TurboTax does not allow home office deduction ...

[AnnetteB6]

I made a mistake by not checking to see if there was a difference in input screens from Deluxe to Premier to Home and Business, and I apologize for not catching that difference sooner.  The user feedback gave enough information so that this has been submitted to the development team for further review and a possible correction.  

In the meantime, as some users have discovered and shared, Forms Mode can be used to correct the issue.  Use these steps:

• Click Forms on the top row of TurboTax.
• Go to Form 8829.
• Scroll to the section titled Line 8 Calculation Smart Worksheet and enter your percent of business use of the home office on line B.
• Click Step-by-Step at the top of the screen to go back to the input screens.

@LolaMerle 

@mronufrak 

[joaniek50]

Thank you for the solution.  I thought I was going crazy.

[joaniek50]

I was using TurboTax Deluxe desktop.  The "business conducted in home office" page did NOT appear in my questioning.  That would explain the problem.  At least I was able to manually input 100% as a prior post suggested and it worked.

[daniboy]

@Bachatera The form 8829 Part II fix is exactly what worked for me, thank you. In my TurboTax Premier Edition, I did not see any option in the Home Office section to enter a percentage. Thank you.

[raquinn]

As of 3/17/25, this does not appear to be fixed in the desktop Premier version. I have confirmed that all updates have been installed. Is there an estimated time of an update that will correct this issue?

Manual fixes for me are not easy since form 8829 is not even generating within the Forms view and the Step By Step method puts me in the "needs review" circle that others have mentioned.

[ETIS]

I have the same issue.  I managed to overcome it by overriding the "Percent of Growth Income from business use of home" on Form 8829 Worksheet. It was 0 and I changed it to 100% 

Not sure what effect it will have on e-filing though.

[WiscDave]

What a terrible answer for a shoddy product.  Your users have legitimate gripe, and you have done nothing to address what should be a very simple fix.  What has happened to Turbo Tax?  All the users experiencing this issue are correct.  The Turbo Tax step by step view NEVER asks you to enter the percentage of business conducted in the home office.  You have to go in to Form 8829 to input that percentage.  Really?  Turbo Tax 2023 did not have that issue.  Turbo Tax you need to get you act together.   Your answers and help are subpar at best. I hope you get slapped with a class action law suit for all the problems you are causing.  I will happily join that law suit for all the trouble this has caused me.

[EdwardinCO]

Thank you to those users who figured out the workaround via Forms.

AnnetteB6, just so you know, this same issue exists in Turbotax "Basic" download software.

[jhottel]

I amusing Turbo Tax Deluxe and  having the same issue with home office deduction. Was there a fix made for this? I have done the current updates and still not pulling in correct info into form 8829. 

[EdwardinCO]

Correction:  I just posted but then erased my post.  Here's what Annette posted earlier -- it's the correct method:

• Click Forms on the top row of TurboTax.
• Go to Form 8829.
• Scroll to the section titled Line 8 Calculation Smart Worksheet and enter your percent of business use of the home office on line B.
• Click Step-by-Step at the top of the screen to go back to the input screens.

[AnnetteB6]

The percent of business use of the home office is missing from the calculation and therefore the result is that the calculation shows a loss for your business.

When you go through the Federal Review of your return, this error will be flagged and you can enter the amount on that review screen.  The amount to enter is the percentage of time that you spend in your home office making money for your business.  If all of your time is spent working in your home office for your business, then enter 100%.

You can also make the correction to the calculation using Forms Mode.  Use these steps:

• Click Forms on the top row of TurboTax.
• Go to Form 8829.
• Scroll to the section titled Line 8 Calculation Smart Worksheet and enter your percent of business use of the home office on line B.
• Click Step-by-Step at the top of the screen to go back to the input screens.

@jhottel 

[EdwardinCO]

When I did my taxes, the error was not flagged during the federal review.  I had to fix the issue using the forms method.  The program itself simply treated the absence of a percentage as zero percent, apparently, and didn't detect any error.

[DrZ2]

This error is very much reproducible (TT Deluxe, Mac). As soon as you enter $1 of any expenses, that becomes your loss on form 8829, regardless of the actual profit. It works ONLY if expenses are zero (0), which of course makes no sense. What a trivial mistake (they are copying the wrong line) that cannot be overridden (at least I did not find a way after wasting 5 hours on troubleshooting this problem. So much for calculation guarantee. Huh, enough is enough.

[AnnetteB6]

The percent of business use of the home office is missing from the calculation and therefore the result is that the calculation shows a loss for your business.  

When you go through the Federal Review of your return, this error will be flagged and you can enter the amount on that review screen.  The amount to enter is the percentage of time that you spend in your home office making money for your business.  If all of your time is spent working in your home office for your business, then enter 100%.

You can also make the correction to the calculation using Forms Mode.  Use these steps:

• Click Forms on the top row of TurboTax.
• Go to Form 8829.
• Scroll to the section titled Line 8 Calculation Smart Worksheet and enter your percent of business use of the home office on line B.
• Click Step-by-Step at the top of the screen to go back to the input screens.

@DrZ2 

[DrZ2]

This workaround works but it's not how it should be; it worked in the previous years form EsyStep.

Thanks!