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If you are using TurboTax Do It Yourself (Online), it will upgrade itself when you enter something that requires Premier.   If you are using TurboTax Desktop, select Help > Upgrade from the top grey menu.      

If you were using TurboTax, then if the excess contributions came through your employer (i.e., the code W amount in box 12 on your W-2), the moment that the excess is discovered by TurboTax, TurboTax will add it back to Other Income on Schedule 1 (1040). Check for yourself. You don't have to do anything to make this happen.   If the excess contributions were "personal" contributions (i.e., NOT through your employer), then TurboTax would just reduce the amount on line 13 of Schedule 1 (1040) by that amount.   The HSA administrator should send you a 1099-SA for this distribution for excess contributions, but you don't enter this until early 2027 on your 2026 return. Since the excess was already added back automatically, the 1099-SA with a distribution code of '2' doesn't have to do anything with it (in fact, when the distribution code on the 1099-SA is '2', the box 1 amount (excess contributions) is ignored. Only the earnings in box 2 will be added to your return in 2026.   Yes, this is confusing, but TurboTax is handling it correctly.

You can remove it as an asset and enter it directly as an expense. You won't see a place to add the election under regular expenses. Because it is a minimal expense, it is just added in. Keep your receipts and a note about taking the de minimis election. Great research!  

Yes. Select “Start a New Return” from under “My Returns” in the bottom left corner. Once you have started your new return, you can select “View All Returns” from under “My Returns”. Then delete the unwanted return by clicking the small Trash Can next to it or “Delete” under the return’s name.  

A house is "available for rent" on the day you are looking for a tenant, not necessarily on the day that a tenant moves in.  If you were hunting for a tenant - and paying realtors to do it for you - then the house was available.     You need to amend your 2024 tax return and change the number of days that the house was available to the day that you were ready to have someone move in.  You will then be able to deduct eligible expenses.

You don't need a Form 8879 for "self-prepared" tax returns.  Assuming you are not a "paid preparer" and will e-file her tax return, have her sign the 1040 to signify that she has reviewed and approved the tax return.

"why does the IRS only permit a recovery of $100+, over 20 years?" Since I cannot see your private tax data, I don't have an answer; however, I would imagine that if your life span is estimated to be 20 years (based on the IRS tables), then you should be able to recover all of our "cost" or "basis" in that timeframe.   To see you say that you have a "cost" or "basis" or 7k to 22k but the nontaxable portion each year is only 100 to 200 dollars, I have to wonder if something has been entered incorrectly, because the intent of the law is to enable you to recover your cost or basis over your life span.   Is it possible that there is confusion on what "cost" or "basis" is? This is the sum of after-tax dollars that you contributed to your city plan while you were employed. Many retirees have no cost or basis in their pensions, so they are taxed on 100% of their pensions. So are you saying that you and/or your spouse contributed 7k to 22k in after-tax dollars to your pension while you were working?   "Where is that rule, that prevents a 100% immediate recovery, or a better rate of recovery, and for a shorter time period?"   It is buried in that tax code that I showed you earlier. There will not be a user-friendly version of the tax code, just as other laws are incomprehensible to the layman and have to be interpreted by lawyers. This requirement of interpreters for the law is dictated by the fact that the law must be precise while the English language is not precise.   You ask "where is that rule", and the answer is, "It's right here in the Simplified Method" which is applied to most qualified plans.   If you want, you can share with us the data that TurboTax asks for, such as plan start date, number of payments per year, your cost or basis, and the other questions that TurboTax asks in the 1099-R interview. Perhaps I will be able to spot something.