Apologies for the long post. Having some heartburn around the Foreign Tax credit . . . which is frustrating since it seems like such a confusing/difficult topic for as miniscule as the dollar amounts are for me. I’d just assume “decline” it altogether to avoid the headaches. That said, I’m struggling with this in a few ways. Hoping someone might be able to make sense of things.
For 2022 return, I had $454 in Foreign Tax Credit listed under Part I non-refundable credits, Line 1. That same $454 is listed on Line 8 total. There is no Form 1116 in what was E-filed/printed. I frankly don’t remember what I did on that process last year—does the lack of a Form 1116 in the return mean that I took the Simplified Method? I don’t see anything where TTax tells me for sure for the 2022 return.
For 2023 return that I am working on now, I also have Foreign Taxes ($1,033 total from brokerage docs) On that that same Part I non-refundable credits Line 1 it shows $148 and that same $148 is shown on Part III line 23. I DO have a Form 1116 in the 2023 return with the various calculations to get down to the $148 shown under non-refundable credits. Doesn't seem like TTax "remembers" if Simplifed was done the prior year or not that I can see (would seem like it should to make it easier).
At this point, I am confused on the 2023 return . . . I thought that I may have selected Simplified Method in the interview process, but since I have a Form 1116 does that mean that I did not choose Simplified and instead chose the non-simplified? I seem to recall seeing forms for carryover and I did not fill in values. Again, TTax doesn’t seem to have a way to see what I selected that I can tell.
So when I go back to the screen for “First Year You are Eligible?” I am not sure what to select now since I don’t know for sure what I did for 2022 and can't 100% remember if I chose Simplified for 2023 1st time through. If I keep the selection that it was the first year and go to the next screen, the “Other Calculation” button is highlighted—which I suspect combined with the Form 1116 means I didn’t choose Simplified this year? Not sure what to do and have heard there were issues in prior years with E-file due to this Foreign Tax credit stuff (although I had no issue in 2022). Should I select the Simplified button and will that remove the Form 1116 and associated work? Should I just leave what I have for all of $148 and try to E-file?
Also . . . I do not have AMT (we almost never do) so is it even material at this point? Thanks a ton in advance for any advice from the pros on here!
