Teacher (Educator) Expenses Requires Upgrade?

[fredsanders]

I am trying to enter information for the $250 Teacher (Educator) Expenses deduction and it is telling me I need to upgrade to deluxe.  Based on my tax bracket and the fact I don't have other deductions beyond the standard deduction to justify the Deluxe version, it will cost me more to upgrade to deluxe than the additional amount I would get back from the Teacher (Educator) Expenses deduction.  Do I just find a different tax software or is there someway to get the Teacher (Educator) Expenses deduction without paying more than I would get refunded for the deduction?

[JamesG1]

You are not required to claim the Educator deduction when you file your 2021 Federal tax return.

Up to $250 of unreimbursed expenses for educators who work in schools may be deducted on Federal 1040 Schedule 1. 

Federal 1040 Schedule 1 is available on TurboTax online versions Deluxe and above.  See comparison here.

[fredsanders · Accepted solution]

So what you are saying is the options are:

1) Don't take the deduction and use TurboTax Free

2) Upgrade to Deluxe and lose money

3) File my taxes a different way

Just want to make sure those are the only options so I can let other teachers know TurboTax is likely not a good tax software for them to us.

[DaveF1006]

Yes, this is because to claim the educator expense, a Schedule 1 has to be generated so that the expense will be shown as an adjustment to income, thus reducing the amount of taxable income by the amount of the expense. Keep in mind, this was an IRS form change and not a Turbo Tax.

Free returns can be filed if entries can be directly recorded on a 1040 without the need for additional forms such as a Schedule 1.