Tax Year Prior to 2020: I live in my rental property. Why is TurboTax is deducting my property tax twice? I don't see a way to change it with out entering a number that is not on my 1098

[ThomasM125]

You can enter your property tax in two different places. One is in the "Your Home" section in "Deductions and Credits." The other is in the rental expense area of TurboTax.

When you enter your rental expenses, you have the option of having part of your property tax allocated to your personal deductions. If you choose that option, but then also enter the property tax in the "Your Home" section, your deduction will be doubled up.

You need to revisit the "Your Home" section and see if you entered the property tax there and also in the rental section. If so, then you can delete the entry in the personal section.

[mattmouth182]

I see nothing that says "your home".  There is a section "Property (Real Estate) Taxes". Under that section I can't choose the amount, it pulls it directly from the 1098 I entered.

In Wages & Income I can set Property Tax to 0, but that seems wrong? Should it split it? I think maybe this is because I put my 1098 info under deductions BEFORE going back and putting in my rental income? Maybe TT doesn't like you going out of order. Can't believe it didn't flag this!

Maybe Property Tax should be $0 but Mortgage Interest should be the full amount for the Rental Property Expenses?

[ThomasM125]

It is best to put the mortgage interest and property tax in the rental section first, so the program can allocate it to your home while taking into consideration the percentage of business use of the rental area.

The property tax and interest in the non-rental area in TurboTax should be the total amount multiplied by the personal use percentage of the house. You can do that calculation manually and enter the amounts in the personal deductions section of TurboTax.

[mattmouth182]

Well it's too late for that now. What am I supposed to do start over?

I do not see a "personal deductions" section. As I explained before, I don't see a way to change it, it is pulling it from my 1098.

[Carl]

I see others have done a great job of confusing you even more than you were to begin with. So lets start over. For starters, you need to provide some clarity.

I live in my rental property.

Bad choice of wording on your part. If you "live in" your rental property, then it's not rental property. Period. So it's one of two things and you need to clarify which one.

1) You own a duplex where you rent out one unit and the other unit is your primary residence.

2) You own your single family home that you live in as your primary residence, but you rent out one or more rooms in your house to paying tenants.

3) You converted the rental property to your primary residence (or vice-versa) in 2019.

So which is it? If not one of the above, then explain exactly what it is please.

Why is TurboTax is deducting my property tax twice?

Because you're entering it twice most likely.

I don't see a way to change it with out entering a number that is not on my 1098

Depending on which of the three possibilities above is your specific situation, that very well may be "exactly" what you are supposed to do. But until I know the facts of your situation, it's impossible to provide you facts on the correct path you need to take here.

[KurtL1]

If you have entered the mortgage interest and property taxes on your rental property, you should delete the Mortgage 1098 from your return.

To get back to the Mortgage 1098 you should:

1. Enter mortgage interest in the Search Magnifying Glass in the upper right hand corner of your screen.
2. Select Jump to mortgage interest.
3. You can review your 1098 and delete those specific entries or delete the entire form using the trashcan Icon.

[mattmouth182]

Option #2. I rent a room in my house. What is this technically called?

Thanks

[mattmouth182]

Kurt,

Are you saying I don't need the 1098 section at all? I figure I need to enter my bank's info some where?

The correct numbers are now populated under deductions though... i think. 

[VictorW9]

TurboTax will take the proportionate square footage of the area rented and deduct the appropriate amounts under schedule E expenses and put the remainder in schedule A. As someone said earlier, delete the 1098 mortgage statement in schedule A.

[Carl]

Option #2. I rent a room in my house. What is this technically called?

Technically, it's "renting a room in my house". hehehehe.

It's important that you work through the program the way it's designed and intended to be used. That way, you will deal with the rental stuff first, before you get to the "your home" stuff. It's important to read the small print on each and every screen too. It does matter - big time.

If while working through the rental section you elect to have the program do the splits for you, then it will for "most" things but not all. It "will" split the mortgage interest if you elect that option, and then enter the 1098 exactly as printed.

After you finish the rental section, then when you get to the "your home" section and start working that through, the small print on one of the screens (dealing with mortgage interest) will tell you something along the lines of "we already have $xxx for mortgage interest" and the amount shown will be what is *NOT* allocated to the rental portion. It will *NOT* agree with whats on your 1098 and it "should not" agree with what's on your 1098. So you will "NOT" enter any additional mortgage interest in the "your home" section since you do "NOT" have any additional mortgage interest.

So that covers the mortgage interest. I'm stopping here so as not to risk additional confusion. If you have more questions, just ask.

[mattmouth182]

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[mattmouth182]

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[mattmouth182]

@Carl  Firstly, the reason I didn't do it in oreder was because I didn't have my 1098 yet, but wanted to stat working on my taxes. If TT doesn't work out of order , it should warn you. It never even caught the mistake while reviewing my return. Pretty pathetic and not confidence inspiring in the least.

I have now deleted my 1098 in the deductions section and gone back to the income/rental section.

"If while working through the rental section you elect to have the program do the splits for you, then it will for "most" things but not all. It "will" split the mortgage interest if you elect that option, and then enter the 1098 exactly as printed."

When going through the rental section, it does not give me an option to enter an actual 1098, it just asks for some of the info from the - real estate tax and mortgage interest. Can I add PMI to the "insurance" total? Why doesn't TT ask for any PMI here?? This area of TT is so bad it's not even funny.

"the small print on one of the screens (dealing with mortgage interest) will tell you something along the lines of "we already have $xxx for mortgage interest" and the amount shown will be what is *NOT* allocated to the rental portion."

When I move to the Deductions section, it shows the correct (split) amounts for Mortgage Interest and Property Taxes. But when I go into edit/add under Mortgage Interest to put in my bank's name, it asks me to fill in boxes as they appear on my 1098. Nothing about already having mortgage interest and there are absolutely no numbers populated. All blanks asking what's on my 1098.  

If I skip entering any 1098 info (doesn't seem right) it flags the fact that I haven't answered questions for amount qualifying mortgage interest. Probably because I didn't enter box 2 of the 1098 anywhere.

[mattmouth182]

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