’t. It could be that you hit the send button, but there was something wrong with the return and it wouldn’t transmit. It could even be something that I’ve never even heard of.
But, you sound like a responsible person who normally files his taxes on time What I would do is contact the IRS and explain the situation. You thought you had filed, and once you discovered the problem you immediately corrected it. (Note: it sounds to me like you fixed it before the IRS caught it.)
What you’re going to ask them for is a first time “abatement of penalties”. They usually grant that to people who normally file properly but just make a mistake – like you. You thought you had filed, You thought you had paid. The IRS is usually good about dropping the penalties in a case like that. They won’t drop the interest, but since you had the money in your Schwab account all that time, hopefully you were earning some.
I e-filed my 2013 TurboTax return with their program, Evidently the IRS did not get it. I found out when I was later planing to amend it. I found out that the payment was not debited from my bank account. I went to the local IRS office an met with a representative. She said there was no trouble with my 2013 tax return.
I checked with a representative of Schwab Bank. She found that there had been no withdrawals from any of my accounts in the amount to be paid. She found no information on the Routing Transit Number and/or a fund transfer of that amount on the internet.
I then mailed the IRS a copy of the return I electronically filed and a check for the correct amount.due.
Up to the date I sent the copy I had not received any letters from the IRS about the failure to file.
I had many 1099s with interest, royalties, retirement, etc.
I had kept a copy of the form.
A short later I started receiving forms indicating penalty and interest due.
Is my problem common?
Bill B
Hi Nick,
I honestly don’t know. I’d call the Turbo Tax folks. Sorry.
I download brokerage detail directly to Turbo Tax. The package assumes dividend and interest income is similarly taxable on the Tennessee return as the federal return. This is incorrect. The download function has to be avoided and all data input manually. Is there a way around this? Otherwise the state option is a waste of money.
Hi Doug,
So I’m several days late on this answer. We were so busy this year I fell behind on the blog questions. In the future, if anyone really needed to reach me, it’s best to call the office. Our contact information is on the contact page. Sorry I missed you.
Hi, Jan —
I read your post while searching the web in an effort to figure out how I handle Rental Income in TT Home & Business. I’m still searching for the answer to that question. However, I noticed that you review individually prepared returns. That’s exactly the kind of support that I need. Where can I get more info?
Hi Aaron,
It’s just carrying over information from the prior year If you haven’t done any contract work and aren’t claiming business miles this year, then you’ll just need to delete those pages.
I used Turbo Tax last year to file my Taxes. I had previously done some contract work (for an Internship) and entered deductions for the miles driven for this work.
This year Turbo Tax is expecting me to enter more information for this contract work (I labeled Internship). It is claiming that I need to enter information for my car that I used for deductions in my contract work last year.
Is there a reason that it expects information for my previous contract work a even though I made it clear I have no 1099 income?
Thanks!
Hi Patricia,
It could be any number of things. Most likely, you had less state withholding than last year and didn’t qualify for a refund. But I really don’t know.
You need to call the Turbo Tax hotline and talk to one of their consultants. They’ll be able to look at your return and explain if it’s just that you didn’t withhold–or it you really did make a mistake.
One thing I can tell you, your state return should not affect your federal refund. Good luck.
I’m so confused. I qualify for EIC because I only made 21,740 last year. I filed both my federal and state taxes with turbo tax I used this last year it was easy and I received refunds for both. This year it says I’m getting nothing for state back. I don’t understand this. It just doesn’t make sence. Now I’m afraid I made a mistake and they will reject my state refund. Will that effect my federal as well. I lost my job and need the Money. It’s going into direct deposit
Hi Thomas,
NOLs can be a little tricky. So the important thing would have been–did you make an election to carry forward the NOL? If you didn’t make an election to do that, and I don’t know if Turbo Tax has that option or not, then you have to carry back the loss two years.
Here’s the thing–because its past the filing deadline, you can’t go back and elect to carry that loss forward, you have to carry it back. So, you’re not going to amend your 2013, you’re going to amend your 2010.
Normally, you can amend 2010 because it’s an out of statute year, but since you had an NOL in 2012–which is still in statute, you can do that.
Is it worth hiring a professional to do this? Well, what’s your tax bracket? At 25%, you’d be saving $1625 so I’d say yes.
Hi Great Responses!
I am having trouble with an NOL. I had in 2012, thought it was applied in 2013, just went to see if there was anything left for 2014 and realized TT does not support NOLs so they did nothing with it. I used TT Home and Office last 4 years. I had bad years in 2012 and 2013 due to poor health, but I am back in full swing as sole proprietor with a good year in 2014. The 2012 NOL is $6500. Line 41 of 1040 for 2013 was $17500. I got a job in 2012 to get health benefits and kept it all this time so I have additional income and the NOL might have had an affect on 2013. Should I just cut my losses? Try to figure out IRS publication 536? Or hire a professional? I am guessing I might have to ammend 2012 and then the NOL will be used up.