The "Office of President" from TurboTax called me and let me know that even though *officially* the Form 1116 Schedule B is available for print-only (not e-filing) on Mar 31st, they are working to get everything implemented and make the form AND e-filing available by Mar 16th (no guarantees of course). So, here are the options:
1) [F***K IT APPROACH] Use itemized deduction for the foreign tax credit (don't worry this will not convert your entire return from standardized to itemized). Con - this will lower your refund (only related to foreign taxes) given the itemized deduction lowers the income, not the tax directly like taking the foreign tax credit does.
2) a) [I AM FEELING EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH] Use foreign tax credit, but in the Form 1116 Worksheet, zero-out the excess carryover to next year. Your refund for this year will be higher compared to approach (1) but you will lose the excess carryover for next year (not entirely sure if there are other repercussions for subsequent filing). Also, I haven't tried the method to know if the Form 1116 is generated correctly w/ the override in the worksheet, or if there are potential issues w/ e-filing in the final steps, or the IRS simply rejects the return or flags it for audit or other issues.
2) b) [I AM FEELING EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH] Use foreign tax credit, but click on "Tools" on left-side panel and then view the forms and delete the form 1116 (this can only be done if your FTC for this year is <= $300). Your refund for this year will be higher compared to approach (1) but you will lose the excess carryover for next year (not entirely sure if there are other repercussions for subsequent filing). Also, I haven't tried the method to know if deleting Form 1116 does not cause issues with integrity of the whole return, or if there are potential issues w/ e-filing in the final steps or the IRS simply rejects the return, or flags it for audit or other issues.
3) [PATIENCE APPROACH] Wait until Mar 16th if you can. Con: Mar 16th deadline may not be met and you will get more frustrated and will be closer to the April tax deadline (especially if you do not want to forgo foreign tax credit or yield to postal mailing, and need to switch to a different software/CPA etc). Also, you will be the "beta-tester" of this newly implemented feature on a complex foreign tax form; may or may not increase your reject/audit risk w/ IRS if it is buggy.
4) [MONK-LEVEL PATIENCE APPROACH] Use the software as it stands today, fill the form 1116 Schedule B manually and mail it in.
5) [EXTEND YOUR TAX SEASON FOREVVVVAAA APPROACH] Do (1) for now then amend the return much later in the year when TurboTax has the 1116 Form Sch B ready for e-filing. Not sure if the amendment process will run into the glitch, given the changes are significant.
