TurboTax Form 7203 Error Message says Lines 35-46 must be positive but IRS instructions say negative

[MiamiBluebird]

IRS Form 7203 Part III. Shareholder Allowable Loss and Deduction Items

The instructions on the form clearly state "Enter only negative values (loss) on lines 35 - 46".  TT correctly allows negative values and appears to calculate updated basis correctly, but when attempting to file TT throws an error message saying these amounts must be positive. If you change the amounts to positive the carryforward basis is reduced by double the loss!  

Is there a way to report a suspected bug to TT? 

[JamesG1]

Part III Shareholder Allowable Loss and Deduction Items reports an Ordinary business Loss on line 35 but the entry is reported as a positive number.

Ordinary business income is reported on Part I Shareholder Stock Basis on line 3a and is also entered as a positive number.

Entering the Part III loss as a negative number would not correctly calculate stock basis or debt basis.

@MiamiBluebird 

[MiamiBluebird]

Hi James,

Thanks for the reply. I managed to find the problem - I had also entered the loss amount as a non-allowable expense, so it was that which was causing the double reduction in basis. I still think the instructions should be made more clear, since it does say to enter negative amounts for losses! But all good now…

Steve

[Dave_in_Denaud]

When I complete the 7203 from figures from my K-1, I get an error message that says "Line 3g cannot have a gain in Part 1 and a loss in Part 3"   This makes no sense. The instruction for line 3g reads "Net capital gains (enter losses in part 3)  My net capital gains reported on the K-1 are $39,318 from line 8a on the K-1. However, there were losses on the K-1 of "ordinary business income" of -$22,954, a "net rental real estate income" of -$331, a "net short term capital gain" of -$16,319. So, yes, there CAN be "gains" in Part 1 at the same time there are "losses" in Part 3. By definition on the 7203 form itself, Part 3 is for "...Loss and Deduction Items". It seems that each year there are more mistakes in how Turbo Tax is calculating K-1 and related forms.