Why was my topic about the multiple 1098 bug closed?

[jlbrick]

Hi, I went through a great deal of effort to alert the engineering team about a severe defect in the way that the mortgage interest deduction is calculated when there are multiple 1098s for the same property (such as after a refinance).

I did this because I care about other people and I don't want users who assume that they can trust Turbotax to have their taxes miscalculated.

Rather than work to address the defect, Intuit has closed my topic to further posts.  Why? It's still an ongoing topic that affects many users.

@Katie_B 

Bug with refinance on a large mortgage 

[Katie_B]

Good morning! The topic was closed to ensure that other users are able to see the accepted solution when searching for the post. You did the right thing by opening up a new post to ask your question. I appreciate you looking out for our users!

For those taxpayers who have multiple 1098s due to a refinance, they will need to follow the steps in the article listed here to ensure their calculations for the limitation are correct: What do I do if I have multiple 1098s from refinancing my home debt? 

When these steps are taken, there should be no calculation issues and the limit should be properly applied. 

Hope you are having a great Friday, stay safe and stay warm!

[jlbrick]

It's great that there is a workaround, but I'd like to see more acknowledgement from Intuit that this is a legitimate bug that should be addressed.

Most users assume they can enter their tax forms exactly as received, and that Turbotax will compute the correct tax owed.  Indeed, this is the premise of the software.

You should not expect your users to notice something is wrong, search the forums, and find the link to the workaround.

Why not just fix the bug? Think about how many hours would be saved between people posting to forums, moderators responding, etc.  Not to mention the damage done to people who will unknowingly overpay their taxes.

The right thing to do for the good of your users is to fix the bug, so that average balance is computed correctly for loans that didn't extend for the entire year.  Do the right thing!

[bskerr2018]

The bug needs to be fixed...this is NOT a problem in your other software, ProSeries.   In my case I had 3 different 1098 forms (2 different mortgage refi's in 2020 on the same property as interest rates continued to go down) and it incorrectly assumed one of then was not paid off, although all the data requested on mortgage origination dates, payoff dates and outstanding balances was entered exactly as requested on the input screen.   Now, in reality, unless you have a mortgage balance of greater than $750K the IRS does not care how many 1098 forms you have from multiple lenders if the mortgages are secured on the property...so just lump all the interest paid altogether in to a single entry.   That is the solution but the bug still needs to be fixed or have the data entered in a different way for those who have mortgages of under and above $750K.

[jlbrick]

This topic is still generating several new posts per day.  Why not fix the bug instead of needing to use so many moderation resources to tell people about the workaround?

[dwinig]

I'm sorry Katie but I agree with previous posters.  I just encountered this bug and almost submitted my taxes and would have overpaid by thousands of dollars.  This is a major problem with your software that could have a large financial impact to your customers.  I followed your workaround for now but you are opening yourself up to many disappointed customers.

[ak123]

if we do follow those steps can you answer these questions:

1. Should I check the checkbox under Box1 "The interest amount I entered is different than what's on my 1098" since I add the amount from two 1098 forms.

2.  Which lender name should I use? The original lender name or new lender name?

@Katie_B 

This is a major bug and would cost a lot of money to consumers. A lot of people refinanced in 2020 so this seems like a very common and generic situation which should be handled by the software

[DaveF1006]

It depends. The answer to your question is no. You will not check the checkbox saying that the interest has changed.. As far as the lender goes, you can enter the name of the first lender. IRS is not concerned about who the lender is but more concerned about the combined mortgage interest amounts and the present mortgage balance. The lender's name does not get entered on any forms sent to the IRS.

[rjansenLB]

Hi @Katie_B , @DaveF1006 ,

The article https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/loans/help/what-do-i-do-if-i-have-multiple-1098s-from-refinancing-... is unclear - should we only be submitting a single 1098 into the program instead of the two 1098s we received from the lenders with the values calculated as described in the article?

Thanks!

[DaveF1006]

Yes, it is acceptable to combine the 1098's into the program.  You could also enter both but don't enter a mortgage balance for the second 1098. Either method is acceptable.

[ak123]

FYI: If you do enter 0 for balance in the first 1098, then during the review stage, there is an error: "Beginning principal must be entered" so I am going to go with combining both into a single entry

[DaveF1006]

Yes, that is the correct way of doing this for now. When you enter a mortgage balance, enter the outstanding mortgage loan balance you currently have.

[bskerr2018]

On the mortgage interest question...think of in terms of what information is actually passed to the IRS in the data file...for 1098's it is only the sum of all mortgage interest declared that is passed, not the lenders names or the individual entries if you have multiple loans..so combining them is fine, the IRS does not care.   For limitations on deductible interest if you have a super-large mortgage, again the IRS does not care if you have a loan balance less than $750K....in fact, Turbotax gets really confused when you try and enter multiple loans that have been paid off, so again, a single entry solves the problem....for loans over $750K you have to actually go to the mortgage worksheets to see what you are eligible to deduct....might be worth getting extra help on that as it can be complicated.

[myob1]

This is a legitimate bug and needs to be fixed. WHY is Intuit not fixing it? The workaround mentioned is actually asking us to enter just one lender's information. And that is not sufficient. Can you escalate this issue to your development team and get the actual fix out?