TurboTax Early Rounding Issues creating LARGE variances between TurboTax Produced Return and Brokerage 1099-B Data

[jellismith25]

I know this is off subject i got a quick question i filed 1/30 they accpeted state on 2/15 and federal on 2/11 and i got my state on 1/26 but nothing for federal yet no date anything still saying return received i do have 1 dep claimed eitc and ctc also will it deposit this week ?

[mjrengaw]

@jellismith25 

You will get better results by opening your own thread on this topic or finding a thread that is a close match. Trying to keep this thread OT. Thanks.

[MIDLF47]

Updated turbo tax today 3-1-21.  Problems with wash sales causing errors appear to be resolved.  Tax returns showed no errors and E-filed OK.

[DJG]

I could not agree more! This was a terrible change for this year's version. Seems like TurboTax is rounding the cost basis and rounding the proceeds at the transaction level before subtracting them for a transaction-level net proceed amount, then rounding THAT amount before summing up all the transactions?!  That is crazy, particularly because I've sold hundreds of tax lots including partial shares from dividend reinvestment. There is absolutely no common sense reason to do all this rounding!  Now nothing ties to my 1099.  At a minimum, TT should give users the ability to opt out of all the transaction-level rounding.    

[Airguy]

The steps shown to manually correct the entries from @DawnC don't seem to apply to my version of TT (Desktop version, Home and Business Version).  Can you provide the detailed steps for that version of TT?  The first three bullets are fine (just gets to the 1099 B section) but after that the details as described do not match what the program shows.

As with everyone else I am very upset at this rounding issue.  For me the net difference is only $4 or so but I hesitate to send anything to the IRS that I know is wrong and will not be sending in my return until this gets resolved.  

I'll implement a time consuming manual workaround if I need to but that is not really acceptable for a paid product like TT.  I've used TT for many years and as others have said may have to change to another program next year unless this is fixed.

[jeffecohen]

Sometimes I just don't comprehend the thinking behind the changes the software developers make. This fiasco is a completely unforced error. That said, I'm not going through 300 transactions to fix $7 worth of rounding errors, I'll probably create more by doing that. I'm giving TT until 3/15 to fix it, and if they don't, I'm filing. If the IRS wants to come after me for my $2 underpayment, they can have at it. 

[sophieluu1606]

Well at least if the difference is minimal (<$10) I think the IRS would not care much. But in my case, the biggest broker import already gave me $400+ gain difference, that is not small number at all. First time trying TT and I don't think I would like to try again in the future.

[jeffecohen]

@sophieluu1606 

I totally get your perspective. If I were in your position, I'd be howling to high hell. For the sake of folks like you, I hope they take care of this soon, like today! Even a basic communication acknowledging the problem and offering an ETA on the fix would go a long way. Being left in the dark increases the frustration level ten-fold. I don't blame you one bit for not wanting to use TT again, but that's Intuit's loss.  

Good Luck!

[sophieluu1606]

At this point I'm entertaining the idea to just do taxes myself, I decide to try out TT mainly hoping TT can reduce my workload because I do have some more complicated things this year like the 1099-B, but this is not really working. I noticed this issue like 3 weeks ago and was mentioning it in a different thread, but they basically ignored the question and keep talking about how IRS allows rounding despite me and others pointing out IRS stated to only round after calculation, not before. Now with more people talking about this issue I hope at least they escalate to engineering team and attempt to fix it for everyone.

[thomaswhitmire]

This is unacceptable. Computers are meant for precision, not approximation. My line-item entries (82 transactions) is $4 different from the 1099-B. 

Intuit, please respond with an update, and fix the issue.

Otherwise you stand to lose a lot of money next year from irate customers. And the IRS may wonder why YOUR mistake caused $$$$$ worth of discrepancies.

[bredman]

As of 3/2/2021 in TurboTax Premier I see the correct amounts to the cents in the lowest level detail entries compared with those in the corresponding written Form 8949. However, I have seen several rounding errors (rounding down when it should be rounded up and vice versa) in the next level up. This has caused nearly a $5 discrepancy in the summary values reported in TurboTax versus the summary values reported on the written 1099-B.

[mjrengaw]

@bredman 

Nothing has changed. It's always been that way. If you look at the data interactively using the app the cents are there. But when the program does the calculation it rounds the proceeds and cost basis first before doing the calculation. That is, and always has been, the problem. Switch to forms view and look at form 8949 and you will be able to the rounded numbers it is using for proceeds and cost basis.

[DJG]

No @mjrengaw, that is incorrect.  It has most definitely not always been that way.  I'm looking at my Form 8949 from last year right now and TurboTax did not round anything at the transaction level--not the proceeds, nor the cost basis, nor the gain/loss.  But for 2020, TT is rounding all of them.... which cumulatively over hundreds of tax lots leads to a $70 discrepancy vs. what my 1099-B shows.  Which is preposterous.  What's the point of buying expensive tax software if it can't get this right? 

[ELD1]

Last year was fine.  With 2020, I have the same issue.  Recent code update did not fix in any way shape or form.    Rolling up as summaries and requiring us to mail in 1099-Bs is not a fix.  Please fix ASAP.  

[mjrengaw]

@DJG 

Sorry you completely misunderstood. I was responding to "bredman" above that was indicating that something changed as of 3/2. I was not comparing last year to this year. This years behavior with respect to rounding the proceeds and cost basis prior to doing the calculation is totally different than any other year which I have been saying in all my posts if you go look.