Turbo Tax flaw

[DenA5]

I used Turbo Tax to file my 2022 tax return.  It was a little confusing but after I filed I realized that I left out my wife's pension which was just short of $1700.  The original filing showed I had a refund of $574.  The next day I amended the initial filing and added the pension income but after completing the amendment and filing it, it showed that I had an additional $8 coming which didn't make logical sense.  $1700 additional income all other things the same. 

So today I went back to the original filing and selected the amendment feature and went into the income part of the software where I could enter the 1099-R pension and before I entered anything the refund amount suddenly changed from $574 to $404.  That was surprising.  After working through the amendment I looked at what would be filed and the body of the filing showed that instead of getting $574 back I should only get $174.  That made sense, but when I looked at the 1040-X it still indicated that I had $8 additional coming from the IRS.  Looking at line 18 of the 1040-X it had my overpayment from the original filing as $170 instead of $574.  I'm not sure where the $170 came from because it wasn't on the original filing.  If line 18 contained my original refund line would have been $396 that I would still owe which I think is correct with the logic of the comparing the original refund of $574 and the adjusted refund of $174 ($574-$174=$396 owed to the IRS)

So I don't understand the 1040-X logic and especially why the refund indicator at the top center of the program changed before I even did anything to the original return.

[JohnB5677]

We can't see your amended return, but there are some key numbers to focus on.

Please review your 1040-X

Line 1 should increase by the exact amount of your wife's pension.

Line 5 should also increase by the amount of your wife's pension.

Line 11 will reflect the (Column B) Net change to your tax.  Column A should match your original tax return, (Form 1040 line 16).

Line 16 is the amount of what you owed on your original return that you paid when you filed it.

Line 17 This should include all withholdings, credits and payments made with your original return.

If you still can't identify where things went wrong, please reach out again with any additional details.

Please include @JohnB5677 in your post so that I can follow up with you.

[DenA5]

Per your earlier post, no, the only amount in column A that matches my original return is the adjusted gross income.  Every other number in column A is incorrect.

Also, Line 5 will not increase by the amount of my wife's pension because of the limitations of medical deductions which will decrease because my adjusted gross income increases.

When I pencil in the correct values into column A the total tax increases by $396 (which is what I would explect)

Also, the value listed in line 18 is $170 which is not the overpayment on the original overpayment and refund I received.  That value was $574.  If you plug $574 into line 18 it shows that I will owe the IRS $396 which is what I would expect ($574 original, $178 adjusted, which the difference is $396 owed back to the IRS).

That's why I think there is a flaw somewhere in the software. 

[ThomasM125]

If you have a copy of the return you filed, you can compare it to the amended return you are working on to see where the differences are. That may help you understand better what happend. It is possible that the return you filed is the same as the return you are amending now in TurboTax, and the copy you have is not the return that actually got filed. To determine this, you just need to wait until you receive your refund and see which return it agrees with. You should wait until you receive your refund anyways before you file the amended return.

If the return in TurboTax is not the one you filed, you will have to make corrections to get it to back to it's orginal state before you can do the amendement. To do this, you need to cancel the amendment (see that option on your left menu bar) and then indicate that you want to add a state return and that will let you back into the program so you can make your changes. When the return is back to it's original state, then you can do the amendment. 

[DenA5]

After I filed my original return I made a copy of the data file that TurboTax uses and stored it in a different place.  When I filed the amendment I started with a copy of the original return (which listed my original refund at the top center of the program.  As I said that showed that the IRS would owe me an additional $8. 

Then this past week I again went to the original data file to find out if I could see why things didn't match.  Again starting up the program I could see the original results and the refund amount still showed $574 from the original return.  I then proceeded to slowly select the option of amending the return.  The $574 was still showing.  Then I went to the place where I could enter the 1099-R that I left out of the original return and when I selected the update button (still haven't entered any data), all of a sudden the return number changed from $574 to $404.  I then completed entering the 1099-R information from my wife's pension and when I was through entering that information the return number showed a $-8 and when I printed out the 1040-X pages I noticed (like I had noticed on the first attempt) that except for the the Adjusted Gross Income, all the other numbers in column a of the 1040-X were not the same as on my original return.  Also, on line 18 where it lists the amount of overpayment from the original return instead of showing $574 it listed $170. 

So now I've taken the 1040-X page and revised column A and B based on the numbers from my original return and when I do that the number in column B on line 11 of  the 1040-X shows a $396 of additional tax owed. 

If you plug the original overpayment number into line 18 and subtract it from line 17 (which is my tax withheld amount) it should list $10,234.  With that number which is less that the number on line 11, line 20 would equal $396 as an amount I owe the IRS.  $396 is the same as if you look at the refund on the original return vs the refund on the amended return ($574 vs $178) and subtract the Amended from the Original you get $396 owed to the IRS. 

I'm not a novice to filing tax returns or the use of computers and software which is why I believe that something is in error with the program because what is listed in column A of the 1040-X except for the amount on line 1 does not match the original return.  If it did and if line 18 listed the original overpayment amount the amount I owe would logically be the difference in the refunds on the original minus the refund on the amended return.

I believe I owe that amount and could go onto the Direct Pay on the IRS web site but I don't know if they will look at the amended return sent through Turbo Tax and see that it show that I'm owed $8 from the IRS and see that I'm paying back the $396 that I believe I owe and just confuse the matter further.

[RobertB4444]

What no one advised you and should have is that you should not file an amended return until AFTER the IRS has processed the original return.  The IRS has copies of all your 1099s including your wife's pension.  The y very likely would have adjusted your return and just sent you a revised refund.

I'm not sure why the program is showing a bunch of numbers that don't match your original return.  Those changes only make sense if the system thinks you are amending an amended return because it thinks that you have already filed one.  

But at this point you need to stop messing with your 2022 return and et the IRS process what you have sent.  They will have the original return in the system so they will correct the errors on the amended return.  It's going to take a while - the changes in your amended return mean that a human will have to review it - but they'll get it straightened out.  Expect a letter in 6 months or so.

@DenA5 

[DenA5]

What I gleaned from the program is that I could amend the return as soon as it was accepted by the IRS which I saw happen within a short period of time.  I think I waited til the next day thinking that if I did it immediately that they would see that I made and tried to correct the mistake.  I filed the original and amended returns on 3/8 & 3/9 and got the refund of $574 from the IRS on 3/16.  So they didn't adjust my return as mentioned in the above message.

So I'll wait, but at this point in time am really disappointed with TurboTax.  It was somewhat confusing while using it and seemed to give me the wrong information about when I could amend the filing and also jumbled up the numbers on the 1040-X.