"The interview would be clearer if Turbotax asked "do you live together unmarried with the other parent" but a focus group decided the question was "too personal." "
If the focus group had decided the other way, perhaps that it was a practical and important question, it would have saved me a lot of time and effort needed to research it!!! I do not suppose that many would have been offended and/or found it too personal. After all, Turbotax know everything about ones finances ...
Perhaps the question could have been "is the other parent claiming the (particular) child for EIC / EITC on their tax return?". Could it be so easy? Then the data could be stored for the non-claimant for next time and the IRS would not be banging on someones door. I would have done it the wrong way, except I looked into it to be sure.
Bit of an oversight "turbo" ... seriously!!! According to the questions as laid out, I would have thought folk would enter in all their children's details. Unfortunately, this and the following questions would land them directly in deep **bleep** with the IRS, except for that one all important question that is not asked and possibly applies to many!
To me, this reinforces the idea that tax (and) other service providers should by law be held accountable to some degree for situations such as this. However, the government should be held responsible for instituting such a ridiculous taxation system, although I do understand that it keeps the IRS large, provides work for bean counters, and the lawyers that follow ...
