All Posts

Thank you. I found #2a on my 1040. Do I also add in #5a-#5b Pension/Annuity, and #6a-6b (Social Security Benefits)?  #5b and #6b show a taxable amount, which is less than the total amount in #5a and #5b, so I'm wondering if that means they're tax exempt. Thanks

Are you on the loan?  If not, then no, you cannot claim the interest.  If you are a cosigner on the loan and are paying the payments, then yes, you may be able to claim the interest deduction.  in order to claim the interest you must be legally obligated to pay it.    You can claim the deduction if all of the following apply: You paid interest on a qualified student loan in tax year 2025; You're legally obligated to pay interest on a qualified student loan; Your filing status isn't married filing separately; Your MAGI is less than a specified amount which is set annually; and Neither you nor your spouse, if filing jointly, were claimed as dependents on someone else's return. Another taxpayer is claiming you as a dependent if they list your name and other required information on page 1 of their Form 1040, 1040-SR, or 1040-NR. A qualified student loan is a loan you took out solely to pay qualified higher education expenses that were: For you, your spouse, or a person who was your dependent when you took out the loan; For education provided during an academic period for an eligible student; and Paid or incurred within a reasonable period of time before or after you took out the loan.

BillM223 - Thanks for the fabulous explanation of how this works! Age is the issue here, and I think there is a software bug.  The 1099-R belongs to my wife, DOB 07-01-1955.  The "Charity option" does NOT appear.  TurboTax doesn't think she is 70 1/2 at year end 2025. As a test, I changed her DOB to one day earlier, 06-30-1955, and the "Charity option" appears.  TurboTax thinks she is 70 1/2 at year end 2025. Here's where there is a software bug. /* There are 365 days in 2025. July 1 was the 182nd day of the year. 183 days remain after July 1st in 2025. 183 days > 365 days/2, thus  A person who has a DOB 07-01-1955 is greater than 70 1/2 years in year ending 2025 */   Bottom line, a 07-01-1955 DOB should trigger the charity question.   Your thoughts?  

We are aware of this issue and currently looking into it. The IRS has issued a correction to the 2025 Instructions on their end.  We have corrected the calculation for joint occupants of a home who are claiming the energy efficient home improvement credit in Part II of the 2025 Form 5669. Please refer to the instructions below with respect to the joint occupancy section on page 3 of the 2025 Instructions for Form 5695. If you downloaded or printed the 2025 Instructions for Form 5695 prior to Jan. 26, 2026, please note the correction. Although, the IRS is saying March 6, if this is the date that they will have the forms corrected, TurboTax software will take a little bit to then make the changes.  This should fix the issues with numbers not appearing correctly for the home energy credit.   

I hope that all goes well with the IRS.  I understand how frustrating this tax filing process has been.   This appears to be more of a lingering eFiling transmission issue between TT and the IRS but more information from these entities would be helpful. I do hope we all are able to get resolution to this soon. Hang in there.  There are many of us going through this unfortunately.

Section II of the 1040-X is just the explanation for why you are amending your tax return.  The answer is "I wanted to change from standard to itemized deductions".  You have already typed that out and you are all good.

I'm amending my CA state return right now. I have Turbotax desktop version. On the following screen, I went directly to State return (Update).     At some point, Turbotax presented me with 1040-X form. It wants me to fill out "Explanation of changes". I believe that form is for Federal. I'm not making changes to Federal but why do I need 1040-X?

Thank you.  But, I guess my question was not clear. What Turbo Tax wanted me to do was to pull up my Schwab 1099 they have downloaded into its system and compare to the 1099 that I have.  I could not pull up/look at the 1099 in the system.  ( I had no trouble getting my own copy.) The problem “resolved” itself.  After I upgraded my package, things moved forward without completing this “compare the 1099” step.  With that I have some question about why I had such problem and why, after upgrading, the issue went away and I was able to finish the return.  Just saying. By the way, I thought this year’s version was somewhat difficult to use.  It was clunky, slow, asked same questions several times, asked questions not relevant based on the my status, can download my 1099s but not my wife’s and needed to enter manually — hell, I was filing a joint return — and several others.  I will use the system again, since I am not going to enter my 1099 on my own.  But, I was quite irritated with the new system/return … whatever!

Thanks for getting back to me.  On researching my problem further, I found that my 2024 179s were in fact disallowed and my 2025 would have been.  I'm amending my 2024 filing to recharacterize my 179 property and recharacterizing my 2025 179 property before filing.  So the numbers now disappear from my worksheet.    

Did you use TurboTax Desktop or TurboTax Do It Yourself (Online)?    If you used TurboTax Desktop, then your returns are only saved on your computer, not on our servers. Try looking in the TurboTax folder in your Documents folder, or use the built in Windows search to look for .tt24 files.   If you used TurboTax Do It Yourself (Online), did you login directly to 2024 to see if your return was there? You can login to TurboTax Do It Yourself (Online) 2024 here: https://ww1.2024.ca.turbotaxonline.intuit.com/   If it wasn't there, do you have more than one account? If you do, your return might be there.