FWIW I tried on H&R Block’s service as well to see how they did the troubleshooting for this and if I should just switch. They’re instructions suggest entering a number in BOX 2 that is different from what your lenders inputted, suggesting this might not raise flags with IRS. I don’t *think* H&R Block would steer me wrong? They seem to suggest you take the box 2 number from the oldest 1098 and divide it by the number of 1098s you received and just enter that number in EVERY box 2.
Would rather stick with TurboTax but it’s infuriating they haven’t provided any guidance to rely on.
“Sometimes, your home mortgage loan might be sold to another lender. When this happens, you'll usually get one Form 1098 from your old loan servicer and a different Form 1098 from your new loan servicer. In this case, you'll need to make some adjustments to the info you enter:
- Divide your Form 1098, Box 2 amount (which is your loan balance as of Jan. 1, 2020 or your original loan balance) by the number of 1098 Forms you have for the loan. Use this number for your Outstanding Mortgage Principal.
- If the Box 2 amount is slightly different on each Form 1098, use the amount from the first lender you had in the year.”
