@Carl,
Yes, this is what I was doing, but I was getting the wrong numbers for the final result. I now get the same answers using T-Tax and Pub 523. I THINK the issue was prior data on the property that T-Tax was bringing forward since I have used T-Tax since the year I purchased this home. I had to remove the purchase date and then it behaved as I expected. Glad to get through this. Now back to my original return to see if this works there with these changes.
I hope my write-up helps someone else in the future ... better yet, I hope nobody has this convoluted situation.
Thank you for all your help!
