form 8606 is not directly accessible in your downloaded

[arbe]

Your program is in complete charge of when and how much information is required at each stage of the 1040 preparation.  It is incumbent upon you to include form 8606 whenever the classic IRA payments are entered.  It was in the 2022 version, but if in 2023, it is still buried.  I will try again, but more than once I have had to override the canned sequence and force entry of what should be commonplace (just as in 2022).

[dmertz]

With regard to IRA contributions, Form 8606 only reports nondeductible contributions.  A deductible contribution is instead reported on Schedule 1 line 20.

Form 8606 is to be included in the tax return for an individual only if the individual has made a nondeductible traditional IRA contribution for the year, made a traditional IRA distribution (other than a Qualified Charitable Distribution or HSA Funding Distribution) when the individual has basis in nondeductible traditional IRA contributions, performed a Roth conversion or received a nonqualified distribution from a Roth IRA.  If one of these requirements is met, TurboTax will include that individual's Form 8606.  If none of these was done in 2023 TurboTax will properly exclude Form 8606.

If Schedule 1 line 20 is blank and Form 8606 is not preset, it implies that you have not entered a traditional IRA contribution for that individual.

[rjs]

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@arbe wrote:

It is incumbent upon you to include form 8606 whenever the classic IRA payments are entered.

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What do you mean by "classic IRA payments"? Do you mean IRA contributions (putting money into an IRA) or IRA distributions (taking money out of an IRA)? And when you say "classic" do you mean a traditional IRA?

Form 8606 is not required "whenever the classic IRA payments are entered." The most common types of traditional IRA contributions and distributions do not require Form 8606. It is only required in the specific situations that dmertz listed above, generally where current or past nondeductible contributions are involved. TurboTax will automatically include Form 8606 in your tax return if it is required, based on the information that you entered about IRA contributions or distributions.