I expected TurboTax to determine whether Married Filing Separately or Jointly was the better option

[Bob4FrenchFries]

This year was my first time using TurboTax, the Desktop version.  The returns have been e-filed and thus there is no urgency for anyone to respond to this question.  That said, when I purchased TurboTax in December 2024 I had the expectation that the product would collect all our information and display the refund/liability scenarios for Federal and State based on Married Filing Jointly versus Married Filing Separately.  Instead, I (apparently) had to work up three different tax returns:

• My wife and I filing jointly
• Me filing separately
• My wife filing separately

I don't understand the need for redundant data entry and I hope I have overlooked some feature which would have saved a lot of extra work.  Please let me know, thanks.

Also on the topic of redundant data entry, I had to reenter the bank information when e-filing each return for a total of 8 times for the bank name, 8 times for the routing number and 8 times for the account number.  I don't mind so much being asked to reenter the info once to confirm the entry, but I do expect software to retain the bank information at least as long as TurboTax Desktop is running, and it should prompt me "Use the previous bank account?"  Instead, I had to enter the bank info for my Federal return, my State return, my wife's Federal turn and my wife's State return.  Two times each due to the confirmation.  This makes for a terrible UX.  Please tell me I overlooked some profile setup where I might have been able to establish that banking information at the outset.

[xmasbaby0 · Accepted solution]

You expected more than the software does.   TurboTax desktop software has forms mode and a "what if" feature that lets you roughly compare MFJ to MFS, but it does not break it all down to little details, and it only splits things 50-50---which might not necessarily be the way you do things if you actually file MFS.  So if you want detailed accurate results you go to the work of preparing the three returns--one MFJ, and two for MFS.

To use the WHAT IF tool:

- Click Forms Icon (upper right of screen) or Ctrl 2 (forms view)

- Click on the Open Form Icon

- In the “Type a form name.” area type What-If (with the dash), click on the name of the worksheet - click on Open Form

- You will see the worksheet on the right side of the screen; enter the information right into the form

- To get back to interview mode - click on the Step-by-Step Icon (upper right of screen) or Ctrl 1