Form 8615 Line 15 error - Failure to use Qualified Dividends and Capital Gain Worksheet

[magua1525]

Software calculates Line 15 tax amount using Schedule D Tax Worksheet rather than Qualified Dividends and Capital Gain Worksheet even though lines 18 and 19 of Schedule D are blank contrary to  Form instructions below

If line 14 includes any net capital gain or qualified dividends, use the Qualified Dividends and Capital Gain Tax Worksheet to figure this tax. However, if the child has to file Schedule D and line 18 or line 19 of the child's Schedule D is more than zero, use the Schedule D Tax Worksheet to figure this tax instead. See Pub. 929 for details on how to figure the line 15 tax using the Schedule D Tax Worksheet.

This results in Line 15 tax in circumstances when there should be none.

[KM39]

Schedule D Tax Worksheet *should* result in the same tax as from the Qualified Dividends and Capital Gains Tax Worksheet.  However, there seems to be a bug in line 12 of the Schedule D Tax Worksheet:

Line 12 is not treating a blank in line 11 as a zero.  Line 12 is the smaller of line 9 or line 11, but the value from line 9 is picked up instead of the zero from line 11.  

The effect of this bug is that cap gains will be taxed as ordinary income instead of at the cap gains rate of 0%, 15%, etc.  

It would appear that this can be fixed by overriding the blank line 11 with 0 (zero) in the Schedule D Tax Worksheet when used with Form 8615.  (Unfortunately, electronic filing may balk.)

[srstax2020]

How do I override Line 11 on the Schedule D tax worksheet?  Or when will the error be fixed?

[Taxesbyme]

I have the same issue, Schedule D Tax Worksheet for form 8615:  Line 11 is blank but line 12 (smaller of line 9 or line 11) has the amount from line 9.  Isn't zero smaller than any other positive number?  Using the amount from line 9 then makes a tax amount of $96 owed for form 8615, line 15.  If a zero is put in line 11 (an override), then no tax amount is determined for line 15 of form 8615.

I spent hours on the phone with Turbotax, including talking to a supervisor.  All they can tell me is that Turbotax is correct and stands by their calculations... even though two other tax programs I used calculated the tax as $0.  So which is correct, Turbotax or the other programs?

[CapitalClimate]

This was a Turbotax bug.  Line 15 should be 0 in most cases when the child's income is primarily qualified dividends and capital gains and lines 18 and 19 of Schedule D are zero.  This seems to be finally fixed in the latest updates (May 26) to the desktop software.  I had to file for an extension with an overpayment and will now file for a refund of the bogus excess.  Thank you so much Turbotax for delaying this until after the filing deadline while giving us no support for reporting this error.  See this totally wasted Twitter thread:

https://twitter.com/capital_climate/status/[phone number removed]1208839