ESPP Data Entry Bug on Second Transaction

Hey.  This is definitely a TT bug (and it really bothers me that TT shipped a product and hasn't yet fixed such a basic issue).  Having similar issues (there is a thread discussing some work arounds, like recording each ESPP sale in a "separate" Brokerage account).

For me I found it works to switch between Step-by-Step view and Forms view part way through the process (I posted it here: https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/investments-and-rental-properties/discussion/re-espp-rsu-issues-on-turbo-tax-2020/01/1923945#M62154 ).

"Here is the what I found as a work around. I switch between the Step-by-Step view and the Forms view.
Initially populate the share sale data from 1099-B in Step-by-Step view.
When you get to the the Tell us about the ESPP sale screen, select the employer, click next. It brings you to the "OK, we just need a few more details" screen. Switch into the form view (from that point on don't use the Step-by-step interface for the sale). Manually fill out the Employee Stock Transaction Worksheet with data from your form 3922 for this particular transaction. You should scroll down a little bit and confirm you see the correct Compensation Income in that sheet once you fill out the info.

Switch back to Step-by-Step view. Click on some tab like "Personal Info" (so that you don't proceed through the Step-by-Step for the transaction. Then you can go again to the Federal Taxes/Stock Sales/brokerage screen, "Edit" the transaction you just entered, click through "Next/Done/Continue" (without changing any of the data), until you get to the screen where it says "Here are the ESPP purchase lots we have so far", and it should have the correct info associated with that sale. At least this convoluted process works for me.
Now repeat the process for the next ESPP sale."

Thanks for the pointer on that; I ended up working around it by entering it as if it was a different brokerage account that worked.  All the numbers calculated matched my W2 at the end so I'm assuming it all worked right. 

One note for others I did not find any issues with RSU entry I was able to enter a bunch of RSU transactions under a single account with no issue so looks like this just impacts ESPP.

I encountered this same problem.  I ended up deleting all the entries and starting over but using the mode where you fill in all the numbers.  When I was done, it was still showing too large of a capital gain - it tells me that it has adjusted my basis by the bargain element (which was included in my W2) but what it puts into schedule D is still *wrong*.

So, I'm seeing two bugs: Second pass through still shows info from the first sale and even if you get everything in properly (manually) it will tell you your basis was adjusted but it was not.

I think the best I can do - since basis was not reported - is to calculate this entirely myself and enter the corrected basis and ignore treating it as a sale of Employee Stock.

This has worked so well for years - I wonder why they broke it for 2020?

Yep, I'm seeing this issue on my side as well. Please fix this TurboTax.

I tried entering in using teksplorers workaround, but by the time I finished entering a few RSU transactions and went back, it had the totals switched up again.  This is a BAD software DEFECT and needs addresses ASAP

Just enter in each transaction as a different brokerage:

Charles Schwab 1,

Charles Schwab 2.....

That seemed to work for me and is probably a bit simpler.

But fully agree this is a bad bug that should be fixed.  I've also used this for years and this is the first year I've seen this broken.

You are correct! I have the same issue this morning. I sent email to them.......

I found the same bug.  It's easy to reproduce.  I've sent feedback to TT.  Hopefully they will fix the issue ASAP.

Team, I ran into the same issue and finally figured out to ditch all of the individually downloaded ESPP transactions from my brokerage, and simply enter 1 TOTAL transaction (all total ESPP shares for the year).  Inside of the step-by-step for this 1 transaction you will find a screen where you can enter individual "Lots" of ESPP sales, and use step-by-step for each Lot.  This worked fine and I entered each individual transaction as a different lot.  For some reason, TT has only allowed 1 table entry for all ESPP transactions.

I don't know if this is allowed under IRS rules (not an accountant here or tax expert), because you are now combining multiple transactions into one on Form 8949.   Since the transactions have different cost basis (which is getting adjusted) and different sale / acquire dates, I think they have to be individually listed on Form 8949.

That's a good point.  In my case I only had 1 sale date for the year, and sold multiple tranches of ESPP shares previously purchased in years past on a single day at the same selling price.  For date acquired, I used the "Various" date and was able to enter all of the requisite info.  I agree that this would not work with multiple sales in the year, and then you should probably use the trick I found in another thread of entering each transaction using a different brokerage name ("Charles Schwab1, Charles Schwab2, etc.") which also seems to get around the bug.  Thank you for pointing this out!

I also ran into this problem and had to use one of the workarounds. I was curious if the latest program update (dated 2/17/2021) may have fixed this, and I tested it out on a backup of my file...but unfortauntely it looks like the bug is still there and it's still grabbing/populating the data from the first ESPP entry when working on the second, and ending up with a $0 cost bais for the second entry. :(

I had exactly the same issue.

TT asks a question that are both poorly worded for anyone who had more than one ESPP purchase period in the year.

I had two ESPP purchases and sales. When entering information for each sale separately, TT asked "Did you buy all this stock at the same time", and I answered "yes" because the stock in that sale was all purchased in one lot. But if you do that, the answers you give will apply to *all* stock sales, not just the sale that you're entering.

The new ESPP workflow is very misleading in a way that is likely to cause people to be double-taxed (or worse) for their ESPP ordinary income, and is worse than 2019 when you simply had to know how to calculate the adjusted cost basis yourself.

Please please please fix this Turbo Tax.  Can't believe you released a Premier product that does not work for one of the main reasons why I purchased it!

I've been tearing my hair out over multiple days on this.  Not happy at all with the product.

I was able to get my transactions in.  I took a tip from one of the other users and created a new brokerage firm for each of my other transactions (I called them ETrade1 and ETrade2) and entered the info on my own.  If you have had ESPP transactions in prior years, you might be familiar with where all the info comes from.  Luckily I only had three transactions in total so this was not too bad.  But still, it is pretty outrageous that TurboTax can let a bug like this exist.  Every year I swear I'll never use TurboTax again, maybe next year I will switch finally.  Good luck.

Yes this exact thing was driving me nuts this afternoon! Does TurboTax take note from this forum, or does it need to be reported elsewhere? I can try the work around, but really we shouldn't have to jump through all those hoops! 

Definitely a TT bug.  Please update as the ESPP stays with the previous transaction and not with the current transaction.

Agreed, that both this needs to be fixed and error with cost basis calculated as zero.

I just came across the same bug. It is definitely TT error. While it is nice of you to offer a work around, I sure hope TurboTax staff is monitoring this and acts quickly to have this error fixed.

To all who are encountering this error, please go to Help tab on your TurboTax and then click on "Tell Us What You Think" and provide the error description and request immediate fix. This is a serious bug and it erodes confidence in their entire SW. I hope they take this seriously and fix and TEST THE **bleep** THING before putting it out again!

When I'm getting my stimulus

I just fired up Turbo Tax this morning, saw that it downloaded updates, and I now see that ESPP is being calculated correctly.  Ready to file!

Looks like yesterday's update fixed the issue.  It seems to be working now.