Here are some new issues/problems/bugs I encountered while using the 2020 TurboTax Deluxe. (Some of the issues I had from last year are still present, and won’t be repeated below.)
- When starting a session to resume working on my taxes, sometimes TT will attempt to begin a new return, most of the time it will search in vain for the TT file, and a few times it will find the TT file right away. A very inconsistent startup experience. Now, I just select File > Open Tax Return > and manually navigate to the TT file.
- In the “Personal Information Worksheet for the Spouse,” my wife’s marital status is erroneously shown as Single. Using the dropdown menu, I corrected it to Married.
- In the section for reporting state and local refund, there is a box to input the “Total of all your payments and withholding.” The description should indicate which tax year TT wants.
- In the section for reporting IRA distributions, there’s a page with a question that reads: “Did I inherit the IRA from [the bank]?” No, my bank isn’t that generous. The question should be re-worded, and a link should be provided for more info.
- In the section for medical deduction, a page asks: “Did you receive Form 1095-A for your health insurance plan?” There should be an option that reflects: No, because I didn’t have an Affordable Care Act plan. Instead, the No answer that is provided by TT implies that the taxpayer didn’t get Form 1095-A but he should have gotten it.
- The initial review phase of the federal data was strange this year. One error said (I can’t recall the applicable page) that the recipient’s TIN should not be the same as the Taxpayer’s SSN (or something to that effect). I never provided a TIN in TT.
- Another review item said that the employer’s state and zip code information was missing. Well, that’s because we don’t have any W-2’s to report. When I went back to check the “Let’s start with your W-2” page, I couldn’t get the option for “We don’t have any W-2’s” to stick when leaving the page. When you leave that page and then return, you find that the selected option has automatically reverted back to the “Work on [husband’s] W-2 now.” (There are other instances where if you return to double-check your answer, you find that your answer has disappeared.)
- On the page (and I can’t seem to find it again) that first talks about the $300 Universal Charitable Deduction, there’s a box that automatically shows, in blue color, the total cash contribution amount I’ve inputted. To show the box here seems unnecessary and is confusing, because it looks like an input box. To be clearer, it should just say something like: Because your cash charitable contribution is more than $300 and you are taking the standard deduction for federal, you will automatically get a $300 reduction to your federal AGI.
- The initial page for Other Deductions and Credits should be re-worded. In its present form, it gives the reader the wrong impression that the listed items are still deductible for federal tax in 2020. That page should say something to the effect that they’re not deductible for federal, but they may be deductible for some states. In addition, the “More Info” link for the Tax Preparation Fees item is outdated.
- The TurboTax Mail Instruction page for my state return should have indicated that I need to also attach federal Schedule A to my state return. Even though I didn’t itemize deductions for federal, I did itemize for state.
Unfortunately, not as smooth a process as I had hoped for from 2020 TT 2020. Fortunately, no major problem.
