Mortgage interest not being applied--TurboTax Premier 2024

[rcc6]

I'm struggling with getting TurboTax Premier 2024 to accept mortgage interest. My state taxes, charitable contributions, and mortgage interest total about $32,000, which is more this year's Married Filing Jointly standard deduction of $29,200. TurboTax has me on the standard deduction, though. I think the problem is that the software is failing to count my mortgage interest. In an attempt to figure out what might be happening, I tried entering mortgage interest of $29,000, taking my overall deductions above $40,000, and even that amount didn't change me to itemized deductions. Can anyone help me understand what's going on? For what it's worth, I've gone through the mortgage section a half dozen times now, and I am pretty sure I am answering all the questions correctly. For example, I tell it that our names are on the loan ... the loan is secured by the property ... I'm entering the most recent 1098 ... and the loan is a refinance that I used only to pay off the previous loan. I'd really appreciate any tips for what to do!

Thank you very much!

[Mi635]

I am having same problem.  Did you get a reply? 

[LindaS5247 · Accepted solution]

You could try manually changing to Itemizing Deductions from the Standard Deduction in TurboTax.

If you are using TurboTax Online to switch to Itemized Deductions from the Standard Deduction you will do the following:

1. In your left panel scroll down to "Tax Tools"
2. Click on "Tools"
3. Click on the box "Topic Search"
4. In the Box "I'm looking for:" type in "standard deduction"
5. This will take you to the page "Based on what you told us..."
6. Here you can change your deduction by clicking the box "Change my Deduction"

If you are using TurboTax Desktop to switch to the Standard Deduction you will do the following:

1. Go to "Federal Taxes" tab in the gray bar at the top of your screen
2. Select the "Deductions & Credits" tab (under Federal Taxes in the gray bar at top of your screen
3. Click on "I'll Choose What to Work On"
4. Select "Continue" at the bottom of page
5. Select "Continue" on the next page that says "Let's Check Your Deductions and Credits"
6. Select "Continue"  on the next page that says "Here Are Your 2024 Deductions & Credits"
7. The following page will give you the opportunity to change your deduction by clicking on the box "Change my deduction"

You could also try deleting your Form 1098's and re-entering them. Sometimes this works.

You can get back to your entry screens in TurboTax for Mortgage Interest to check that your entries are correct as follows:

1.  Click on "Search" (magnifying glass) at the top right of your screen and 
2. Type "1098" in the search bar. ‌
3. Click on "Jump to 1098."  This will allow you to review your entries for your mortgage interest from Form 1098 and delete your Forms 1098.

Click here for "Where do I enter my 1098 mortgage interest statement?"

Click here for additional information on the Mortgage Interest Deduction

Click here for additional information on mortgage interest.

[rcc6]

Thank you very much for your help. Following your steps, I was able to pinpoint and fix the problem, as follows:

First I forced TurboTax to switch me to itemized deductions. Once I'd done that, I could see a list of itemized deductions, and I could compare the amounts the software was crediting with the correct amounts from my 1098s.

At that point I could see that the problem was that the mortgage interest from a second home was not included in the itemized deductions. I tried deleting and reentering that 1098, but the mortgage interest was still not included. Then I tried deleting and reentering both of my 1098s (primary home + second home), and that fixed the problem. I'm good to go now, and I really appreciate your help.

-Raymond

[rcc6]

Yes. Long story short, the solution was to delete both of my 1098s and then reenter them. I'd tried deleting them one at a time, but that didn't work.

Good luck!