How do I fix miscalculation of self-employed health insurance deduction on Schedule 1?

[LisaNMex]

Turbotax has miscalculated the self-employed health insurance deduction on Schedule 1. I'd like to know if there is a fix for this. There are two parts to our deduction. One amount is $1546 and reported on Schedule C, Line 15, off to the side, so not included in total business expenses. This amount is for premiums paid under medicare. The second amount is for premiums for ACA insurance (for husband until he went on medicare and for wife for entire year). Turbotax figures these at $1732 (based on Form 8962). But the total amount shown on Schedule 1 Line 17 is $2606, not $3278 (1732+1546). Turbotax shows the missing $672 as a health insurance expense (however, all ACA premiums for husband and wife should be deductible as self-employed health insurance expense). I encountered this error when I increased home office expenses by about $40. Before I did this, Turbotax was showing correct health insurance deduction on Schedule 1 with no amounts shuttled to health expenses. Of course, one solution is to slightly under report business expenses (go back to the initial figures I used). But is there a fix for this? Thank you. 

P.S. I am also using this calculator to check on ACA deduction--it is helpful:  https://thefinancebuff.com/self-employed-aca-subsidy-calculator

[RobertB4444]

Your self-employed health insurance deduction is limited to the amount of your net income.  So the deduction can't be greater than your income minus expenses.  

@LisaNMex 

[LisaNMex]

Income is not the problem--we're not running into limits. Turbotax is the problem--it is counting part of the ACA premium deduction as a health expense rather than as a self-employment health insurance expense.

[AmyC]

You are correct that you should be entering it on the self employed -if you meet the qualifications. When TurboTax moves the deduction to medical expenses, does that cause you to go over the limit and become a deduction on your sch A or is it just putting it there in medical list and there is no tax effect?

If it is reported with zero effect, that is not affecting your actual tax. There are no known issues so I don't know if you have some data stuck causing an issue or if there may be a problem.

A full or corrupted cache can cause problems in TurboTax, sometimes you need to clear your cache (that is, remove these temporary files).

For stuck information follow these steps:

Online version:

1. Delete the form/ worksheet- if possible, see How to Delete  
2. Log out of your return and try one or more of the following:
   • Don't use Internet Explorer.
   • Clear cache and cookies,
   • Sign in using a different browser.
   • Sign in using a different device.
3. Log back into your return.
   • Enter the information again.

Desktop version: 

1. Delete the form
2. Save your return while closing the program.
3. Update the program
4. Open
5. Enter the information again.

[AmeliesUncle]

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@LisaNMex wrote:

he second amount is for premiums for ACA insurance

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That is what is triggering it.

The IRS says to use (a) the Iterative calculation, (b) the alternative calculation or (c) any reasonable method.

TurboTax uses the Iterative calculation, which usually makes the most sense.

Unfortunately, sometimes the Iterative calculation doesn't really work out completely (and may need to resort to the alternative calculation).  When that happens, the math calculation doesn't fully account for the amounts and ends up with a 'remainder' amount that TurboTax does know what to do with, so it throws it on Schedule A as a medical deduction.

I haven't checked for while, but in previous years there was also a glitch that 'stopped' the calculation from completing, which resulted in the odd 'remainder' amount when it wasn't necessary.

Using those special methods the program is often correct.  But because it ends up with the weird 'remainder' amount, you should probably use the "any reasonable method" rather than the specific methods.

For any 'missing'/remainder amount, you may consider it "reasonable" to enter it directly as a non-ACA insurance expense where the program asks for it.