Personal Finance and Investing
In reply to the discussion: Besides TurboTax, who else does taxes online, both Federal and State? [View all]question everything
(49,002 posts)First, my mistake. In previous years one could not print the return until one paid. Which made sense.
So I went ahead and paid which means I cannot restart.
But here are the points:
It started with Form 8606, I could not find it. A specialist told me that this year one had to download and mail it separately... What nonsense. I finally found it.
Next. I downloaded 1099 from my broker which included, in addition to Interest and Dividend and Capital Loss also.. carryover losses. From where? I did not have any. My broker insisted that it did not come from them. A specialist suggested to go to the Tools and delete this carryover loss form. Did not do anything. So I went out, tried again and the third time was the charm - it was not there. Still not clear where it came from.
Next, the 300 loop. The special charity adjustment of $300 can be used only with standard deductions. But with our medical expenses - specifically long term care insurance - it was concluded that we should itemize deductions. So far so good.
But then I was in a loop. "need to take care of one thing" - the screen had the image of that 1040 with Line 10b: enter a value, I was directed. So I entered 300, and.. back in the loop: this box has to be blank. So I deleted it and again, enter a value, no, it has to be blank. Back and forth. I think that I spent more than an hour with two different specialists who could not understand it. Yes, I gave them permission to look at my screen. I finally decided to switch to a standard deduction and - problem solved.
Then the state refund all of a sudden was doubled. I tried to edit it, would not accept it. Finally I just deleted and reentered. Again, the specialist was no help.
And last - really last straw. Specialists cannot view all supporting documents. In this case the Social Security Benefits Worksheet. And I noticed that the taxable benefits were lower than what should have been. Yes, I use Excel Spreadsheet. I found those infamous $300 on Line 6 coming from... Schedule 1 Line 22. Except, Schedule 1 Line 22 is blank! There are no entries in the Part II Adjustments to Income. Where did they get it? I tried to reenter the Social Security benefits, nothing.
And here came my second big mistake: Since I found out that one can delete a from - Carryover Losses - I decided to delete this Worksheet Form and now I was done. Cannot undo it, cannot start again.
I talked with many specialists and in all the cases I resolved the problems with them looking over.
It does not seem that anyone can resolve the issue of starting again after paying. And once a form is deleted, it cannot be undone. So, yes, will forfeit the payment and try someplace else. Yes, my mistakes but still there were so many problems.
Funny, I printed the various returns with all each change. One 1040 has a Standard Deduction but no 300 adjustment. The other has both Itemized Deductions and the 300 adjustment.
Perhaps I was too smart for my own good but when I could not get rid of the carryover loss... and then the 300 loop, everything just went downhill from then.
Thanks for listening.