Form 8958 (Community Property) not included in software e-file?

[DanielV01]

Compare this with your return from last year to see if this looks right or not.  In this public forum we do not have access to your account or tax return.  It may be necessary that if you are not getting the correct figures to file an extension for now, and please call in this experience to our phone customer support service by using the instructions in the following link: How do I contact TurboTax?

[bratrudy]

2022 is the first year I have had to use the Form 8958 for splitting income and expenses in a Community Property state, so the hint really helped me find the form within TurboTax for my mother (94 years old) who is now filing MFS(married, filing separate) instead of a joint return with her second husband this year (for medical reasons).  

There is one trick you need to watch.  If you back up to review other entries in the TT data in the file, be sure to preview your forms to be sure the Form 8958 is there AND that all the data entered is actually there BEFORE you submit the electronic file to the IRS. 

I had backed up to work on some other areas of the tax file data after I had already generated the Form 8958.  One of the choices caused the TTax program to drop the data automatically generated for the primary spouse from the form, leaving only the data I had manually input into the form for the other spouse. 

The problem was the TurboTax program had reset the checkbox near the top of the form in "IMPORTANT:  Are allocated community property amounts reported on this return?" back to "NO," so TTax program had dropped out the data automatically inserted into the form by the program.  It's just a matter of clicking the "YES" checkbox, and the data pops back in along side the data manually input for the "other" spouse filing MFS. 

It's an easy fix, but you have to be aware of the potential for an unexpected change to the form and be cautious and check the Form 8958's entries before you submit to the IRS and then have to do a paper amendment to "fix" the problem. 

[bratrudy]

Follow the previous example from the responses above.  The Form 8958 IS available in the 2022 TurboTax software, but you have to use the "FORMS" button on the upper right, near the top of the page to have the program manually insert the Form 8958 as this form is only needed for people who are filing Married-Filing Separate and live in Community Property states (Texas is one of them, along with several others).   

Also, a word of caution, if you generate and complete the 8958 form in the forms window and then go back to make changes to other parts of your data, BEFORE you submit your taxes electronically, be sure to PREVIEW the forms and make sure that the 8958 form is there AND that all the data is there. 

There are parts of the program that will reset the checkbox near the top of the form back to "NO" in the area for "IMPORTANT:  Are allocated community property amounts reported on this form" (near the top of the form) which will then dropout the primary spouse data from the form automatically inserted by TurboTax, leaving ONLY the data you entered for the secondary spouse, and it also removes the 8958 form from the list of documents to submit for filing.  You just have to click the "YES" checkbox to have the program reinsert the primary spouse's data.  Do a print preview to verify the 8958 form is sandwiched in with you other forms. 

[aliu2023]

I'm having the same exact issue.  The form 5898 is generated and is visible online (desktop version), but when I preview the file using the print option prior to e-file, the form is not included in the output.  

Were you able to find a solution?  Thanks in advance.

[bratrudy]

I was able to electronically file my mother's 2022 taxes without any problems, and the 8958 form was in the "list" available for submission and both print previewed and printed correctly.

I also use the "desktop" version of TurboTax (Premier 2022).  What I found that had caused the problem with the form 8958 NOT being available (after it had already been manually generated from the "FORMS" list and completed)  was a software setting near the top of the form just below the "Spouse's" name with the phrase:  "IMPORTANT:  Are allocated community property amounts reported on this return?"  There are two check boxes next to the "IMPORTANT" question for "yes" or "no" on the right side of the screen.    The checkbox MUST be set to "YES." 

If the checkbox is set to "NO," the TurboTax program "erases" the primary spouse's data from the form 8958 (which is "Column B"), and the TurboTax program also removes the form 8958 from the list of forms available for electronic submission, for "print preview," and the full "print" function.   (If you had already typed in the "Spouse" information -- which is "Column C" numeric data, it will still be in the form.)

To verify the program checkbox settings,

1.  Go back to the "FORMS" page (the "forms" button is on the upper right corner of screen)  to where you originally, manually added the Form 8958  to the tax return. 

2. Scroll down the list of forms in the left column under "FORMS IN MY RETURN."  The form 8958 should already be in the list of forms. 

3. Select the form 8958 to have the form displayed in the right window. 

4.  Review the Yes/No check boxes on the right side of the form, located below the spouse/partner's Social Security Number.   Make sure the check box for YES is selected.

5.  Changing the check box to "YES" will automatically insert labels and numeric information from the current 2022 tax file into Column B of form 8958.

6.  All data previously typed in manually in the first, label column and for the secondary spouse/partner in Column C will still be there.  (If you haven't entered the spouse/partner data yet, you need to insert it now to have the form 8958 completed and ready for filing.)

7.  Do a "File," "Save" to try to be sure changes to the form are saved to the file.

8.  Switch back to the "step-by-step" view (link is near the top, right of the window).

 9.  Go back to the "Print Preview" and check to see that the form 8958 is now in your list of forms available and do a "print preview" to be sure the form displays with all the data for both the primary spouse and the secondary spouse/partner.

10.  BEFORE you click the final "submit" to the IRS, I highly recommend that you double check the list of forms and the print preview to be double sure that the form 8958 is still there and previews all data correctly.   (I had had to go back into areas of the tax file to make some changes.  When I went back to the preview list of forms, the form 8958 was "gone" again, so I had to repeat the correction to the check box and reset it back to "YES" a second time -- which is why you need to double-check the list of forms to be absolutely positive that the form 8958 is still there before you SUBMIT the taxes directly to the IRS.)

I know this is a long explanation, but I tried to be specific in how to make the correction to get the form 8958 to "re-appear" in the list of forms and have the primary spouse's data re-inserted in the form 8958.

Hope this will help.