[Event] MetLife & TurboTax Present: the Ask us Anything Forum topics

Underpayment penalty not working for California?

avian099 — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 23:53:19 GMT

I have an approximately $800 underpayment for California state taxes. Originally it said I had a penalty but then I answered questions about last year's taxes and now there is no penalty. I don't think I meet the safe harbor rules but last year I did get a refund. The 5805 form is not included in the forms that I need to send to the California FTB but I did look at the form and it shows "penalty exception 1 $500/250". However when I manually input my information into the form and do my own calculations I seem to have a very small penalty of about $9 so is this why the form is not included because this is a very small amount or is there a bug of some kind. I revisited the underpayment section, deleted and input the same information few times and still no penalty fee. Also is tax liability defined as what you owed throughout the year or what you owe after you complete tax forms. I assumed that liability means what you owed throughout the year.

The program did create estimated payment vouchers but rather than using these I increased my withholding which I believe is acceptable. I will be earning a lot less this year than last year.

Thanks.

Rental property losses

user17744465357 — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 23:07:30 GMT

Will claiming losses on Schedule E line 16 reduce my federal taxes for the year?

if not how can I use losses to reduce federal income tax?

1099-NEC for taxes not from main employer

ppetersny — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 22:52:20 GMT

my daughter worked for an employment agency and received a W2 from them. She had been placed in a job at a campground. The campground did not employ her and did not send a W2 as you would expect. But they did send her a 1099-NEC for tips that they collected for her while she was working there. How do I report this in Turbo Tax

From 8833

user17750638846 — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 22:16:42 GMT

I have SSA income from Chinese government. I don't need to pay USA tax for this income per US-China Tax Treaty Art 17-2. I have entered this income and subtracted this income using Tax Treaty Art 17-2 under 2025 1040-SR Schedule 1, Part I, z - ‘Other income’. According to IRS instruction for form 8833, When you report Social Security income under a tax treaty, you can be exempt from filing Form 8833. But Gemini said it’s better to file it. What do you think? If I need to file Form 8833, is there a way to attach the PDF of Form 8833 to my e-filed tax return through TurboTax? Otherwise, I have to print my tax file and mail it to IRS with form 8833.

Thank you.

HSA

11rodeo11 — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 21:24:42 GMT

Where can I can a make sure the HSA are deducted as money spent for medical expenses?

Using Schedule C

taxuseronline1 — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 21:24:26 GMT

This message is for confirmation that it is appropriate to use Schedule C when owning a house that is not a primary residence and is not a vacation home and there were maintenance expenses to deduct and it was not rented yet.

Penalty & Interest amounts in turbotax return

nishjambu — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 21:24:04 GMT

Penalty & Interest are grouped together in one line on my turbotax return. How do I know the separate amounts for Penalty and for Interest.

If i paid of an overage child's student loan directly to the lender(was over 19000), do I have to show in turbo tax filing somewhere?

nishjambu — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 20:34:48 GMT

Underpayment penalty

garfieldbarfield — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 20:26:13 GMT

My underpayment penalty is most likely due to the 4th quarter withholding not being enough. Is there any way to get a waiver because of this? It's the 4th quarter so it's year-end anyway, what difference does it make for our taxes?

Form 5329-S on HSA question

garfieldbarfield — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 19:57:43 GMT

One of the questions is asking about "Year end HSA value" and pointing to this form 5329-S. My HSA provider only gave me a 1099-SA form so I don't know what this 5329-S form is. However, from a statement, I can see the value of my HSA in Dec 2025. Should I just enter this amount and not worry about form 5329-S?

Is FBAR needed if a Canadian Retirement acct is fully cashed out and over 10K?

nishjambu — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 19:55:58 GMT

Months in home for newborn on state tax

garfieldbarfield — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 19:55:21 GMT

In the Arizona state return, we have to put our dependents and how many months out of the year they were our dependents.

One of our dependents was born in November 2025. One of the fields asks for how many months out of the year they were our dependents.

Should we put 12 months, or 2 months?

Not sure if this question is actually getting at what percent of their life of that year that they were our dependents, which would be 100% (and so we should put down 12), or what percent of the year they were alive for as our dependents (in which case we should put 2)

Penalty & Interest are showing as one line in my tax return. How do I know amt for each?

nishjambu — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 19:51:46 GMT

Not seeing state tax liability

garfieldbarfield — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 19:49:05 GMT

We have to file for two states. In the past, we finished the return for state A first, and got the liability for state A (i.e. how much we owed to state A), and entered it in our return for state B.

But this year, we don't actually see the result of our liability for state A yet. How can we get/see that?

Question 2: ESPP shares – cost basis after transfer from computershare

rkw750 — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 19:36:47 GMT

Title: ESPP shares transferred from Computershare – cost basis handling in TurboTax Desktop
I am using TurboTax Premier 2025 Desktop (installed client software).
I transferred qualified ESPP shares from Computershare to my brokerage account. After the transfer:
Only the purchase price (what I paid) transferred as the cost basis
The ESPP discount portion does not appear included in the brokerage‑reported basis
Questions:
When I sell these ESPP shares at a gain, do I need to manually adjust the cost basis in TurboTax Desktop to reflect the correct ESPP tax treatment?
How should TurboTax Desktop properly split the ordinary income portion vs. capital gains when the brokerage reports an incomplete cost basis for qualified ESPP shares?

Backdoor Roth IRA & Form 8606 (TurboTax Desktop)

rkw750 — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 19:35:40 GMT

Backdoor Roth IRA & Form 8606 (TurboTax Desktop)

Title: Backdoor Roth IRA – Form 8606 validation (TurboTax Premier 2025 Desktop)
I am using TurboTax Premier 2025 Desktop (installed client software, not the online version) and want to confirm that my backdoor Roth IRA was reported correctly.
Facts:
After‑tax contribution made to a non‑deductible Traditional IRA
Funds were converted to a Roth IRA in the same year
No balance in any Traditional IRA as of 12/31/2025
Form 8606 Line 14 from the prior year = $0
For my 2025 return, TurboTax generated Form 8606 with:
Line 16: $7,001
Line 17: $0
Line 18: $7,001
Questions:
Can you walk me through the TurboTax Premier 2025 Desktop steps to ensure my backdoor Roth IRA was entered correctly?
Given the facts above, do these Form 8606 line values look correct for a clean backdoor Roth with no pro‑rata impact?
Where does TurboTax Desktop track non‑deductible Traditional IRA basis year‑to‑year — is it only carried forward via Form 8606, or stored elsewhere in the software?

Underpayment penalties

user17750638846 — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 18:27:11 GMT

how to fill 'Long-term capital gains and losses' screen for penalty recalculation?
I had stock capital gain $30000 for 2025 and $10000 Capital Loss Carryover from 2024. The net capital gain for 2025 was $20000. My actual gain for 1/1/2025 to 3/31/2025 was $ 8000. Should I fill amount $8000? Or fill amount -$2000(8000- 10000) for 1/1/2025 to 3/31/2025?
Since I had $10,000 carry over from 2024, I didn't pay estimated tax in early 2025 when I got gain $8,000. If Turbo Tax subtracts $10,000 at end of year, I have to pay penalty for the gain I had at early 2025. It doesn't make a sense for me.

What is the right way to fill that screen?

Thank you.

Rental property

user17744465357 — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 18:10:16 GMT

Level 1

I had to pay more than $25K in property taxes on rental property due to homestead exemption back taxes issues. How do I claim this expense when filing?

RothIRA & Backdoor RothIRA after life event

thanhktran — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 18:02:08 GMT

Hi! I got married last June. I've been contributing the max amount yearly to my RothIRA. However, now that I'm married and will be filing jointly. Questions:

What will happen to my RothIRA account? Do I need to stop contributing? Can I just leave it as is as it continues to grow?
What can I do now if we exceed the income limit for joint. Is a Backdoor RothIRA an option?
- If I do open a Backdoor RothIRA - Do I have to close or empty out my existing Roth IRA account to avoid any taxes?
- Do I have rinse and repeat the Backdoor Roth IRA process every year if I want to contribute?
What other options or ways do you recommend for us where it can help alleviate or grant us tax breaks in the future?

Any assistance would be helpful! Thank you!

- From a Corporate America Millennial Who Wants To Retire Early

Turbo Tax Free Version for Adult Child

user17742766374 — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 17:47:48 GMT

Would the free version of Turbo Tax online be sufficient for my adult child (21)?

They had a full scholarship, which, I believe the room and board (about $7k) has to be counted as income. They also made an estimated 5k at their job. She also received a 1099-Q for money ($6k) we took out of her 429 plan to pay for summer classes, room and board.