I'm seeing so many issues with TurboTax Premier 202 that I'll need to look for an alternative next year.
I was simply inputting the data from our 1098 mortgage interest statement.
Following the step-by-step method, the program first asks for input of Boxes 1, 2, 3, and 5.
That's great, for starters. Enter your mortgage interest and watch the tax you owe reduced.
It then has a line for Box 7 checked?
Mine is not, but Form 1098, box 7, also includes this:
If address of property securing mortgage is the same as PAYER'S/BORROWER'S address, the box is checked, OR the address or description is entered in box 8.
... well turns out that's pretty critical information, but TurboTax doesn't provide any mechanism for saying that my address is in Box 8. So I unchecked box 7, and watched my interest deduction go away.
It totally ignores Box 8. If you don't check Box 7, it removes the deduction of your mortgage interest, because the address has to be there in order for the loan to be noted as secured by your home!! I knew that was wrong, so I dove into the form to correct it.
But it turns out that the way the step-by-step mode works, instead of asking if there's a box 8, is that you need to continue to the next step, where the program asks if your loan is secured by the property. Check that, and the deduction comes back. Like a yo-yo.
Dumb!
