Why don't my values for rental property expenses for insurance premiums and utilities not saved when I press continue. Is this a software problem?

[twhughes17]

I enter the values and when I hit Enter, it says "NOT STARTED

[VictoriaD75]

There is a known software issue related to rental expenses when you only rent out a portion of your home. See the link below:

Why are my rental-specific expenses when using Renting Part of My Home limiting the deduction to a p...

However, if you rent the residence for 15 days or more and use it for personal purposes for more than fourteen days of 10 percent of the days rented, whichever is greater, rental expenses are allowed to the extent of rental income. Expenses are applied in steps until all income is offset. First, direct costs, interest, & taxes are deducted. Next, utilities, maintenance, and other expenses are deducted. Finally, depreciation is allowed. For these expense to be deductible, there must be positive income after each step.

If neither of these situations apply, please respond back in this thread and we can try to assist from there.

@twhughes17 

[jumprope1]

@VictoriaD75 , this bug is not limited to the case of renting out a portion of a home, as evidenced by other reports on this forum.  I have an ordinary rental.  I have expense categories Cleaning, Utilities, Insurance Premiums, and Repairs.  No matter how many times these expenses are entered and submitted, TurboTax displays "NOT STARTED" and fails to include the numbers in the Total.  I've personally spent five hours looking for a workaround and will likely have to quit and use another product.  Direct editing of Schedule E is not allowed before paying, and I've no guarantee that I can fix this that way.  

[DianeW777]

If you would like to send us a “diagnostic” file that has your “numbers” but not your personal information it would help.  If you would like to do this, here are the instructions:  (Don't forget to give us the state)

TurboTax Online:

Open your return -Go to the menu panel on the left side of your return and select Tax Tools. 

1. Then select Tools below Tax Tools. 
2. A window will pop up which says Tools Center.  
3. On this screen, select Share my file with Agent. 
4. You will see a message explaining what the diagnostic copy is.  Click okay through this screen and then you will get a Token number. 
5. Reply to this thread with your Token number and your state. This will allow us to open a copy of your return without seeing any personal information.  

TurboTax Desktop:

If you like, you can send a copy of your return that will be scrubbed to eliminate your personal data by using these steps:

1. Click on Online in the top left menu of TurboTax CD/Download for Windows
2. Select 'Send Tax File to Agent'
3. Write down or send an image of your token number and state then place in this issue.
4. We can then review your exact scenario for a solution.
5. Please also tell us any states included in the return. This is necessary for us to view the return.

We will then be able to see exactly what you are seeing and we can determine what exactly is going on in your return and provide you with a resolution. 

[jumprope1]

token number 1292699

state = MA

Expense categories that allow input of numbers but won't reflect them in the Rental Property Info -> Expenses / Assets (Depreciation) table are Insurance Premiums, Repairs, Cleaning/maintenance, and Utilities.  All four have data entered but display in the 2024 column as NOT STARTED and the data doesn't figure in the Total row for that column. 

[DianeW777]

Thank you. When I view the tax return, a selection for Single family home and I converted this property from personal uses to rental in 2024. 

If both of these are true, then the follow up questions must be answered and they appear to be blank. In TurboTax Online take the following steps to complete your rental property.

1. Open your TurboTax return and go to your rental > Edit beside your rental
2. Select Edit beside Rental property info > Select Edit under Situations
3. Select From primary residence to rental > Select 'Yes' it was rented every single day in 2024 (assumes it was available for rent every day after you converted it to rental).

By using these steps you must enter the rental portion of the expenses prorated for the period of rental activity. For itemized deductions you must enter the correct amount used for personal use before converting your property.  This will allow the correct application for both rental and personal deductions.

@jumprope1 

[Edited: 03/22/2025 | 11:43 AM PST]

1. Select 'Yes' if it was always rented at fair rental value from the date it became available for rent (assumes your rent is average for your house based on size and location) > Continue

When I made these selections the rental expenses and Schedule E had the appropriate expenses. Please update here if you have additional questions and we will help.

@jumprope1 

[jumprope1]

@DianeW777 wrote: << Select From primary residence to rental >>
Actual button text is "Converted home to rental or rental to home" and this displays as already selected.
Upon clicking Continue I see "How was... converted?" page with "From primary residence to rental" correctly selected.  The program asked these questions first time around and they were answered correctly.  

Click Continue, see "Was... rented every single day in 2024" with No correctly selected. "Fair rented days" displays 61 correctly. "Personal use days" displays 305 correctly.  These were asked and answered before. 

@DianeW777 wrote: << Select 'Yes' it was rented every single day in 2024 (assumes it was available for rent every day after you converted it to rental).>>
No. Clicking Yes here would be incorrect. So, here we have an impasse. Expenses, presumably, will not be pro-rated as they should be if I incorrectly tell the program that it was rented every single day in 2024. Nothing on my part was answered incorrectly. These questions were asked and answered accurately first time around. The program will still not display or total all my expenses, but displays NOT STARTED for Insurance premiums, Repairs, Utilities, and Cleaning/maintenance. 

[jumprope1]

Hi @DianeW777, has the search for a solution to this one been abandoned?   The feature still doesn't work.