How to deduct mortgage interest less than $600 and no Form 1098

[davec10]

I briefly had a home mortgage in 2019, but will not receive Form 1098 because the total interest paid was less than $600. If I enter values in TT as if I had received the 1098, the interest appears on Schedule A, line 8a. Shouldn’t the interest appear on Schedule A, line 8b because it was not reported on Form 1098? If so, how can I force TT to report the interest on line 8b? TT does not allow me to edit the Home Mortgage Interest Worksheet to show that mortgage was not reported on Form 1098 and none of the choices in the TT Q&A fit my situation. It looks like I can use Forms view and manually enter the interest on line 8b of Schedule A, but then the interest does not appear in the TT step-by-step view.

[rjs · Accepted solution]

Enter the interest on Schedule A line 8b in forms mode. Don't worry about it not appearing in the Step-by-Step screens. It's on the tax return.

[davec10]

Thank you for the prompt response.  I wasn't sure whether manually entering interest on line 8b would cause an unwanted side effect such as producing an error during the Review step.  Your response gave me confidence to use that approach.