Recommended way to import updated 1099

[Don-TT]

From time to time Financial Institutions will issue a revised 1099 packet, which could include 1099-INT, 1099-DIV, 1099-MISC, or others. If I have already imported the original 1099 in Turbo Tax, what is the recommended way to handle the revised 1099 - do I "remove the imported data" under the File Menu, reimport the new 1099, and go thru the Q&A/update process all over? Or is there a more efficient way to handle this?

[JamesG1]

If your financial institution revises your 1099 information, you should expect the download of the revised information to override the information that is in your tax return today.  Any detailed updating of this information that was done by hand will be lost.

If you are using a Desktop version, you have the option of saving a copy of today's tax return.  Then, you would be able to compare the first version with the revised version to see how material the changes were to your income tax return.  Or retrieve the original version and start over again should the need arise.

These options are not available using the Online versions.

I would compare the original paper copies to the revised paper copies to get a sense of the magnitude of the changes that I should expect to see.  Then  I would use the method of handling the revisions that make the most sense to me in managing my tax data.

[Don-TT]

Thank you @JamesG1 for such a comprehensive answer. I am on the desktop version. So it sounds like, especially if I have no manually entered or modified changes to the 1099, that the easiest is to just import it and let it overwrite the original. I understand that I can save a copy of the tax file before this reimport, and compare changes, or just compare changes looking at the tax forms. When you said, “use the method of handling the revisions that make the most sense to me in managing my tax data”, are you implying that the choices are either reimport and let it overwrite, or if the changes are very minor just update the existing 1099 manually?

Does it sound like I understand what you said?

[DawnC]

That is correct.  You can import the form again, but you may need to delete the original if the 2nd import doesn't overwrite the first one.   Or you can edit the 1099 that was already imported.   The best option will depend on how many changes there are.

And yes, save your tax file before the RE-import and you will want to give it that file a new name, so you end up with different tax files to compare.   

[Don-TT]

Thank you @DawnC for your reply. So sometimes the import overwrites, and sometimes it does not? I guess I just have to look at the list of imports and see if there are two or one? I wonder why it works differently some times?

[aysoref]

@Don-TT @DawnC @JamesG1 Be very careful. As of today, TT Desktop Premier has a serious bug related to data imports. Say you already have two 1099s in your data file. Call them 1099A and 1099B. You already made some changes to 1099A - for example updated a stock's tax basis. Now your  financial institution revises 1099B and you go to import ONLY the revised 1099B again.

As of today TT does not allow you to do this. It will either DELETE the existing 1099A and the existing 1099B, or not import anything.

Lots of discussion in other forums, many people up in arms about this behavior and no fix from TT yet. Several suggestions from TT 'experts' are well intentioned but none of them are relevant or applicable. As of today, the only way is to MANUALLY update the revised 1099B and NOT USE the TT data import a second time.