TT is ignoring my mortgage interest and forcing me to take the standard deduction. Is this a glitch in the software? How can I override this and itemize deductions?

[rjs]

TurboTax is most likely using the standard deduction because it is higher than your total itemized deductions. The standard deduction for 2018 is much higher than in past years. But if you want to change, follow the instructions in the FAQ at the link below. In the FAQ, click the blue link for the version of TurboTax that you are using, either TurboTax Online or TurboTax CD/Download.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1900142-how-do-i-change-from-the-standard-deduction-to-itemized-or...

[Mikebova1953]

No.  That response is not correct.   What Turbo Tax does is ignore your interest deduction if you press "continue" after entering it.  After entering interest, dont press "continue" but instead just move to another page and the interest will stay put and if the itemized are greater than standard, it will stay itemized.  What is happening is when you key in "no" to the question regarding how large your mortgage is and it "not"/No applying to you, if you hit "continue", it changes the no response to yes and the interest is not included and that puts you total deductions less than 24,400, thus turbo gives you the standard deduction.  Like I said, after you respond "no" to the mortgage amount not being more than the limits, do not press continue, page page out and you will be fine.  MB

[macuser_22]

@Mikebova1953 The above post is a year old and is asking about a 2018 tax return.  The date inn the post is the date that it was transferred form the old forum and not the actual date of the post.

[AZDbacks]

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for this response! I have been banging my head against the wall trying to figure out WHY Turbo Tax keeps switching me to Standard deduction and not including my mortgage interest. You saved me a lot of frustration. There is definitely a glitch in the program here that Intuit needs to fix (I'm using tax year 2019 version).

[jctaxinnj]

Thanks and everyone appreciates this. This is a glitch and if others see this it might force people to take a look at 2018 tax returns. I discovered this when my 2019 was being processed a lot of things were the same so it made me look at 2018 tax returns to figure out what happened. 

[Taxedtodeath76]

This is what happened to me this year and would take my federal refund from $2500 to $80. This is a problem TurboTax, due to this I do not feel comfortable using the company in the future. Too large of a discrepancy and too costly a mistake. Thanks for pointing this out about changing tabs. Exactly what I had to do. 

[VictoriaD75]

You may need to amend if you filed and the mortgage interest deduction did not apply but would have had an effect on the outcome of your return. 

The limit on the amount of interest has changed under the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act. The interest deduction pre-TCJA has been available to qualified mortgage debt up to $1 million ($500,000 married filing separately).

Through 2025, the TCJA has lowered the amount of qualified mortgage debt to $750,000. For qualified mortgage debt incurred on or before December 15, 2017, the $1 million limit remains in place, thus "grandfathering" existing mortgage debt.

For desktop versions:

• In Forms view, locate and click on Tax & Int Wks on the left from the forms list
• On the form, scroll to Mortgage Interest Limited Smart Worksheet
• Click on NO to the right of the question, Does your mortgage interest need to be limited

For online versions, after entering the 1098 interest information, continue through the screens and TurboTax will ask you if the interest needs to be limited.

[Taxedtodeath76]

Thanks for the suggestions but this is not the case, mortgage was below the threshold and yet there is a glitch in the turbo tax software itself that we are dealing with. A very costly glitch. I actually think this happened to me last year and I gave the government money. Thanks turbo tax, this won’t be happening again. 

[Jeff Linder]

This didn't happen to me in 2018, but is happening on the Windows version for 2019: TT forcing me to take the standard deduction and ignoring the mortgage interest. The solution above was best.

[lkng67]

I have thi same issue. We file separately and have to itemize. It ignored my mortgage interest too the tune og $6000.

[DaraLO]

@lkng67 Can you post screenshots (minus any personal info) that can show us what you're seeing on your screen?

Reference:  Where do I enter my 1098 mortgage interest statement?

[jgpardee81]

My itemized deductions are almost twice the standard, but TT is defaulting to standard.  Anyone having this issue for 2022?  I tried the "do not continue" trick, but my mortgage interest is being reflected correctly.   

[Critter-3]

Are you filing separately from your spouse ? 

[jgpardee81]

No, we've always filed joint.  I've done my taxes on TT every year for the past 10 years and never had this issue.  The only difference this year is that we're taking an energy credit for solar installation.  Would that have any impact on my itemized deductions?