Form 2555-t: When checking for errors, TurboTax Premier 2019 is saying that Travel - Days in US on Bus can't be zero.

[Andrew0124]

I am using TurboTax Premier 2019. I've been filing using TurboTax all these years and with Physical Presence Test the field for "Number of days in U.S. on business" allowed "ZERO" input. However, this year TurboTax keeps showing error while checking. My trip to U.S. is for vacation not on business. How can we report this bug for TurboTax to fix? Can I simply ignore the errors for e-filing like previous years?

[KarenJ2]

For the input for days of business in the US, leave it blank.  It will not take zero but the calculation will be the same as if you added a zero.

[glovestar]

The solution to leave the field blank works for creating the form but when you go to e-file the return the same error message comes up and it will not let you leave it blank.  So the only alternative is to print the forms and file by mail which is a nuisance.  Is this zero business day restriction an IRS e-filing rule or is it an unnecessary Turbo Tax restriction?

[DMarkM1 · Accepted solution]

So that I can attempt to duplicate would you please go back and verify:

1.  US in top box

2.  Dates in the country (US) next two boxes

3   Number of full days in US in 4th box

4.  No entries in the last two boxes;  delete and backspace several times to ensure no stray spaces

Then finish interview and click "Review."

Describe the error you get please.  

[Andrew0124]

I can't e-file with it blank. Is there a way to reflect this bug to turbotax for a quick update, so that I won't miss the deadline?

[Andrew0124]

I just followed DMarkM1's instructions carefully, especially the 4th bullet points (in the last two boxes, it has to be totally blank). Make sure no "0" in the last box.

With the last box blank (column f), TurboTax doesn't find error of blank column e (how many days in US for business) anymore. I still think it's a bug for TurboTax to design that way. 

However, thanks DMarkM1. I am able to e-file my tax return now. 🙂 

[Andrew0124]

You have to remove the box f (Income earned in U.S. on business (attach computation)). Make sure it's all blank, and then TurboTax will not consider box e blank as error anymore, which means you can e-file your tax return. I just did.

[KarenJ2]

Thank you for your information. You would rarely have an adjustment for  US wages if you had no US business days.

[glovestar]

Thanks DMarkM1 for following up on this.  I decided to not use Turbo Tax for my filing as I could not get around several problems and I needed to file early.  But after I got your reply I opened up Turbo Tax and tried the entries for form 2555 again.  I noticed Turbo Tax did a program update as it came up and the layout of the data entry screen for the physical presence residence is now different.  I had no problem leaving the field blank (just as I did not have a problem the first time around).  The original problem I had was error messages regarding the business days field when I came to efile.  I tried to replicate this to see if the problem was still occurring but I could not as now Turbo Tax is saying I cannot efile for some other reason.  So, I do not know if my original problem is fixed or not.  The bottom line though is that the software needs to be changed so that the number of business days field accepts zero - this is a perfectly valid value for this field.