Form 8829 incorrect calculation

[black60806]

Line 40 Business basic of building = 41,249

Line 41 Depreciation percentage = 3.1747%

Line 42 SHOULD BE 1,309, just like 2019's return.  However, Line 42 shows 26,756, causing lines 30 and 44 to be incorrect also.  I tried to change the entries on the form itself, but appears to be blocked.  This appears to be a calculation error in the application.  Please advise if a future update will correct.

[AmeliesUncle]

Did you add any improvements to be depreciated ($25,000-ish of business Basis)?

[black60806 · Accepted solution]

Intuit confirms my suspicions...it is a bug.  I was able to manually correct on the forms.  There will be a fix for this upcoming.

[277235]

How did you manage to correct it on the forms?  I can't access mine (using Turbotax for Home & Business on a Mac)

[black60806]

Go to the Forms view, then navigate to the form/field to override.  Perform a Ctrl-D.  That should allow you to change the information in that field.

[277235]

Thank you for your reply, but your solution does not work on my form 8829.  Tried every possible combination with D, and nothing worked.

[GaryinOz2002]

I have a possibly related problem. I have a home-based business, moved during the year so I have two home offices.  Calculated each separately and added deduction together for Schedule C line 30. However, when running a review it flagged this with the message: "... form 8829 Worksheet: Allocable home office expenses from both copies of the Form 8829 worksheet, when added together, must equal Schedule C, line 28 total expenses of $xxxxxxxx." This seems incorrect. I believe the total should be in line 30, which equals the total of the two home office expenses, NOT Total Expenses in line 28.  Please advise.

[AnnetteB6]

The message regarding Schedule C line 28 total expenses is correct. 

When there are two home offices involved for the same Schedule C business, all of the business expenses unrelated to the home office must be allocated between the two home offices.  This information is used to apply any required limitations to the home office expense since the home office expense cannot generate a loss for the business.  

You may allocate the business expenses to the two home offices in any manner that makes sense for your situation.  For example, if there is an expense that was incurred on a monthly basis, allocate it to the two home offices according to the months that each office was used.  

Take a look at the following TurboTax article for more information:

How do I allocate expenses for two home offices?

@GaryinOz2002

[GaryinOz2002]

I understand and have allocated percentages that sum to 100%. The problem is that in the review check, they ask for "allocable home office expenses" and a box, but the total of home office expenses as specified in the check does not total Schedule C line 28 and I have no idea how to make these numbers match, either the total home office expense from both home offices (I moved last year), or the total expenses.  It is not clear to me in Turbotax how this error gets fixed.  I cannot just enter a number for total expenses for each business to satisfy the Review Check because that number does not come from somewhere else. The numbers for home office expenses specifically are derived from earlier forms and worksheets (and do not sum to total expenses). I need someone to walk me through this in TurboTax (and yes, I have allocated percentages for each home office based on how many months of the year I occupied each home office and I completed the worksheets for the two home offices, same business, used last year).  Please tell me what I need to do. Right now in the box (Check This Entry) I entered the home office expenses allocated to each home office, and it keeps kicking this back out. Please tell me how I can talk to a "live" person who can help me not get this review error.  Right now the numbers are not making sense, and I've gone through all the calculations for each home office as well as the calculations (using percentages of time) for all other business expenses and they do not add up to the number TurboTax tells me it should add up to.

Thanks!

Gary

[GaryinOz2002]

Also, the TurboTax link was not helpful, especially the end: "After you've entered info about the second home office, you'll see a question about splitting expenses between the two offices. This refers to business expenses not specifically related to the home office, such as licenses, supplies, and so forth. This is used to calculate allowable expenses under the actual expense method." I've never seen this question; only a question about the percentages allocated based on time in the year used (I gave the two percentages that sum to 100%).

[GaryinOz2002]

Just wanted to add one thing that I tried.  In Review Check for each home office, I took each amount based on percentage of use (a1, a2), added them together (c) and found they did not equal the number Review Check said should be the sum of both (d=a1+a2). So I calculated the difference (d-c) and then took the percentages of these amounts based on use to produce two "supplemental" amounts (b1, b2), then added each to total expenses for each home office, as in: d1 = a1+b1 for one home office (total expenses) and d2= a2+b2. When d1 and d2 are added together, we hit the number Review Check wants us to hit. So I enter these new numbers in the Review Check boxes for expenses related to each home office (d1 and d2).  Upon redoing the Review Check the problem goes away, but here's the thing; those numbers have NO bearing on the actual numbers sitting in Schedule C for each home office.  Schedule C contains only the originally derived numbers (a1, a2) from the worksheets/step-by-step.  So the Review Check "works" but the numbers are off in the actual Schedule C. I do not feel comfortable about just arbitrarily putting in numbers to satisfy Review Check that are not connected to the actual expenses related to each home office in Schedule C.