Turbotax hangs while entering medical expenses. Won't let me enter Rx or Dr or Eye amounts, and won't let me get past medical mileage ("Must be greater than 0").

[SweetieJean]

Try using a different internet browser.

[Roninroundrock]

HEY, WHAT IS GOING ON.  This is an old post, but I am experiencing the identical problem (2020 TT Deluxe) about 1/2 way through entering my medical expenses - the entry field is PINK and it won't accept any input and won't let me Continue - tried Backing up - and trying again - didn't help - just stuck there.

Entering Mileage - and it says the entry must be greater "0". . . . . . .

OK,  NEVER MIND - BUT I AM GOING TO POST THIS ANYWAY.

I just went back to Turbotax to get the 'Exact" wording on the ". . . greater than 0. . ." -  and it worked.  I had Backed up a couple of Medical Expense questions, and when I got back to Mileage (to check the wording), the values I had entered was there and I was able to proceed.

I will also note that I am using "Supporting Details" to make the entries for these Medical questions.  That is a nice feature in TT that they keep around from year-to-year - enabling one to kind-of keep track of expenses in previous years - I LIKE IT.

But this also brings me to the question, rather the problem of entering numbers into these Medical questions blocks.  TT won't let me enter a number directly and it also ignores my mouse right-click.  The only way I am able to enter a number in these blocks is to double-click on the TT default entry - which will bring up the Supporting Details page (which I wanted to use anyway).  BUT WHAT GIVES THERE?

ron in shawnee

[ShariP]

I'm having a similar problem.  I've already determined that we have medical expenses over 7.5% of AGI, so why does TurboTax insist on leaving $0 in Prescription Medication Expenses and NOT allow me to enter an amount?

[Roninroundrock]

Shari-

Yes, it is a TurboTax intermittent BUG - which is probably why they are not giving it much attention.

I think I had a similar problem last year with the 2019 TT and definitely had it earlier this year (just a coouple of days earlier) when I was entering my Real Estate Taxes.  It didn't have the "must not be '0'" business - it just would not accept anything when I tried to make an entry in the block.  Had to Save (Exit TT) the file, restart TT and everything was OK, worked perfectly, just like it was supposed to.

But is is really annoying to have to mess with it - particularly since it won't even let you skip the entry with a Continue.

Just hoping that if a few (don't know what is enough) of us complain about it, maybe someone will take a look at it.  But I know these problems are really hard to locate since they cannot easily be reproduced - i.e. happening to me in 1 or several hundred entries, and then it goes away.

But appreciate you throwing your comment in on this problem.

ron in shawnee

[MaryM428]

These type of errors are usually caused by browser errors.  One solution is to use an incognito window  in Chrome. With Incognito Mode enabled, the Chrome browser won't save the browsing history, cookies, site data, or information entered on forms by users. But it will keep files you download and bookmarks. 

Use the Chrome browser and clear browsing data for all time or use the incognito window.

Then sign in to TurboTax and issue should be resolved.

What Medical Expenses are Deductible?

[Roninroundrock]

NO -NO - NO - HOW DID MY BROWSER GET INVOLVED.

I am using the purchased Turbotax Deluxe DVD on my Windows 10 system - not the free online product - no browser involved.

This is a flakey error that I have seen before, although rarely.  The problem is that it is not a repeatable error that can be turned in to Turbotax for fixing - although I would think they could do something with or because of the "... entry cannot be '0'" error message.

I am sure you are referring to the online product - and yes, I saw that response suggestion when searching for a solution to this problem, but don't see how it applies here.

ron in shawnee

[ReneeM7122]

You might need to use FORMS mode. This link will explain how.

Here's a TurboTax article about medical expenses.

@Roninroundrock

[Roninroundrock]

Renee-

Thanks for the tip, but the paragraph in the link you provided (and thanks for that) says it all.

If you're adventurous, you can even prepare your return in Forms Mode, but we don't recommend it. You may miss obscure credits and deductions you qualify for, and you may forget to report things that will come back and haunt you later.

Yes, I know about Forms mode (a nice feature), and I use it occasionally to see where stuff is going or to check on how certain things are working, but I would only use it for input in an emergency for the above reason.  But you are right, I didn't go into Forms mode to see if I could figure out what the heck Turbotax was complaining about - this was a simple entry that was clearly a Turbotax BUG - a somewhat one-time situation that I can't recreate.

OK, enough of that.  My position still is that this is a Turbotax BUG that I have experienced AT LEAST 4 or maybe 5 times over the last 2 years - and I will note that I am not alone in experiencing the problem, albeit rather random, intermittent and not a frequent problem.  And I would still like Turbotax to have it on their list of problems to be fixed - and thank goodness that it does not affect the Tax calculations, at least since you seem to eventually be able to enter the information.

ron in shawnee

[Roninroundrock]

Renee-

And P.S.,

for everyone's benefit, regarding your link to the Turbotax Medical Expenses article - the article is quite good.

ron in shawnne

[JOED3]

I have the same problem with TT 2021 on a Mac.   Won't allow prescriptions or eye expenses to be entered.   Does allow other medical deduction fields. 

[VolvoGirl]

You can just enter the total medical under any category.  Only the total goes to schedule A.  Stick it anywhere.