Bug Report for 2025 TurboTax Premier Desktop version 2025.27.47.48

I just completed my 2025 taxes, for the 32nd year in a row using TurboTax Desktop (I've used it since 1994, when it ran on MS-DOS!), and I want to report a few bugs.

#1:  Most important first:  I was entering text into the Feedback form at the very end of the program, after submitting my Federal & State returns online.  I exceeded the 2,000-character limit on the text box (this limit should be shown on the screen somewhere, preferably with a real-time character count).  When I clicked Submit, I received a debug-style error message (very technical & very unfriendly) saying that I had exceeded the character limit.  When I clicked in the text box to try to delete some of my text, there was no response.  When I clicked the close button on the text box, TURBOTAX CRASHED.  When I restarted the program, I was no longer offered the option to submit Feedback.  I can count on two hands the number of actual crashes that I've experienced in 32 years of usage, so this is a SERIOUS issue -- even though it has no effect on tax data!

#2:  My itemized deductions were more than four times my taxable income. The program chose "Standard Deduction" for a reason that it didn't properly explain (since the Refund was zero in both cases). I changed the selection to "Itemized Deductions". After changing it, the program STILL displayed "Standard Deduction" on the selection screen and in subsequent screens (that's the bug). Later in the interview, it DID say that I was using Itemized Deductions. This is an "incorrect information shown to the user" issue, rather than an "incorrect program-data" issue.

#3: I have a standard mortgage and a HELOC. I answered the question about how I was using the HELOC funds by saying NO, I did not use ANY of the funds to improve the mortgaged house. Even with that answer, the program added my HELOC interest to my standard mortgage interest as a deduction (that's the bug). The program was VERY clear in saying that HELOC interest was NOT deductible unless the HELOC funds were used to improve the mortgaged house (i.e., unless I answered YES). This is one of the few "incorrect program data" issues that I've ever seen in 32 years of using TurboTax.  Maybe I've been lucky.

#4: Entering the information for the 1099-LTC form was not as smooth and easy as all other forms. For example, the program asked me to enter the amount in Box 1 but ONLY if "Reimbursed amount" was checked in Box 3. This is NOT typical of the way other 1099 form information is entered. Usually, TurboTax asks the user to enter ALL the information on the form and then the program draws conclusions from it and asks additional questions, rather than asking the user to enter information conditionally, based on the content of the form. The latter is a recipe for data-entry errors! This may be a subtle point, but the difference is obvious to an experienced user-interface design person. This form's dialog was written by someone who isn't following the same conventions as other forms. Also, the Help information on the "Number of days" field in the 1099-LTC form entry is difficult to understand, especially since the "Number of days" is NOT a field on the actual form.  This field does NOT seem to affect the calculation in any obvious way, which makes it even more difficult to understand. That portion of Help needs to be re-written from more of a user perspective rather than a tax-law perspective.

#5: The $12,000 (2 x $6,000) Additional Senior Deduction from Schedule 1A isn't consistently reported in the various summary Tools and in the text shown to the user. Sometimes the $12,000 is added to the sum of all the itemized deductions, and sometimes it isn't. In the tax form itself, the $12,000 data is of course correctly handled. I'm talking just about the "information numbers" that are shown to the user in various progress dialogs and reports.  Also, the first time that number is shown to the user on a summary screen, it is simply called "Additional Deductions" without any explanation of what it is and where it's coming from. It should be identified as "Additional Deductions from Schedule 1A". That number is calculated by the program and is not the result of any user-dialog, so it's confusing to present it to the user for the first time without any explanation.  Since this is the first year that particular deduction has been available, you might say that the presentation will be improved in subsequent years -- but that's not acceptable.  It should be thoroughly tested in the first release!  A UI specialist should track the display of the number through the app, irrespective of how the actual tax data is handled.