Foreign Tax Credit - Cannot allocate income from countries properly

[rccall]

I am trying to complete the Foreign Tax Credit (FTC) dialog, and I cannot complete it properly.

The essence of the issue -- as far as I can tell -- is that the FTC dialog expects each 1099-DIV to be associated with one and only one country -- which is not the case for me.

I have 1099-DIV forms from three (3) different brokerages.  Each has income from multiple mutual funds/ETFs (called "RIC" in the FTC dialog), and *one* of them has a very small amount of income from a Canadian stock that I hold.

The FTC dialog asks me what countries I received income from -- so I put in both "RIC" and "Canada".

Next, it asks me to pick a country for which I am to report income.  If I pick "Canada" it then asks me which 1099 to use.

Once I've done that, I try to allocate the RIC income -- but for the brokerage that had both RIC and Canada income, I no longer see the 1099.  So evidently TT thinks that a 1099 can be allocated to only one country.

No matter how I play with the dialog, I can't get it to record my information correctly.  I even got a TT rep on the phone who basically led me past that dialog, and to another page where I could (supposedly) enter Country and Income information "by hand" -- but even that didn't work for me.

The really frustrating thing about this is that it's been an issue in TT for years now.  Every year the dialog and its behavior changes a little, but the problem remains that TT can't understand that one 1099 may have income from multiple countries.

For the moment, I just allocated everything to RIC, including the small amount that belongs to Canada.  But I'd like to do it the correct way.

Is there a workaround I can use that will get me through the TT dialogs?

If not, should I go into the forms and tweak the amounts on Form 1116, adding a column for Canada?  (I'm a bit anxious about doing that, for fear I'll really mess something up.)

Thanks for any suggestions.

[seghezzo]

Exactly the same problems I  have and posted a few hours ago. There was a reply but cannot find it

[MarilynG1]

You can associate the Foreign Tax paid on a 1099-Div with multiple countries by choosing 'RIC' (Regulated Investment Company) as the Country.

For a second 1099-DIV, do the same.

If your Canadian income/tax is not associated with a 1099-Div or 1099-Int (a pension, for example), then choose 'Passive Income' and the country Canada.  You'll have a 1116 for RIC and for Canada.

Here's more info on Claiming the Foreign Tax Credit.

@rccall

[rccall]

Hello Marilyn,

Thank you for the reply, but I'm afraid I need further clarification.

It's my understanding that RIC is used for income from mutual funds, ETFs, and the like.

I am trying to record, for one 1099, income that comes from a particular country (Canada) as well as income from RICs.

Am I incorrect in thinking I need to report the Canada income as Canada income (and not as RIC) ?

[MarilynG1]

No, if the foreign tax and foreign income are reported on one 1099-Div, then RIC is the correct way to report.

[seghezzo]

Marylin, I do not agree with response. Why the Companies issuing the 1099 (Fidelity etc) give you detailed info on the country related to foreign tax. They report Both RIC for taxes paid by mutual funds and they give details for the countries associated with dividends of individual shares you own. In my specific case, I have one 1099 that has foreign income on individual stocks from Sweden, Finland and Netherlands. If I choose one 1099 and one country and input the value for that countries, I will neve again that 1099 to complete the income form the other countries. This behavior is not correct.

Regards