I disagree.
In simple cases like mine the best workaround is to simply not enter this 1098 information at all. In a more complex HELOC situation where there's actually a split between deductible/non-deductible interest, I'm guessing that you'd have to fudge the Box 1 (and others?) input as well. At any rate, I would say that, in general, fudging/misrepresenting input data to cause a program to yield the output I hope for, is not a great idea, especially in the context of a tax preparation program.
I expect better from a mainstream program like TurboTax. If the TurboTax program needs information/data other than what's correctly reported on the 1098 it should explicitly request that input from the user. More specifically, for the HELOC case...
- The "I'll enter it myself." path should reference the calculation prescription in Publication 936 and then prompt the user to enter the result. This seems like an easy program update to me.
- The "Help me figure this out." path should prompt the user for the input information needed to complete the calculation prescription in Publication 936 and then complete the calculation. If this program update can not be done in a timely fashion then remove this path option.
