How to deal with rounding differences between TurboTax and bookkeeping?

[NS1]

Since expenses are entered in multiple sections and each entry, as well as section is rounded, there is a difference of a couple of dollars between what TurboTax is showing for expenses, and what is the total in our books (where all numbers are precise).

As a result of the rounding, our reported income is messed up, so when we do the Balance Sheet section numbers do not match by -$3

Should we override some expense entries in TurboTax just so we can get the final total numbers to match??? Then each expense entry and category will not match the books exactly.

Please advise...

[DDollar · Accepted solution]

I would just add a single miscellaneous entry to the tax return expenses of $3, and call it rounding.

[depdad]

TurboTax should just stop with the rounding of numbers. Accounting is exact and so should this program.

[RosieL]

This issue still exists for Tax Year 2023.  I'm getting tired of it.  Turbo Tax won't listen, so I'm curious if anyone has tried any other Tax Preparation Software for S corps?  I really need to change.

[beyondthebox]

If the Turbo Tax Business version is so concerned that the required balance sheet match accounting then it should stop rounding. Adding a transaction, as suggested above, is not the way to resolve this as it is also a false representation.

Unfortunately, for me to resolve, I had to reduce one of my deductions by the discrepancy amount (in my case $1) which I am sure the IRS will not be concerned by since I am lowering and not inflating but this is still a stupid implementation.

Fix the business return programs and stop rounding. Every $ amount entered should include two decimals places to the right of the period.

[NS1]

@beyondthebox Completely agree. That rounding causes me a headache every year trying to balance things out. If I read the IRS instructions correctly, I think the rounding off is supposed to be optional, as long as one is consistent throughout the forms (https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1065#en_US_2023_publink11392vd0e1688). They suggest rounding to make it "easier", LOL... If only it could be done more smartly in TT. Perhaps it would help if they round only top-level categories as they are documented on the forms, instead of separate entry lines. I believe this is what creates the discrepancy. When rounding off every item separately, and then summing up, the total for that category ends up wrong... and then this stacks up with multiple categories. If you ask me I'd disable rounding altogether, so things can always perfectly match with the books.

I doubt anyone from TT would care though. From what I've seen (up to last year) the desktop software has not been improved ever since it was created many years ago, they only have minimal updates for changing yearly requirements. Now they created EXTREMELY expensive online versions... and the less expensive "Assisted | Business" version doesn't even include all states, so it is useless to me.

[longtime76]

+1 on the rounding issues resulting in a $3 difference.  This is very frustrating given its an accounting program.  I'm also seeing TT off by 1 dollar on my total assets again due to multiple entries summing to a greater value.  @Intuit please fix this to stop rounding!