resolving what appears to be a bug

[Questionasker]

TurboTax support replied by email that unable to duplicate what appears to be a bug, which I showed support rep on phone call, and she agreed.  ("corrected cost basis" field in the interview section will not accept and update the data entered--it just disappears when keyed in after any other keys pressed, such as "Done" or other actions.  Any advice on how to get this resolved, since the programming team said it worked for them when they tested without the same problem I still have?

(There is no problem doing this when I do in TurboTax 2018.) 

[dmertz]

2019 TurboTax does behave the way you describe when attempting to enter additional details on a stock sale or when trying to make the entry in forms mode on line 7b of the Form 1099-B Worksheet.  I'll pass this along to the moderators of this forum.

[dmertz]

A moderator here has reproduced the symptom and has passed it along to the TurboTax product development team.

[Questionasker]

1) Actually the issue I encountered was by trying to enter any data in the "corrected cost basis" field in "interview" mode (rather than "forms" mode).  (I have read somewhere in the community to not go into forms mode for making changes.)

2) In the meantime I had a call with TurboTax support and the rep said I was having this problem since I was on Windows 7 rather than Windows 10. 

(In all of the TurboTax warnings about Windows 7 support being discontinued by Microsoft next month I still don't read anywhere that says TurboTax won't work correctly on Windows 7.  Although I do understand that I and everyone will need to go to Windows 10 soon. And I do understand that not all TurboTax forms are ready for prime time.  However I was hoping I could do an accurate estimated tax using TurboTax 2019 before year end on Windows 7, since not being able to enter data in that field is the only issue I see wrong.  But maybe TurboTax doesn't want to invest the resources to resolve that issue if it relates to Windows 7?

[dmertz]

The problem occurs in both modes.  In either mode the entry is processed the same way and the result repopulates the field.  Unfortunately, the result of the processing is an inappropriate blank entry.

You got a canned response from the TurboTax rep that does not apply.  This problem has nothing to do with which operating system you have.  It's a problem within TurboTax itself.

What TurboTax has said regarding Windows 7 but has not made clear is that if there is a problem with 2019 TurboTax that traces to the fact that you are using it with Windows 7, there might not be any remedy.  I'm not aware of anyone who has actually encountered a problem with TurboTax that is caused by using it with Windows 7.

As it stands, you probably have not yet received any Form 1099-B with box A or D marked and an incorrect basis indicated, so simply enter the correct basis amount in box 1e for now.  Mark the entry as Estimated.  In cases where the Form 1099-B does not have Box A or D marked you should be entering the actual cost basis in box 1e anyway, not in the box for corrected basis (per the instructions for Form 8949).

[Questionasker]

The issue with not being able to enter data into that field seems to be a bug to me, especially if you also see it  when trying a test (should I assume that you are already on Windows 10?).  I believe the support rep last Friday also was able to duplicate it, however the support rep today said it worked fine when she tried it, and the tech team response prior to that was that they were unable to replicate.

The next step the rep was going to advise was to delete and reinstall (before she thought Windows 7 was the cause.)

I may have to wait until going to Windows 10, and if that is still a problem then continue to request help to resolve, if it is a technical issue.

[dmertz]

Yes, it's a bug; I've agreed with you on that from the beginning.

It has nothing to do with which Windows operating system is being used.  The bug manifests when the current version of 2019 TurboTax, R9, is run in Windows 7 on your machine and in Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 on my machines.  I have to believe that any TurboTax rep that can't reproduce the bug is not testing for it properly.

This bug was introduced with 2019 TurboTax update R8 released on 12/11/2019.

[dmertz]

This bug was fixed in release R10.1 of 2019 TurboTax issued a week ago.

[Questionasker]

Yes, that bug of not being able to enter data into that field has now been resolved in a recent TurboTax update that I downloaded today.  (I am still on Windows 7 for the moment.)