The program is not calculating Self employment tax on the the clergy housing allowance. Please investigate and correct. Thanks

[Opus 17]

There may be a bug in Turbotax Online's handling of the housing allowance.  For some customers, the choice to pay SE tax on "both" housing and wages doesn't "stick" and the program only calculates SE tax on wages.   I think it's a bug but Turbotax believes is it user error.  It seems to happen mainly when you are importing last year's file that also had a housing allowance.

Some customers report fixing the problem by deleting the W-2 and entering it again.  Make sure you check the box for "Religious wages" on the page of Special Circumstances, and enter your housing allowance again when asked, even if you already entered it from box 14.

If you are self-employed, you must use job code 813000 to tell the program you are clergy and activate the housing allowance questions.

Otherwise, I recommend switching to Turbotax Deluxe installed on your own computer from a CD or download.  In addition to being most cost effective for most taxpayers, the desktop version doesn't have this problem, and it allows you to directly inspect and edit the tax forms and worksheets so you can verify your schedule SE income and other items.  You also need the desktop version to fully take advantage of employee expense deductions under the Deason rule.

[steven-alan-robe]

I'm just realizing that Turbo Tax did not include my Housing Allowance when calculating SE Tax and EITC in 2017. Who do I talk to about fixing it?

[sneller1704]

You will need to amend your 2017 return. I switched to TaxFreeUSA. They  calculated the housing allowance correctly and cost only$12.95.

[Opus 17]

You always owe the correct tax you owe.  Turbotax pledges to cover an penalties and interest if Turbotax makes a mistake that results in penalties.  If you got an IRS letter and want to verify their calculations are correct before paying, you will need to download and install Turbotax 2017 on your own computer, get your 2017 data file, and prepare an amended return.

Amending instructions are here.

Amend <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/3288565">https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/3288565</a>


The accuracy guarantee claim form is here.  However, in the past, Turbotax has blamed this on user error.  I can't prove one way or the other, but I suspect that is not right since the problem only occurred in 2016 and 2017 that I know of.  If Turbotax denies your guarantee submission, you can also request a penalty abatement from the IRS if this is the first time you have owed a penalty.  (The interest can't be waived, though.)

Accuracy guarantee
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/4202723">https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/4202723</a>


Abatement
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/penalty-relief-due-to-first-time-penal...>

If you caught this mistake on your own, file the amended return and pay only the tax you owe, don't accept Turbotax's offer to calculate any late fees.  Wait for the IRS to bill you, then you can submit an abatement request or an accuracy guarantee claim.