1098 Form Box 2 Blank

[mambata1200]

I have a1098 form ( Mortgage interest -for Home equity line of credit  with a zero in box 2 (-Outstanding principal balance. ) When I key in zero in Turbo tax , Turbo wont accept a "0".  I called my bank , thought  my 1098 form is wrong... and they said in the beginning of the year as of 01/01/2020 the principal balance is zero which they reported in IRS.

If I enter zero in Turbo , I cannot move forward and the message says I have enter a figure not zero. 

Please advise, how to mitigate this and move forward in processing my  2020 Income tax. 

Thank you.

[Cynthiad66]

Please try this:

Per IRS Form 1098-Mortgage, instructions for Box 2: 

• Shows the outstanding principal on the mortgage as of January 1, 2020.
• If the mortgage originated in 2020, use the mortgage principal as of the date of origination.
• If the recipient/lender acquired the loan in 2020, use the mortgage principal as of the date of acquisition.

[TANFENG]

I HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM, DOESN'T ALLOW LEAVE BLANK AND "0".

[ToddL99]

Enter "$1" as the "outstanding mortgage principal" amount (Box 2, Form 1098 Mortgage Interest). This will not have any effect on your tax calculation and will not generate an error in either TurboTax or with the IRS, From an economic perspective, it is accurate - you owed virtually nothing on this mortgage at the end of 2020. 

There are many places in TurboTax where you must make a non-zero entry, primarily to let the program know that you answered the question and that the answer makes some sense.  

In this case, entering "$1" tells the program that you didn't forget to answer the question and that you had at least some amount of a mortgage loan balance to justify claiming an interest deduction. 

See   What do I do if I have multiple 1098s from refinancing my home debt? for additional detail on this issue.

@TANFENG