How do I enter negative interest income?

[obsidianj]

During 2017 a foreign bank charged me for having money in an account. I had negative interest income. TT won't accept a negative number as interest income. How do I enter this?

[MichaelDC · Accepted solution]

Unfortunately, those normal bank fees are not deductible, except for business bank accounts.

However, you can deduct expenses that you pay:

1.      To produce or collect income that must be included in your gross income,

2.      To manage, conserve, or maintain property held for producing such income (such as investments), or

3.      To determine, contest, pay, or claim a refund of any tax.

You can deduct expenses you pay for the purposes in (1) and (2) above only if they are reasonably and closely related to these purposes.

You can claim these Investment Expenses in TurboTax:

• Click on Federal
  
• Click on Deductions and Credits
• Scroll down to Retirement and Investments
• On Other Investment Expenses, click on the start or update button

Note:  The investment-related expenses – along with your other miscellaneous itemized deductions – must exceed two percent of your adjusted gross income (AGI) to be deductible. For example, if your AGI is $50,000, you can deduct only the amount that exceeds $1,000.