Couple of things:
1. I generally get a 1099div that reflects (in addition to other things) foreign income and foreign taxes paid from a Corporation and Mutual fund. They combined are more than the $300 used for single filer, but the company is located in Germany and is generally around $500 and the Mutual is generally about $50 in Foreign taxes. However when I compute thru turbo tax the form 1116 only takes a percentage of that $550 and applies as a credit and the balance to a carryover column. I presume this is because I am over the limit as a single filer but wanted to know if I am right or is there another reason??
2. AS explained above, I know to follow the special rules by doing the largest income/tax entry first followed by others. Mine is all passive income in dividends. So I do the company first followed by the Mutual which I label as "RIC". I tried to follow TT prompts and got form 1116 to show both as titles in column A and B. Problem I had is that after completing for Column A (largest) TT did not ask me any questions to continue making entries. When I tried to redo the process, it actually started over again for just the company (column A) and in the end TT never allowed me to follow their prompts to enter info for the RIC or column B. So I had to go to the worksheet to manually enter that information. Does anyone know what I might have been doing wrong?
3. The foreign income is listed as ordinary income on the form. Should it be listed on the next line as "qualified"? For my own purposes, I moved the income information to that line and it did not change any of my data. Essentially I deleted it from Ordinary and listed it as Qualified. Is there a reason TT automatically puts the foreign income in the Ordinary Line vs the next line as Qualified? Again when I made the change, it did not change my return any.
4. Lastly, for the last 3 years now, I have accumulated a "carryover" because of the single limit. Previously, I was Married which gave a 600 limit, but she passed putting me into single status. This carryover never seems to be incorporated into my return and used. I tried to read and find out how to use it cause I've now accumulated $800 over the 3 years now. Does anyone know how I can use them as they give you 10 years to use them? Can it only be used in the event I have a balance due? and Is there any information I can read or copy that will cover how to use up these credits. That's a lot of money that I paid in foreign taxes that just sits in the carryover column in TT. Any ideas?
I apologize for the length, but TT did not follow the process they detailed in all their Help information as to how the program would handle this category, So for the last 2 years I have had to go into the worksheets to make the RIC adjustments. So I would appreciate anyone's' understanding of how TT works or tell me what I am doing wrong.
