Form 1116, Lines 12a1 and 12a2

[beerymonte]

It would appear that TurboTax does not populate the values for Line 12a1 "Foreign Earned Income Excluded less associated Deductions” or Line 12a2 “Total Foreign Earned Income”.

Since these values have been calculated elsewhere, this surprises me.

Do I simply directly enter the values TurboTax has calculated elsewhere?

If not, how do I reset the form such that it will self populate?

Thanks,

[SusanY1]

Sometimes the forms do need to be reset as you suggest depending on the order items are entered - hopefully that is the case here as well.   Do makes sure the category of income matches between the two (it sounds like the 1116 income category should be general category income in this case.)

To reset the form using TurboTax online follow these steps:

1. Login to TurboTax.com.
2. Click on Tax Tools in the menu on the left (you may need to first click on Take me to my return or Continue where I left off to see this option.)
3. Click on Tools.
4. In the pop-up menu, click Delete a Form.
5. Scroll to find Form 1116, and click Delete.  This deletes just the form, and not the data that you have entered into TurboTax. 
6. Click on Review in the menu on the left to re-run calculations and then take another look at the form.

If you are using the Desktop/CD version of TurboTax follow these steps:

1. Click on the Forms icon in the upper right of the program.
2. Find Form 1116 in the menu on the left and click to highlight it.
3. Click Delete Form at the bottom of the image of the form.  
4. Click on the Step-by-Step icon (or Easy Step on Mac) to return to the program.
5. Click on the Review tab and run the review to recalculate and repopulate the forms.

[beerymonte]

SusanY1,  Thanks for a very quick reply.

I saved my file and worked on a duplicate file, which may prove to have been a good idea.

I followed your instructions for using the Desktop/CD version.

I use a Mac, so Step 3, for deleting the form was via the main menu, Forms>Remove Form 1116.

However, when I continued with the instructions of Step 4 and 5, the form was not reinstated, nor was it even identified as I did the Review and recalculate.

I really don't want to go through the whole process of reviewing all the income questions to accomplish the evaluation of FEI and then FEIE.

Did I make a mistake following the instructions somewhere?

Or I am stuck reviewing all the information, yet again.  I was hopeful that the comment "deletes the form, but not the data" would be applicable.

Looking forward to additional assistance,

Thanks,

[KarenJ2]

You need to enter the reduction in foreign taxes in the foreign tax credit section of TurboTax.  When going through the screens, you enter the category of income , the country and after a few screens see the screen , Reduction of Foreign Tax.

Enter the amount from line 45 of the Form 2555 in the first box and in the next box enter the number from line 27 of Form 2555.

[beerymonte]

SusanY1,

In an effort to "give back" to the Community, let me explain what I determined was my personally-initiated 'fatal flaw' in implementing your instruction.  Perhaps someone else can benefit from my mistake.

1.  First, it is critical to understand that my issue was related to the worksheet supporting Form 1116 and NOT with Form 1116 itself.

2.  My mistake was that in following the suggested steps above, I deleted Form 1116 rather than the Form 1116 WORKSHEET!  I should have deleted the worksheet.

3.  When I reverted to my saved copy and deleted the WORKSHEET, SusanY1's instructions worked as intended.

Thank you!,

[beerymonte]

KarenJ2,

Thank you for your additional clarity.

After I corrected my mistake in the following of SusanY1's instructions, I reviewed the values from Form 2555 and the values transferred to Form 1116 Worksheet and confirmed they correctly transfer per your advice.

Regards,

[PaulD CPA]

THANK YOU Karen! This worked for me : )

[Adrianimal]

I tried the methods described to reset the form, but to no avail ... it appears I must manually transfer the figures. In fact, it seems that TurboTax is designed to NOT automatically transfer the figures for 12a1 and 12a2 of the Form 1116 Worksheet, as there is a 'plus' symbol in the box to provide supplemental details (suggesting the user must enter the figures) and 'Data Source' is greyed out.

Curious why Turbotax wouldn't automatically transfer line 45 of Form 2555 to the first box (12a1) of Form 1116 Worksheet and line 27 of Form 2555 to the next box (12a2)? Still time for an update?

I'm not exactly a super user, but seems easy enough to implement ... unless I am missing something?

Thanks in advance for feedback.

[AmyC]

Yes, the form is not ready. It has an expected release date of Feb 17. Once the final form is released and incorporated, the program will work correctly.

The state and federal governments approve the most common forms first and work their way down the list. Please see the links for form availability. Once a date shows up, the reality should be close. Once released, Turbo Tax will work quickly to get it working in the program.

Federal form availability

State Forms Availability