my taxes were rejected for e filing due to Joint Occupancy on form 5695. Does anyone know what this is?

[CatinaT1]

From IRS Instruction for Form 5695:

Joint occupancy.

If you occupied your home jointly with someone, each occupant must complete their own Form 5695. To figure the credit, the maximum qualifying costs that can be taken into account by all occupants for qualified fuel cell property costs is $1,667 for each one-half kilowatt of capacity of the property. The amount allocable to you for qualified fuel cell property costs is the lesser of:

The amount you paid, or

The maximum qualifying cost of the property multiplied by a fraction. The numerator is the amount you paid and the denominator is the total amount paid by you and all other occupants.

These rules don't apply to married individuals filing a joint return.

Example.

Ava owns a house with Bruce where they both reside. In 2024, they installed qualified fuel cell property at a cost of $20,000 with a kilowatt capacity of 5. Ava paid $12,000 towards the cost of the property and Bruce paid the remaining $8,000. The amount to be allocated is $16,670 ($1,667 x 10 (kilowatt capacity x 2)). The amount of cost allocable to Ava is $10,002 ($16,670 x $12,000/$20,000). The amount of cost allocable to Bruce is $6,668 ($16,670 x $8,000/$20,000).

If you have Form 5695 and claiming joint occupancy, the IRS will not be accepting these returns until 3/16/25. You can see this on this IRS site. The language you see below is from Row 39 of the Tax Year 2024 spreadsheet.

Taxpayers claiming Joint Occupancy on Form 5695 will have to file via paper if filing their return before the Form 5695 schema is updated in mid-March. This temporary limitation should only impact a subsection of Form 5695 filers.  For a preview of the TY24 draft form and instructions for Form 5695, please see the Draft tax forms on IRS.gov at https://www.irs.gov/draft-tax-forms. Submission of Forms 5695 that do not claim Joint Occupancy may be e-filed at the start of Processing Year 2025

[don2199]

does joint ccupancy mean husband and wife filing joint return? or if the property has a non spouse joint owner?

[CatinaT1]

If you have Form 5695 and claiming joint occupancy, the IRS will not be accepting these returns until 3/16/25. You can see this on this IRS site. The language you see below is from Row 39 of the Tax Year 2024 spreadsheet.

Taxpayers claiming Joint Occupancy on Form 5695 will have to file via paper if filing their return before the Form 5695 schema is updated in mid-March. This temporary limitation should only impact a subsection of Form 5695 filers.  For a preview of the TY24 draft form and instructions for Form 5695, please see the Draft tax forms on IRS.gov at https://www.irs.gov/draft-tax-forms. Submission of Forms 5695 that do not claim Joint Occupancy may be e-filed at the start of Processing Year 2025

[quressar]

I am married filing jointly so why am I getting this error?

[MarilynG1]

If you're using TurboTax Online, close the program, clear your Cache and Cookies and step through the interview for the Energy Credit again.  

There's a screen near the beginning asking if you 'lived together in the same house'.  Say NO here and this will uncheck the box on Form 5695 for Joint Occupancy  (it's not applicable for Married Filing Jointly). 

Then try Efiling again, and let us know if this doesn't resolve your issue.

@quressar 

[don2199]

What if I am.uaing. the desktop version ?

[MarilynG1]

In TurboTax Desktop, go to Forms at the upper right, then 'Open Form' and type in '5695' in the pop-up window.  Click on the form.

Look at the checkbox at the top of the form when it is displayed, if checked, uncheck it.

@don2199 

[quressar]

It doesn't. If I click that we lived separately it says they can't calculate a credit for married couples living in separate main houses so I can't take the credit.

[MarilynG1]

In the interview, DON'T say you live in separate houses.

TurboTax may be incorrectly checking the box on form 5695, even when you indicate that you lived in the same home.  You have to manually uncheck it directly on the form. 

@quressar 

[gregla1]

I'm running into same issue.  My taxes were rejected on Feb 15, 2025 e-filing due to to same Joint Occupancy message for Form 5695.   TurboTax never flagged the issue prior to submission, and a rejection text was received for Federal Taxes filed.  Message in Check E-file Status tab states that rejected taxes can be "reviewed for errors" and re-filed electronically on or after March 17, 2025.  In my case, I am filing separately in a joint-owned home for credits related to exterior doors, windows, and insulation... all of which I paid for.

How does this issue/delay impact users when initial submission was made, but the deadline for free e-file from TurboTax is Feb 18, 2025?  

[CatinaT1]

You will be able to resubmit. You have filed by the free file date, at this point you are just correcting a reject.

[quressar]

How do I do that on the web app?

[MarilynG1]

In TurboTax Online, close the program, clear your  Cache and Cookies, then return to Home Energy Credits in the Deductions & Credits section.  Click the down arrow to the right of Your Home to display all the topics.

If you're Married Filing Jointly, indicate that you 'lived together in the same home'.

@quressar 

[Laurakayrn]

So I’m filing single and my taxes were rejected related to Joint Occupancy on form 5695. I didn’t select joint occupancy, I guess it is a Turbo Tax error. It says I can’t fix until March 17. When I look at my completed form 5695 I see that the box at the bottom has an “X” on line 32a it says (if the special rule for joint occupants applies, check here and the box has an “X” in it,) so to fix this on March 17 is the only thing I need to do is remove the “X”?