Report error on KEOGH/SEP Worksheet in 2020 Turbotax Home and Business

[DeeDee47]

In Part III of the KEOGH/SEP worksheet there are errors on Line 9 and Line 17:

Line 9 shows and uses $19,000 as the maximum allowable elective deferral. that was the 2019 number, the correct number for 2020 is $19,500 (as the accompanying text states).

Line 17 shows and uses $6,000 as the maximum allowable catch-up contribution. That was the 2019 number, the correct number for 2020 is $6,500 (as the accompanying text states).

Please correct and update the software.

[dmertz]

These two errors were reported months ago and again a week ago.  It appears that the determination of the deductible amount is done as a separate calculation using the correct limits, so this problem shouldn't be affecting your ability to file.  It appears that the calculations that actually involve lines 9 and 17 in TurboTax are used only to display in step-by-step mode the maximum permissible elective deferral without regard to any limitation based on net earnings, so these two errors can be ignored as long as you do your own determination of the regular elective deferral and catch-up elective deferral.  Even the Maximize function works correctly despite these two errors.  Ignore everything you are told in step-by-step mode about how much you are eligible to contribute as employee and employer.

[pb236]

Thank you, dmertz.  I can confirm.  I initially went into Forms view and overrode the values for line 9 and 17 in the Keogh/SEP Wks (Keogh, SEP and SIMPLE Contribution Worksheet), putting in the correct contribution and catch-up limits for 2020, and indeed in the Step-by-Step mode then told me the correct maximum... just repeating back to me what I told the program in effect!  It is annoying that Turbotax doesn't simply update the worksheet.  Not leaving old values from 2019 is pretty basic!

[dmertz]

It's the same problem every year that these and other cost-of-living-adjusted values get updated.  The updated limits are announced by the IRS more than a year prior to the release of the corresponding version of TurboTax, yet it still takes a month or more after the initial release to get these values correct.  Makes it nearly impossible to rely on the online version of TurboTax where you have no way to do temporary overrides.

[dmertz]

Today's update (R17) has fixed this.