No Form 6251 on 2021 Return. How to find/figure the "alternative minimum taxable income before exemptions" flagged as error in Smart Check? Should be on Line 4 of 6251.

[eugenewinter620]

When completing my 2022 Return, Smart Check asks: 

"Check This Entry
Capital Loss Carryover Worksheet: Line E - AMT should be entered. Enter zero if none
Line E - AMT [_______]"

The referenced form in TurboTax is Schedule D, the box titled "2021 Capital Loss Information Smart Worksheet". Line E reads: "Alternative minimum taxable income before exemptions. (2021 Form 6251, line 4 .....[________]".

This field should have carried over from 2021 Form 6251. It is blank, as there is no Form 6251 on my 2021 Return. How do I arrive at this figure?  -  Thanks

[JBnumber6]

Did you ever get an answer to this? I have the exact same situation, and am curious as to what you may have found out. Thanks!

[eugenewinter620]

I have not received an answer but believe to have found it myself. Even though TurboTax did not print Form 6251 with my 2021 Return, it was contained within its dataset. So I opened the 2021 Return (with TurboTax 2021) and went to the Forms Tab. There, I searched for and found Form 6251, extracted the "alternative minimum taxable income" from the respective line and inserted it into the required field on Smart Check in TurboTax 2022. I hope this was the right thing to do.  -  Thanks

[JBnumber6]

Thank you very much for responding and for the helpful tip! I will definitely give that a try.

[JBnumber6]

For the record, this approach ended up working for me too. But jeez, what a pain to half to re-download TurboTax 2021 (because I now have a new computer; thankfully Amazon kept my software purchase in their library along with the activation code for reinstalling it). Then you have to install it, then you have to manually open the .tax2021 file, go to view forms, and view form 6251. I noticed that this year's (2022) saved .pdf also doesn't include form 6251 when you save your tax forms to your computer, so I'm doing that manually for this year's taxes to save myself some grief come next year. 

[tomkins]

I have the same issue and even after going back to the previous tax form and trying to print it with all the added options, this form was not included in my 2021 return. Not sure if opening the tax document would be different. How frustrating that they ask you to fill out something they have access to already and don't give you access to it.

[tebright1]

I had this same prompt. Cannot open the tax file as I did it online. Any other solutions? I do not want to buy the software just to get this number needed.

[tylermilner]

I ran into this same issue when filing my 2023 taxes this year. I thought I was in the home stretch and then at the end get hit with this random "Check This Entry" page:

Like you, I was dreading the thought of having to find and purchase the older TurboTax desktop software. Why they didn't already have this info to begin with when I've used TurboTax exclusively for nearly 20 years boggles my mind! 

The post above is correct about needing to use the TurboTax desktop software. Luckily, I found that you can download the older version for free from the TurboTax website:

1. Go to the "Tax Home" area of the TurboTax website, then expand the "Your tax returns & documents" section header mid-way down the page.
2. Select the tax year (2021 for me)
3. Click the button to download the .tax file
4. Expand the "Amend (change) 2021 return" section, then click the "Windows" or "Mac" link below the main "Amend using TurboTax Online" button to download the desktop software
5. Follow the process to enter shipping/billing info and place the order for the TurboTax 2021 desktop software (it will come out to $0.00)
6. You'll wind up with a license code and a download link for the software (Mac for me)
7. Once downloaded, install the TurboTax software on your system
8. Launch TurboTax, enter the license code, and then open the .tax file that you downloaded earlier
9. Select the "Forms" button in the main bar at the top
10. Now select the "Open Form" button in the main bar at the top
11. Search for "6251", select "Form 6251:Alternate Minimum Tax", and then click "Open"
12. Under "Part I", you should see Line 4 - "Alternative minimum taxable income", enter this amount in TurboTax online

I also had to do a similar process for a "Check This Entry" error "Capital Loss Carryover Worksheet: TY22 CLCO Wksht Row B AMT must be entered", this time following the same process to download the TurboTax 2022 desktop software and use the .tax file from my 2022 tax return.

If I didn't know any better, I would say this is an attempt for TurboTax to make things more confusing/complicated for the average user so that they opt in to paying extra for one of their "tax experts" to guide you to the right solution. How considerate!

[tebright1]

Thanks for sharing!

I ended up going on the governments's website to pull last year's docs. Found where my AMT was listed. I'm going to go through your process and pull up my old docs to confirm I entered the correct number.

I think you are right on your statement. Sneaky way to get users to pay for something.