I just wanted to chime in with my experience with the multiple 1098 issue as a user experiencing this for the past couple years. Last year I followed the advisement given and just entered the outstanding loan amount in Box 2 for the 1098 that was effective as of January 1, and then $0 for every subsequent 1098 to get around this issue in their software. It seems there is a lot of concern with doing this.
In fact, when you finally finish up through the process and actually look at the tax forms before you transmit them, from what I can tell, what is reported the IRS is the mortgage interest that is entered on line 8A on the 1040 and Schedule A. The IRS doesn't see what you enter into Turbo Tax's software, they just see what is on the 1040 submitted. As long as that mortgage interest amount is accurate and was calculated in accordance with IRS rules, I don't have much concern with what I am reporting.
I am concerned that because mortgage interest entered seems to be incorrectly being reduced in TT that this issue is probably costing many users $$$. Clearly the steps or info presented on the screen are inadequate and the calculations too opaque. It shouldn't be this difficult and, like the other users experiencing out for the first time, I also spent wasted hours trying every possible combination of 1098 entry, following countless steps the TT experts provided, all to no avail. Combining multiple 1098 due to mortgage transfers or refis for the same loan and property should be a straightforward calculation and not this difficult. This has taught me to always check the final docs before submitting and as I no longer trust the software to do what I have relied on it to do for me all these years.
