Vehicle Registration Fees Entered not Showing in Deductions & Credits

[Travlr1234]

Hello,

We entered our two vehicle's registration fees into the Deductions & Credits, but are not showing in the summary after the review of our entries, why is this? 

Thank you.

[Lisa - SC]

I have the same question.

[JotikaT2]

I would recommend reviewing your input to ensure the amounts are entered in the correct area of the program.  You should get a message after entering the car registration fees letting you know if you are entitled to a deduction or not.

1. Log back into TurboTax.
2. Select Federal Taxes
3. Select Deductions & Credits
4. Select I'll choose what I work on
5. Scroll down to the section titled Cars and Other Things You Own
6. Select Car Registration Fees
7. Proceed to enter/review the information as prompted
8. After you have entered your information, you should see a screen titled Congrats, you get a tax break.  

Auto registration fees deductible by state

Please comment if you do not see this screen so we can assist you further.  

@Travlr1234

[Lisa - SC]

I do not receive that message.  I receive the message "we got your car registration fee info" and "standard deduction saves the most on your taxes".  Is this not a deduction, outside the standard deduction?  Did that change since last year?

[JotikaT2]

No, it hasn't changed.  It sounds like you may have been able to itemize your deductions last year, but this year your standard deduction is higher.

What is my standard deduction

Essentially, TurboTax selects the deduction that yields the highest tax benefit for you situation.

Auto registration fees are used to compute your total itemized deductions. Itemized deductions include items such as mortgage interest, taxes, and charitable contributions.

If the standard deduction is higher, your auto registration fees would not be deductible and therefore would not be reflected on your tax return.

Please see the attached link for additional information on the difference between the standard deduction and itemized deductions.  

Standard deduction versus Itemized deduction

[Lisa - SC]

The weird thing is that in the year over year comparison, TT is showing the vehicle registration fees as a deduction for 2019 but not for 2020.  If the vehicle registration fee is not additionally deductible from income when using the standard deduction for both 2019 and 2020 tax years, then this year over year comparison screen is leading to confusion.  See screenshot with 2019 on left and 2020 on right.  I used standard both years, did not itemize last year either.

[Lisa - SC]

Actually, the year-over-year comparison has another problem too.  I'd like to include a full screenshot and provide further explanation, but do not want my own personal financial details shared in the entire community.  How can I contact TT about this in a more confidential way?  Thanks.

[DRCdrc]

I have the same problem that @Lisa - SC and @Travlr1234 are having.  However, it appears that there is a faulty assumption going on that is quite natural on the part of the TT user.  The assumption is that all of the numbers above the "Total Deductions" value at the bottom are added together to get the total value.  However sensible that would seem (and although that is standard account notation), that's not what is happening in TT--the Vehicle Registration Fees are *not* actually part of the "Total Deductions" value in the 2019 "Total Deductions" sum when the Standard Deduction is taken! 

The "Total Deductions" in 2019 is just the sum of the first 3 numbers, not all 4 numbers!!!  This makes *no sense* to the user, but that's what's happening.  Here's a screenshot that can verify the above:

Apparently, that is the correct way to calculate the taxes since apparently the License Fee for Vehicle Registration Fees is only deductible *if* you itemize, so, it actually shouldn't be added to the Total Deductions in 2019 nor in 2020.  So, the Total Deductions value is correct even if the display is confusing. 

But, this confusion needs to be fixed in TT!

@JotikaT2, if you are an employee of TT, or if you have some way to get their attention as an [Expert] poster on this community forum, it would be great if you could alert them to this issue so that the programmers can correct this very confusing presentation of numbers on the Summary page of Deductions and Credits.  

[guitargirl]

I have 12700 in deductions and it won't show my $933 in vehicle fee tax for deduction.  And it says the 12,400 standard deduction is more.  Not according to my math its not.  Add 933 to $12700 and that's $13,633 in deductions not the standard deduction.

[guitargirl]

Thats the message I got too. I think there is a bug.  My over all summary screen shows $12400 standard deduction and blank for $933 vehicle tax and then shows a total of $12700 for deductions.  What the heck?  I think there is a bug.

[guitargirl]

That is exactly what mine is doing too!!!!

It actually shows I got 12,700 in deductions and then won't add my car tax for $933 on top of that. 

[macuser_22]

Car registration fees are not deductible.  Only property tax that is based on the value of the car is and must be listed separately on the registration form.   Not all states have such a fee.

For 2018 - 2020 many taxpayers that itemized in the past will find that they can no longer itemize because the standard deduction has doubled so all of their itemized deduction s no longer exceed the standard deduction.

Only if all itemized deductions exceed the standard deduction will it be of benefit.

Not all itemized deductions count the full amount. Medical expenses are reduced by 7.5% of AGI so if your AGI is $30,000, for example, then only medical expenses more than $2,250 would be an itemized deduction.

The 2018 tax law also caps the total of Sales tax OR State and local income tax, Property (real estate and personal property) taxes at $10,000.

Mortgage interest on loans after Dec 16, 2017 may be limited.

The Mortgage must be secured by the property to qualify.

Interest on home equity loans and lines of credit are deductible only if the borrowed funds are used to buy, build, or substantially improve the taxpayer’s home that secures the loan.

You can check the actual amount of itemized deductions by using the Search Topics for "itemized deductions, choosing" (under "My Account, Tools" in the online versions). Click on "Change my deduction". That will display the actual amount of itemized deductions vs. the standard deduction. (Be sure to uncheck "Change my deduction" after checking it so you do not lock in the wrong deduction.


2020 standard deductions

$12,400 Single
$18,650 Head of Household
$24,800 Married Jointly

Add an additional $1,300 for over age 65 or blind
This amount increases to $1,650 if the taxpayer is also unmarried.

[NLynn]

I’m using TT Deluxe yet when I select Cars and Other Things You Own, Car Registration Fees, the questions don’t appear even when selecting I’ll choose what I work on.  HELP!

[ajwest]

Having the same problem and executing instructions but never seeing prompt "choose what I work on" appear.

[DaveF1006]

This might be that you are working in Turbo Tax Online, which doesn't have this option.

@ajwest