What-If Worksheet totally wrong

kpham — Sun, 15 Feb 2026 23:59:23 GMT

I'm trying to compare filing jointly vs separately since one of us happened to make significantly less this year due to circumstances. But the "What-If Wks" form seems completely wrong. The ages (listed correctly for MFJ) are wrong. The income amounts are wrong. For example, our DIV and capital gains income was only for one of us, but the MFS option is splitting it. It's giving us both "IRA deductions" when neither of us contributed to an IRA. There seems to be no way to opt into the Standard deduction for MFS -- even though the worksheet itself clearly shows an advantage to doing so. It's apparently allowing BOTH of us to take the Child Tax credit on ALL our children.

Are these all kinks that TurboTax will work out in future updates, or is this functionality just generally garbage?

Thanks to anyone with insight!

Re: What-If Worksheet totally wrong

ReneV4 — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 16:53:50 GMT

Due to the complexity of each situation, the What-If Worksheet is not always the ideal way to determine what is best for your situation.

For example, the system often does not know who will claim the dependents (when applicable). Another situation is if one spouse itemizes, the other also must itemize when MFS.

Because of these different scenarios that can only be answered by the user, it is advisable to instead create separate test files for each spouse. In this way, you will be certain to tailor your settings according to your unique situation.

Here's how:

Save your existing file, naming it "Joint Return"
Create separate spouse returns using above
Change to MFS for each and delete other spouse's information from each test return
Compare each return with their respective information for an accurate picture
Note: If one spouse itemizes, the other cannot choose standard deduction

topic Re: What-If Worksheet totally wrong in Get your taxes done using TurboTax

What-If Worksheet totally wrong

Re: What-If Worksheet totally wrong