Issues with Entering 1098 for Co-op Mortgage Interest

[tjpeluso]

The apartment I own is part of a co-op, and every year I receive a 1098 to deduct my share of the interest that is paid on the mortgage carried by the building as a whole. There are two issues I'm experiencing in TurboTax related to this 1098 that I need to be addressed:

1. When asked "Is this the original loan you took out to purchase this property?", I'm unsure about how to respond. I know the HOA refinanced the mortgage in 2012, but if I click No, neither of the responses that follow seem to be accurate (because I didn't do the refinancing, and it's not a HELOC). How should I respond to this question?
2. Smart Check generates an error due to the ending mortgage balance field being left blank. The 1098 does not contain this information, only a figure for the outstanding principal at the start of the year. I contacted my building's property manager and requested this information, but if he is unable to provide it, what do I do?

[rosewater57]

I'm having the same issue too. In my case, I'm a brand new homeowner, so I don't have a frame of reference as to how this was done in the past.

[andresemi]

same issue and I didn't need this info last year from what I recall. 

I entered a ballpark amount and the issue replicated later under the follwing section:

Additional Information - Home Acquisition Debt exceeding limit or Home Equity Debt

Home acquisition debt and grandfathered debt on date debt was last secured by home

I have no idea how to respond.

Help!!

[Cbrd]

I have the same issue. Did you find a solution?  Thanks!

[johnboy]

I am doing taxes for my daughter who is also a first time owner of a co-op. I have owned several houses and a co-op but ran into the identical issue when inputting into Turbotax. The managing agent of the complex did not supply the beginning and ending underlying mortgage balances for 2018 so I reached out and they will be supplying them. From there, the shares from the unit in question divided by the total shares in the complex provides her percentage of the underlying mortgage (about 1%) that I will apply against the total mortgage number they give me (for the months she had the co-op during 2018). I don't see any other logical way to input her underlying mort interest paid. BTW, Turbotax help line was absolutely useless. 

[rosewater57]

That’s exactly what I did. I used the last financials made available by the managing agent to do this. Where things could get complicated is if you’re near or above the $750k mortgage amount line as a result of adding this in. If you’re below, you can deduct the full amount found in the 1098 form from the coop.

Shame on TurboTax for not figuring this out and fully guiding its paying users.

[StevoNYC]

I am having the same issue. TurboTax does not understand the difference between my mortgage and the underlying mortgage. It's treating them the same.  I have never had an issue with TurboTax but they did not think about coop homeowners. Has anyone found a solution? This my be it for TurboTax for me which is a shame because it's been really good up until now. 

[johnboy]

Look at my post above. It’s not Turbotax, its the forms being used to report to us which have to be updated for the new tax laws.