Sched D or Qual/Div to calculate taxes - TT is ambiguous

[rvhatcher]

The TT help section says that if you have unrecaptured 1250 gains to use Sched D.  But line 22 of Sched D says if you have qualified dividends to use the Qual/Div worksheet to calculate taxes.

I have both and TT does not have a check in line 22 which asks if you have qualified dividends.

[JulieS · Accepted solution]

Yes, it seems contradictory, until you read line 20 completely. 

When you have unrecaptured 1250 gains, the total shows on line 19 of Schedule D. Line 20 refers to lines 18 and 19, asking if both are blank. When you answer No, you are directed to skip lines 21 and 22 and use the Schedule D worksheet to calculate your tax. 

[rvhatcher]

I see that now, and I guess I wasn't reading that closely.  I'm glad you were paying attention!

Interesting, I did a spreadsheet for the QualDiv/CapGain and it shows about $250 MORE in taxes than the Sched D tax worksheet.  Strange that $33 of unrecaptured gains saves me that amount of money.