Form 1116 Schedule B is not a/v this year for e-filing (for foreign tax credit carryover to next year)

[pruizjunco]

In the same boat here. It's extremely frustrating since this form was available for e-file last year. Is there a way to file a bug with TurboTax and request they add it for this tax season? From the responses on this thread it seems like a common problem.

[Anonymous]

@pruizjunco 

No, the form was not available to e-file last year - it didn't even EXIST last year. Schedule B of Form 1116 is new and it is THE IRS that can't accept the form via e-file, not TurboTax.  They didn't publish the form until after the e-file system was programmed for the year.  Since it's a brand new form, it isn't a simple thing to just pop it in the system (on either end).  

[pruizjunco]

Good point, I re-checked my tax return from last year and it was reported as "Foreign Tax Credit Carryover Statement," not a separate schedule.

[crsimon53]

Thanks for this comprehensive response and for giving us a little hope that there is a solution for 2021.  This is probably an unfair question but asking anyway - what do you think the chances are that we will have an efile formB by middle of March?  Given all the options, waiting until middle of March to EFILE seems to be the only acceptable one.  All the others either costs us $$$$, costs us headaches or a possible IRS audit.  So if you had to put money on the middle of March "non-promise" what are the odds?

Thank you.

[Daffodill]

I just noticed that you got a call from "the president" with an iffy statement that efiling might be available for Schedul B. Today on March 7, I just spoke to TT help on the phone and asked to be connected to a supervisor. I was told that there will be no e-filing available for Form 1116 Schedule B.  This is what it says on the Forms Availability page. The supervisor only gave me the workaround to delete the whole Form 1116, go ahead and e-file, without the foreign tax credit, and then file an amendment with Form 1116 by mail after it is available to print.  This is not satisfactory at all. I have been told that FreeTaxUSA has this new Schedule B available to e-file.

[marcuscato]

Yes, as I said before, it was a lady from the "Office of the president", NOT the president himself/herself. I got the call after complaining on Twitter. As I mentioned in my post, there are NO guarantees, given "formally" on the website it says that Form 1116, Sch B won't be supported for e-filing. I am guessing if you just call the customer service line, you will be given the "formal" response, given they do not want to give you false hopes. The choice is yours - you can wait until Mar 16th and see what happens, or file sooner w/ deleted/adjusted-for-zero-carryover 1116 form or itemized deductions, and amend later, as you mentioned.

[DianeW777]

Form 1116 Sch B, Foreign Tax Carryover Reconciliation Schedule will be available on March 17, 2022, it is not supported for e-file.  It is not recommended to file an incorrect return and then do an amendment.  This will slow down the process of completing your tax return when considering how backlogged the IRS is right now.

• When will federal forms be available?

Schedule B (Form 1116) is used to reconcile your prior year foreign tax carryover with your current year foreign tax carryover. Taxpayers are therefore reporting running balances of their foreign tax carryovers showing all activity since the filing of their prior year income tax return.

@crsimon53

@Daffodill

[Edited: 03/07/2022 | 10:32a PST]

[marcuscato]

@crsimon53 No problem, I understand your worries. I don't know the odds of TT meeting the Mar 16th deadline - the lady from the "Office of President" said the engineering team is "aware of the issues given multiple complaints through customer service, social media etc" and they are "working as hard as they can to get the e-filing of form 1116, Sch B supported". So, all I can say is that there is a "non-insignificant" chance of the deadline being met. If you can bear to wait until around Mar 16th (plus N number of days as a buffer), I would do that. Note though, that given the deadline is mid-April, if TT does not deliver on the deadline or forgoes supporting the e-filing of the form entirely, then you must be ready to pivot to a different software/CPA, or forgo the FTC carryover part, or just file w/ TT w/ itemized deduction of foreign tax and amend later to get FTC. If it helps, the amendment is an easy process w/ TT. TT does not charge a fee w/ amendment. However, I am not sure if the amendment would hit any glitches, given it is still a new form. I have been through one amendment process w/ TT and it was smooth and free, though it was resulting from a corrected W2 which is pretty common. Hope this helps a bit!

[marcuscato]

 @DianeW777

how sure are you about the e-filing not being supported for Form 1116, Sch B? I was told by a lady at the "Office of President" that the e-filing of Form 1116, Sch B,  will be supported on Mar 16th (soft deadline; no guarantees). Are you saying TT is now forgoing this effort? Most people would rather just file, get the part of the refund (or pay their owed taxes), amend later (only after the original return has been processed and paid-out/refunded), than MAIL the original return in. What if the mail is lost and IRS never tells us? In case we owe money, we will be charged w/ penalties & interest. Also, the backlog is even more severe w/ mailing - paper returns are just sitting in trucks from last year. At least w/the amendment approach we get the refund of non-foreign income taxes back sooner. Amendment only delays getting the FTC which in most cases, is smaller part of the refund.

[crsimon53]

@DianeW777 Your response is not helpful and a bit tone deaf.  You've told us what we can't or shouldn't do and have not suggested a route that will work.  So what is your advice for working around this TT failure?

[marcuscato]

Hi all,  Just FYI, I sent this email just now to the "Office of President" at Intuit:

"I saw a post from a Turbo Tax Employee Tax Expert that said that Form 1116 Sch B, even though available after Mar 17th, will not be ready for e-filing. You had informed me that your engineering team is trying to support the e-filing as well around Mar 16th/17th. Has TT cancelled the attempt to support Form 1116, Sch B for e-filing? Pls let me know.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/taxes/discussion/re-form-1116-schedule-b-is-not-a-v-this-year-for-...

"

cc @crsimon53 @Daffodill @DianeW777 @Anonymous @pruizjunco 

[Daffodill]

@DianeW777 

@marcuscato 

@crsimon53 

Appreciate DianeW77 pointing out it's not a good idea to file a wrong return and amendment. I tend to agree, however there's still no good solution.  I do have carryforward balances which I don't want to lose by creating confusion. That's why I mentioned, I was told FreeTaxUSA has this form available to efile. I will look into it.

[marcuscato]

Yes, thanks @DianeW777  for the post. If you can help us out with some more info, it would be beneficial.

Others, if you wish to get some more tips on how to deal w/ the frustration aspect of this situation, I can try a non-conventional response. But before I post that, I want to make sure if this is useful - perhaps you are not as frustrated.

[crsimon53]

@marcuscato I think the level of frustration around this is quite high and any advice you can give is appreciated.  Thanks so much for your continued efforts on this.

[crsimon53]

Found this in another thread.  It was dated Saturday.

My name is Dana with Intuit's Office of the President. We received your email and I wanted to provide you with the most current information Intuit TurboTax has about Form 1116 Schedule B – Foreign Tax Carryover Reconciliation Schedule. After further investigation, our Product Specialist was able to confirm that you will be able to E-File with the 1116 schedule B attached as a PDF, once that form is finalized. I apologize for any miscommunication earlier, as it was unclear if this form was going to be able to be E-Filed or not. Form 1116 is final; the schedule B is set for tentatively 3/31. However, our Development Team is working around the clock to try to get the form out ASAP.

Now, what I'm unsure of, is how can I e-file AND send in a pdf file of one form?  It may end up being similar to amending a form?  Send it in, separately after my taxes are filed?  (Certified mail to track)
Fortunately for me (not really) I've got to pay this year, so it doesn't bother me to send in paper later... But I prefer to e-file, due to all the IRS issues.
I did also check out alternatives -- On Line Taxes (OLT) and they DO NOT offer importing from Brokerages, but support 1116 with Schedule B.
Also, TaxAct supports 1116 Schedule B and Importing data. It may be time to switch tax software providers.