In 2020's Turbo Tax, for mortgages that have an interest limitation, by either the $750,000 or $1,000,000 limit depending on the date or origination, there is an automatic calculation. However, the interest calculation does not ask about or take into consideration the exception as noted in Publication 936 (or the Code) for mortgages that should qualify for the larger $1M limitation since they originated after 12/15/17 but were in contract before.
"Exception. A taxpayer who enters into a written binding contract before December 15, 2017, to close on the purchase of a principal residence before January 1, 2018, and who purchases such residence before April 1, 2018, is considered to have incurred the home acquisition debt prior to December 16, 2017."
I qualify for the exception. In last year's version, the software asked you if you were limited in your interest deduction to enter the deductible amount. While this may have been hard for some taxpayers ,and I can see why it moved to an automatic calculation, prior year's software provided an avenue to enter the amount. Instead the software has calculated the limit based on the $750K limit because the mortgage originated after 12/16/17, even though the exception was met.
Another benefit of being able to input the interest is that it was easy to multiply limit times my interest rate. The automatic calculator's amount is off $35. Minimal, but still.
