Two zeros get added to an entered number (the number gets multiplied by 100) each time I press the Enter key!

[fa123]

I am reporting  a bug that showed up in Turbotax 2018 or 2019, if memory serves, and still persists even in Turbotax 2020. 

At some point Turbotax people decided they don't want to deal with cents anymore.  Well, that is fine, if the program still allows the user to enter the cents, as in 10.47, and then just round it to 10.00.  But in most (if not all) cases, Turbotax just "expects" the user to enter a whole number, without any cents.  If I type 10.47 for the value of a field and press the Enter key, the number that Turbotax takes for and shows in the field becomes 1,047.00.  Even if I enter 10.00 and press the Enter key, the number for the field becomes 1,000.00.  Worse, as long as the current input field is the same, every time I press the Enter key, Turbotax adds two more zeros to the number.  So, if I type10.47 and press Enter, it becomes 1,047.00; press Enter again, it changes to 104,700.00; press Enter once more and it turns into 10,470,000.00; etc., until finally Turbotax says something like "this number is too large for this field."

It seems like every time I press the Enter key, Turbotax takes whatever the current field contains (e.g., 1,047.00); ignores any decimal point and/or commas that it may contain; considers the result (i.e., 104700), as a new entry for the field; to which it then adds comma separators and a ".00" at the end (104,700.00); and stuffs it back into the field. 

This is clearly a program bug, and it is extremely annoying.  In cases where pressing the Enter key jumps from the current field to the next field, this bug multiplies the content of the current field by 100 before it jumps to the next field.  Thus, simply visiting previously entered data by pressing Enter to skip over the fields, multiplies them by 100, each time!

This bug has been there for at least 2-3 years, but I see no one else having reported it.  I wonder why.

[fa123]

I was asked to add screenshots of this problem.  As I mentioned, this problem occurs in MOST places where I want to enter dollar amounts, but here, I will demonstrate it in a case of adding a Supporting Detail list.

The following screenshot shows I am about to enter the information in a 1099-INT form for some fictitious bank.

Now I right-click to add a Supporting Detail list for Box 1:

I enter "item 1" as Description and hit Return:

Now I enter 10.47 in the Amount field:

And hit the Return key:

As you see, my $10.47 entry has been changed into $1,047.00 just by hitting the Return key.  But it gets worse!  Now I enter "item 2" as description for the nest item:

and enter 20.00 for the amount:

And click on the "close" to close the Supporting Details list to get:

So, my original $10.47 amount for "item 1" was changed to $1,047.00 as we saw in earlier screenshots.  However, that (incorrect) $1,047.00 amount plus the $20.00 that I entered for "item 2" now adds up to not even (incorrect) $1,067.00 by simple rules of arithmetic, but to a total sum of $304,700.00 by the rules of Turbotax arithmetic!!!  Recall that the correct sum of the two amounts that I entered is 10.47 + 20.00 = 30.47.

Now, astonished by having received over $300,000.00 in interest from this bank, I right click again to open the same Supporting Details list.  Before anything is opened, I see the total magically increase once again:

And then the same list opens to show:

which at least does make some bizarre sense (in the sense that both my original entries of 10.47 and 20.00 have been consistently multiplied by 100, only).

But, by just hitting the Return key to skip through the list entries, the numbers in the list get multiplied by 100 once more, as you see for the case of the amount on the first line here:

And clicking on "close" to close the list, multiplies the whole (incorrect) sum by 100 one more time:

Once again, this is just an example.  This same bug shows up in MOST places where I enter a number, whether it is is a Supporting Detail list or other form entries.

[DoninGA]

@fa123 Is your software up to date?  The latest TurboTax for Windows version is 020.000.1654.  Click on Help and then About TurboTax and the Version.

I have the TurboTax 2020 Premier for Windows edition and do not have the problem you have posted.

If your version is up to date then suggest you do a manual update - https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/updating/help/manually-update-turbotax-for-windows-software-basic-...

[fa123]

@DoninGAYes, my software *is* up to date.  It is the Windows Delux version.

As I stated in my original post, this bug showed up a few years ago; I had no problem like this before (I have been using Turbotax for a few decades now).  I've had to VERY carefully work my way around this bug for at least 3 years now with at least three versions of Turbotax (perhaps more).

I am surprised that no one else seems to have reported this bug.

Perhaps this bugs stems from the fact that I have been using Turbotax for much longer than most people and every year have it transfer my data from my previous year returns.  Perhaps there is some incompatibility that was introduced between the internal structures of forms a few years ago and the bug arises out of improper conversion of such internal structures?  I have no clue.  But the bug is real and it has been there for a couple of years in different versions of Turbotax.  

[DoninGA]

@fa123 I too have been using TurboTax in one form or another since about 1989 and all with the desktop software and have never run across this type of problem.

Since this started in prior years have you uninstalled the software for each tax year since it started?  I would try that and also uninstall and then re-install the 2020 software.

Something I have noticed in the last few years is I needed to run the software as an administrator since some of the pages in the program were not responsive until I did that.

Try this if you have not already -

Close the TurboTax program

Right click on the TurboTax icon

Click on Properties

Click on the Compatibility tab

Check the box Run this program as an administrator

Click on Apply and on OK

[DoninGA]

@SteamTrain Do you remember seeing this problem before as is being reported by user @fa123 

[SteamTrain]

Now...that DOES happen if you hit a comma instead of a period for the decimal point

IF you are clearly using a period key...try the keypad decimal point instead

if that doesn't work, then maybe you have your keyboard set to some European format....those folks tend to use commas instead of periods, and periods for the commas....that might be some keyboard format setting you have set up on your computer 

___________________

[SteamTrain]

@fa123   

Ok.....only  some of that happens with commas instead of decimal points.......but that does not explain all of what you see.

$10.47 entered as 10comma47 turning into 1047.00 is the normal behavior of the software, and is entirely an entry error issue...BUT....the added mess of numbers propagating to huge values that you are seeing is just something no one else has ever reported. 

I would start to suspect some computer-specific software/CPU compatibility issue on your computer.....something that might happen to 1 in 1million computers .....but in 20 some years of using TTX, I have never seen anyone report anything other than the simple comma-vs-decimal entry mistake.

Time to try installing TTX  on an entirely different computer?

[fa123]

@DoninGAI did uninstall previous year versions and reinstall the 2020 version again.  I also made sure it runs as administrator.  No difference.  Same thing happens again.

@SteamTrainNo, this is not a comma vs period issue.  As you see in my screenshots I actually enter a period not a comma for the decimal point.  I use a US keyboard and my PC is a Dell XPS desktop, with Intel i5 CPU and US English settings, running up-to-date Windows 10 Home edition.

I also do not buy the software/CPU specific compatibility explanation.  This happens only in Turbotax and only for many but not all numeric fields.  There simply is not enough consistency to this bug to be attributed to anything other than a bug in Turbotax that was introduced a few years back when they decided to round dollar amounts to nearest whole dollar.

As for another PC, last year I started my 2019 on my laptop (a Dell XPS, Intel i7 CPU, Windows 10 Enterprise) because I was away from my desktop, and I had the same issue there, as well.

We have a REAL BUG in Turbotax software here.  Now there are three things Turbotax and the community can do about it: (1) pretend this is not a Turbotax issue and try to blame it on something or someone else; (2) find work-arounds  to live with it; or (3) take it seriously as a bug in Turbotax software and assign programming resources to find its cause and resolve it.  Personally, I don't care for engaging with the first alternative.  I have silently put up with the inconvenience of the second alternative doing my taxes with Turbotax for a couple of years now, including 2020.  I think it is about time Turbotax engaged in the third alternative.

The fact that in 20 some years you have not encountered anyone reporting something like this does not make this issue any less of a bug or its impact any less significant.  As I said, this bug showed up only a few years ago (not decades ago), and I concur with you that no one else seems to have reported it in the past.  Nevertheless, no one knows how many people did actually encounter it in the past few years, but like me just silently found a way to work around it or perhaps even abandoned Turbotax altogether for other alternatives.

If anyone cares, my work-around is simply never enter cents and never skip over entries hitting Return, and ALWAYS check and double check each entry after Turbotax stops churning the latest entry.  A laborious, inconvenient solution, but ... I've kept my fingers crossed for a couple of years hoping for the next version of Turbotax to be revamped enough not to have this bug.  Finally this year, I decided to report it (and I'm sure people realize that properly reporting a bug and following it up is a quite time-consuming effort, actually).

The first thing a software, any software, must make sure it does correctly is that if I enter 10.47 by typing in a "1" a "0" a "." a "4" and a "7" following which I actually see "10.47" on the screen, then 10.47 should remain the value of the field once I hit the Return key, and the value of this field must remain 10.47 no matter how many times I visit it or open and close its containing form/list.  Turbotax software fails this simple basic requirement of correctness!  They better own it up.

[SteamTrain]

I don't know what you expect TTX to own up to if no one else ahs ever reported this particular problem....and some of us "helpers" have gone over hundreds-of-thousands of 'issues" over the years. ....I think you'd have to contact Customer Support and see if they can do anything.  At best they could provide you with an entirely new installation software file. 

Virtually all of use helpers in here (not TTX employees), and virtually all the "CHAMP"s (like Don) use the desktop software with the Supporting Details sheets with no issues like that.  I've tried it on mine six ways from Sunday too, with & without cents, and Carriage returns...etc... nothing like that showing up.  (only one or two helpers bother with the Online software for our own tax files).  

Certainly @DoninGA  can poll the other CHAMPs in their internal communication space to see if any of the other specialists have encountered anything like this.

____________________________________________________

I have little else to offer myself.

Just...make sure you are only creating and working on your tax files on the main system hard disk...not on any flash drive or usb-connected hard drive. 

[fa123]

@SteamTrainI understand the difference between the community and its "helpers" like you, on the one hand, and Turbotax and its employees, on the other.  I also very much appreciate what "Champs" and experienced helpers like you do in the community helping others.  If any text in my message suggested otherwise, I apologize, because that was not al all my intention.

As for what I expect from Turbotax, of course, I do/did not expect them to act on a bug that has not been brought to their attention.  I meant that now that I have reported it, I hope someone from their team takes this seriously enough to look into it.  I would be happy to cooperate and provide as much technical detail as possible to help them zoom on the cause of this bug and fix it.  This is clearly something for their software team, not for community members.

I understand and appreciate all feedback and proposed ideas from you (and @DoninGA).  I know you are merely offering ideas and suggesting things that you think may help based on your past experience.  That said, yes, all my Turbotax installations and files, etc., are and have always been on the main hard disk of the PC, no flash drive or USB connected disk, networked disk, or cloud, etc.  If working with file in such configurations may cause problems, I have never encountered any, because I have never used such configurations.

[DoninGA]

@fa123 Suggest that you contact TurboTax support tomorrow since this is a Sunday and there probably are not any Technical support folks available.

When you speak with an agent make sure that they understand you need technical support and not tax return support.

TurboTax support is open from 5am to 9pm Pacific time, 7 days a week during tax season.

Use this website to contact TurboTax support during business hours - https://support.turbotax.intuit.com/contact/

[fa123]

Oh, BTW, I have not been able to contact the technical support people at Turbotax on the phone.  This is why I tried to report this bug here in detail, so that perhaps someone calls them to pay attention to it.

In the process of reporting a different bug last week (see https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/state-taxes/discussion/re-turbotax-wants-an-outrageous-250-state-e...), I was told to contact their technical support by phone.  I went to the proper link, filled the necessary information, and obtained a support id with a phone number to call.  I called the number several times, but never managed to get through past the phone answering bot to talk to a real human being.

Because of where I am, I have to use VOIP to call them and VOIP connection quality is sometimes not good enough for speech recognition technology.  Most other organizations that use answering phone bots allow you to either speak your response or enter a DTMF tone (as in if ... say ... or press 1. etc.).  They do so exactly because VOIP or otherwise, telecommunication technology sometimes distorts speech enough to befuddle contemporary speech recognition technology and having the DTMF alternative offers people a safer option.   With or without the DTMF option, most organizations program their answering bots such that if it fails n times to understand a caller's selection, it puts the caller in a queue to talk to a human representative.  I wasted close to a total of one hour making several calls to Turbotax support 800-number hoping to manage to get past their answering bot to talk to a human representative.  It kept me in a loop saying it does not understand my selection, never offering me to press any keys, not accepting any of my pressed keys, and I did not manage to "wear it out" to give up and pass me on to a human representative either.  This was an extremely frustrating experience.

As I see it, Turbotax has configured their answering phone bot to discourage complaints.  All I got was a bot that kept me in an endless loop and the best it had to offer was to stuff some canned material into my sms or email.  So, I will not try to initiate a call to Turbotax support to report this (or any other) bug.

[DoninGA]

@fa123 Ok... I will forward this post to one of the TurboTax Moderators of this forum and they may be able to get you to the proper technical personnel.  You probably will not get a response from them until tomorrow or the next day.  They will more than likely send you a Private Message.

[fa123]

Thank you!  I appreciate that.