Well, if you're trying to figure the Kiddie Tax under the alternative calculation (using parents' tax rate rather than confiscatory Trust taxes), her reply wasn't helpful but it was indeed relevant. We are assured that TTax is "working on it." My own plan is to file for an extension for the students whose taxes I am trying to prepare. That gives us till September to straighten it out. There won't be any penalties because one grossly overpaid last year and the other didn't file a 1040.
I have tried to work out the calculations for myself, and more than ever I am grateful that TTax does this stuff behind the scenes. No doubt there are a few math/tax whizzes who can do it with pencil and calculator and the IRS instructions, but I'm not one of them. I presume that your person's taxes are frightful. That's because 2018 and 2019 TTax is still using the Trust rates -- nothing mysterious about them, alas! Kids are being assessed up to 23.8% on capital gains and qualified dividends, and up to 40.8% on other unearned income. Those are rates normally applied to individuals with over $500,000 in income.
