Tentative tax

[bgbrinton]

I must be asking my question poorly because I am getting unhelpful responses.  On my calculated AGI, turbo tax says my tentative tax is about $6700. Tax tables show a tax due of about $8500. Why is tentative tax so far off?  I’m hesitant to purchase the TT product until I can reconcile this discrepancy. 

[BillM223]

One common issue is that taxpayers have qualified dividends and capital gains, which are taxed at a lower rate than ordinary income. This is not obvious from looking at the 1040.

There are also other ways to calculate tax, see line 16 on the 1040. 

Since every taxpayer has tax calculated, an error would be quickly noticed and fixed, particularly so large.