1098 Needs Review Issue

[jdcornelison]

I keep getting a Needs Review message next to one of my 1098 entries. I have 2 1098s due to my loan being bought by another lender. I've tried the following with no resolution:

• Deleted both 1098s and started over
• Tried adding both 1098s in different orders
• Tried changing all my answers to uncommon situation questions as suggested by a similar bug last year

Is this the same issue that popped up earlier this year? If so, when will it be fixed and is there any way to be notified when it is?

[jdcornelison · Accepted solution]

I think I figured out the issue with this. My first 1098 has Box 2: Outstanding mortgage principal blank so I left it blank on the TurboTax form. After going back in I figured I'd try entering $0.00 and that corrected the issue. However, there was no validation error on that form field to indicate it was incorrect and would let me pass through the form normally. Please consider adding proper form validation to this page to prevent this issue for other users.

[californiacyclist]

I have a similar problem.  Two 1098's from two different loan servicing agents during the same year.  The loan servicing agent changed mid-year resulting in 1098 for each servicing agent for the period they serviced the loan.  The form for the servicing agent who assumed the loan does not have a value in box 2 (left blank).  TurboTax will not accept this field left blank.  So, I entered the year-end value of the loan.  This resulted in TurboTax treating the 1098's as if they reflected two different loans,thereby totaling the values and making it look as if the loan value was double the actual amount.  This causes all kinds of havoc for my state (CA) return information, netting in a refund that was several hundred dollars less than that to which we are entitled.  I'm pretty sure this is a software error that Intuit needs to address - STAT!

[Anonymous]

this is how the IRS says box 2 should be completed

Enter the amount of outstanding principal on the mortgage as of January 1, 2019.  If you originated the mortgage in 2019, enter the mortgage principal as of the date of origination. If you acquired the mortgage in 2019, enter the outstanding mortgage principal as of the date of acquisition.

so the 1098 from the original mortgage servicer is supposed to contain the mortgage balance as of 1/1/19.

the laon servicer that acquire the loan should have entered the mortgage balance as of the date it acquired the loan.   so this is an issue with the second servicer not TT.   

[californiacyclist]

Thanks for your reply... Box 2 reflects the value of the loan at the beginning of the year.  This reporting requirement is the responsibility of the servicing agent on that date.  The Box 2 reporting requirement does not reside with the servicing agent receiving the loan. They are not responsible for reporting this information because they were not servicing the loan at that time.  It is for this reason the new servicing agent leaves this box empty.  TurboTax needs to be written in a way that provides an accommodation for this very common issue.  Short of that happening, I was able to figure out a work-around by switching to the Forms View in TurboTax after completing the Form 1098 values, including leaving the Box 2 value empty <<null>>, but before selecting "continue".  This allowed me to close the Step-by-Step form and continue preparing the return.  I just ignored the results when I ran the "error check".  Hope you find this useful.

[Papascrubs]

They didnt fix it... still screwed up as of march 1st 2020.....  Also in bug .... if you select that your mortgagee was under the amounts specified and you had multiple loans due to refi and being bought.... if you hit the continue button it changes the answer to yes even if it was no..... you can work around this by just clicking on another section on the top.  Had to do taxes twice because of this until I figured it out. 

[Papascrubs]

Yep that is what i did also and Im surprised this has not been addressed....  took over 3 hours to do a simple tax form that normally takes 1

[BobBarb]

Lets review the 2019 Federal Tax form as updated.  Robert  B. Erickson

[BobBarb]

What is a 1098??????  Please provide definition\\\\\\  Bob

[BobBarb]

lets review this form  (1098) before hand.   I should have a refund due for 2019 Fed Tax (and State Tax)  . Bob E.

[BobBarb]

Let me review the Fed Tax report now.  [name removed]

[joshdo_7]

Box 2 is empty on mine, but I know the answer is not $0 if I had to put a number there. Does that matter?

[JamesG1]

The instructions below explain what the provider was expected to provide.  The loan balances are used to determine average mortgage balances to compute the deductibility of mortgage interest.

IRS Form 1098 instructions read as follows:

Box 2. Shows the outstanding principal on the mortgage as of January 1, 2020. If the mortgage originated in 2020, shows the mortgage principal as of the date of origination. If the recipient/lender acquired the loan in 2020, shows the mortgage principal as of the date of acquisition.

Box 3. Shows the date of the mortgage origination.

[j cc]

Same **bleep**, different year. "Needs review" loop. Entering 1098 x 2 for mortgage interest. Would not accept a second 1098. I decided to forgo money and decided to just delete the entry. Thanks Turbotax. Not!

[Cynthiad66]

Well you can amend your return for the missed deduction.  You can amend Free using this same software.  Your issue is an ongoing issue and still being worked on by the IRS.  Once IRS has finalized forms for that deduction, TurboTax can re-program software.  TurboTax cannot just program it's software without collaborating with the IRS>