TurboTax won't fill 2441 line 13 from 2021 carry over to 2022

[dan971]

I used online turbotax in 2021 and am using online turbotax 2022.

In 2021, my dependent care FSA was not used and instead carried over (2021 from 2441 line 14 shows ($10500)). It should be carried over into 2022 form 2441 line 13.

In 2022, I did not contribute to a dependent care FSA, so W-2 box 10 is 0. In 2022, I did pay for dependent care but my spouse did not work so I believe that carry over from 2021 needs to be counted as a taxable benefit, line 26 and 1040 line 1e to add back to my income when figuring 2022 tax.

However, turbotax is not generating a 2022 form 2441 at all, let alone entering the carry over from 2021 to 2022.

If I place $1 in box 10, I can get turbotax to generate a 2441, but still it does not fill the carry over into line 13.

This seems like a bug in turbotax. How can I workaround it?

[dan971]

TurboTax should fill 2441 if either W-2 box 10 is filled or if there is a carry over from 2021 form 2441, but it does not ask about the latter. Please fix this issue so we can file our taxes correctly.

[BillM223]

I believe that TurboTax asks you if you paid for any expenses for 2021 in 2022.

Yes, in the Online interview, there is a screen "Any carryovers from 2020 or 2021 used in 2022?" on which you can enter the carryover.

Oddly enough I had to enter the Dependent Care interview to get this screen to appear. 

On your other issue, yes, if you have no entry in box 10, you have to manually navigate (see above) to the Dependent Care Credit to enter this section - it won't do it automatically. Go to Deductions & Credits -> Dependent Care Credit to start the interview.

[dan971]

The Dependent Care Credit interview doesn't ask me that. It simply asks whether either of us were disabled or full time students, and when I answer "none of the above", it states "It turns out you don't qualify for the Child and Dependent Care credit for 2022" and exits the interview. I think because my spouse ended up not working in 2022 and so we don't qualify, yet we need to report the income deposited in the FSA as taxable income and so need to complete form 2441.

Is there a way I can get the interview to continue so that I can get into the carryover screen?

[BillM223]

Ask your employer if your FSA amount can carry over to 2023. If so, then I don't believe you need to report this carryover until your 2023 return. In this case, you would need to spend that care money by March 15th 2023 (or whatever the plan allows). Note this is up to employer, by default, the IRS does not allow a carryover.

[dan971]

No, it was extended until Dec 31, 2022 only.  They allowed me to withdraw the money because we did have childcare expenses however those funds should be counted as taxable benefits (2441 line 26, 1040 line 1e) because the income of spouse was $0. But I can't get TurboTax to fill the 2441.

Could you please give me more details on how to get to the "Any carryovers from 2020 or 2021 used in 2022?" question? If I could fill that in, it seems like things might work.

[BillM223]

Sorry, I meant to type that I had to enter the Dependent Care interview twice to get the screen to show up in the interview. 

I went to Deductions & Credits->Dependent Care Credit, answered YES to "Do you want to review your child and dependent care credit information?". I then clicked Done on both the expenses for dependents, and for what I have spent on care providers. 

Then I was asked if I paid for any 2021 care in 2022 (no), then, at last, I see "Any carryovers from 2020 or 2021 used in 2022?". 

Like I said (or meant to), the odd thing was that I had to go into the interview twice to get all the screens to appear.

[dan971]

No matter how many times I click through the Dependent Care Credit interview, it ends immediately after I mark "None of the above" to the student/disabled question that shows first. I can't even add expenses.

[BillM223]

Sorry, I have several of these conversations ongoing. No, if your spouse did not work, as you know, you don't qualify for the credit and as you see, you can't even go through the interview.

You might try indicating that she was a full-time student and seeing how far you get. I am hoping that you can get into the interview fully, enter the carryover, then have it declared as income. However, if you made any expenses, then it might not work the way we want because it might honor them.

[dan971]

Marking spouse as a full-time student does not get me further through the interview.

However, marking full-time student AND putting a nominal value in W-2 box 10 does allow me to complete the interview. But, then 2441 is not right because it wants to give the "student" $1250 of earned income, and that becomes both excluded benefit (incorrectly lowering the taxable benefit) and providing an incorrect credit on line 11. 

So, it seems turbotax is doesn't trigger the Dependent Care FSA questions without box 10. But even with box 10 set to $1, I can't compete the interview to enter carry over without claiming spouse is a student, which won't work due to the student/disabled income allowance that provides.

[BillM223]

OK, are you using the CD/download software? If so, it sounds like you will need to go into Forms mode and mark the 2441 the way you want it to be. Understand that overrides may cause the return to be unable to be e-filed. At least, you can undo the changes caused by the $1 entry and stating that your spouse was a student.

Sadly, this is likely a side effect the nearly constant changes in tax law in the last three years, many well after the end of each tax year. Hopefully, if the avalanche of Tax Code changes slows, the software can be helped.

One last thought - if indeed you have the CD/download software, you might try removing the entries for the $1 and the student. Then go into Forms mode and at the top of the Forms list on the left, click on Open Form (next to Errors). type in 2441, and see if you can double click on what comes up. I am hoping that an empty 2441 is brought up. This may be easier to work on than removing the entries that you entered to get here otherwise.

[dan971]

No, I am using online version. Is there a way to get to the forms in the online version? I've already paid for it because I needed to be able to see the forms to double check it before filling, which is how I caught this error.

[dan971 · Accepted solution]

I found that if after entering $1 in box 10, checking student, going through the questionnaire twice and adding the carry over FSA amount, then I could go back into the Dependent Care Credit questionnaire, and uncheck the student. TurboTax online then kicks me out of the Dependent Care questionnaire immediately, HOWEVER, it does not delete the info I entered, and it recomputes 2441 as I want (except for $1 on line 12). It preserves the carry over on line 13, as desired, and recomputes the credit and taxable benefit using $0 as the spouses earned income, as desired. And it adds the carry over (plus the fake box 10 $1) correctly to 1040 line 1e.

So, finally, everything looks correct (except off by $1 income, but if I try to undo that, then TurboTax deletes my 2441) and I can pay the tax on the carry over dependent care FSA benefit. Hopefully the IRS won't care about the $1 inconsistency, but I guess it should be okay since it is an extra $1 of reported income.

While I agree with you that the tax laws have changed drastically and quickly in the past three years, that is what we customers pay TurboTax for: to keep its software up to date with respect to tax laws. It's unfortunate that we hit so many problems with TurboTax (I seem to hit one of these oddities each year).

[BillM223]

Yes, the IRS won't care a whole lot about $1, and they understand having to make workarounds in tax software.

I am glad you have arrived at a decent place.