1098 form should not be entered in both in the personal section and Schedule E in TurboTax Home & Business

[ruoxuan-zhu]

I rent out a room in my primary residence, say 10% of the total residence. TurboTax Home & Business I imported the 1098 from my bank. Let's say the mortgage interest was $20k. In schedule E it automatically allocated $2k to the rental and $18k to personal use. However, it was also showing $20k under personal deductions, making the mortgage $38k. I believe I need to delete the $20k under personal and only leave the $18k from the personal use to avoid double dipping.

Please let me know if I'm correct in my assessment. Thanks!

[Critter · Accepted solution]

Correct ... the personal portion goes to the Sch A automatically so you do not enter anything twice to avoid double dipping.  Read the screens  carefully.

[Carl]

"However, it was also showing $20k under personal deductions,"
If that was on a summary screen, then that's correct. I suggest you look at the SCH A directly by switching to forms mode. The interest for the personal use time would be on line 8a.

[ruoxuan-zhu]

It was showing $38k on the summary screen under Personal > Deductions & Credits. Looking at forms mode shows $38k on line 8a of Sch A. Deleting the 1098 that is under Personal fixed it.

[ruoxuan-zhu]

I just wish TurboTax would detect this type of duplication and flag it during "Smart check". Only found it because I thought an effective tax rate of 15% seemed too low given the amount of deductions that I lost this year. Thanks Critter#2 and Carl for your help.