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From: dave on 30 Mar 2010 23:20
I know that this is primarily a Quicken Forum, but as TurboTax
receives some coverage, I thought I might relate my chat for the
benefit of others.

The chat dialog does not preserve the specific question-- It was to
the effect that TT's calculation of "gross income" on Form 1116 Line
3e incorrectly includes tax-exempt income reported on Form 1040, Line
8b

After a 10 minute wait, the chat began. Please excuse the handful of
typos. I have substituted ME for my name:


You have been connected to 11_Jennifer S.

11_Jennifer S: Thank you, [ME], for contacting TurboTax Consumer
Group, may I have a moment to read your question?

ME: yes

11_Jennifer S: Can you please rephrase your question for me?

ME: What is giving you difficulty?

11_Jennifer S: I don't understand the question. You have some kind of
error on form 1116? Is this in the error check?

11_Jennifer S: I am not showing a response for the last three minutes.
If you transmitted and I have not replied, please resubmit text. If I
do not show a response within the next two minutes, I will close this
chat session.

ME: The error is in TT's calculation. There is a software bug which
causes TT to over-calculate "gross income" on line 3e, resulting in
understatements of the amounts to be calculated on lines 3f, 3g, 6, 7,
and ultimately on line 29

11_Jennifer S: One moment while I pull that form up to take a look.

ME: Why do you not look t the official IRS Instructions?

11_Jennifer S: WE can pull the data source from the forms.

ME: That assumes that the "Data Source" is accurate.

ME: In any event, the data source for line 3e states that is pulling
data from the 2-line TT worksheet. That is where you need to look.

11_Jennifer S: You can adjust the amount on Line B of the Gross Income
From All Sources Smart Worksheet.

ME: TT users trust TT to figure Line A correctly. That is where the
error is.

11_Jennifer S: Line 3 is your gross income from all categories of
income from all sources, both foreign and us gross income means income
without taking into account any deductions or losses.

ME: The official IRS instructions for Form 1116 state, on page 14:

"Line 3e, Enter on line 3e in each column your gross income from all
sources and all categories, both U.S. and foreign. Include any foreign
earned income you have excluded on Form 2555 or Form 2555-EZ but do
not include any other exempt income."

The issue relates to "exempt income"

11_Jennifer S: So, you are showing exempt income being included?

ME: I'm not. TT is. It pulls from lots of lines, incluing among others
lines 7, 8a, 9a, 10 etc etc from Form 1040. It is also pulling
incorrectly amounts on lines 8b.

11_Jennifer S: By you, I mean your return.

11_Jennifer S: To adjust this, you can manually enter the deduction of
the tax exempt amount into the worksheet.

11_Jennifer S: I will make a not of this to our software developers to
create a fix.

ME: Yes, my return, as calculated by TT includes tax-xempt income on
Line A of the TT Form 1116 Worksheet that flows through to Line 3e and
ultimately computes an incorrect amount on line 29.

11_Jennifer S: Your fix for this is to deduct that amount of tax
exempt income in the smart worksheet.

11_Jennifer S: We are continuously updating and creating fixes for
errors that are found in the software. There is not currently a fix
for this error, but I will submit this issue to the developers to look
into.

ME: And what do 1000's of TT users do who have not had the benefit of
our chat?

11_Jennifer S: Is there anything else I can help you with today?

ME: I look forward to an update to my TT

11_Jennifer S: You will receive an email survey within 24 hours asking
you to evaluate my performance and to comment on our TurboTax product.
Please take a few minutes to complete the survey as we use this
information to improve our service and support.
Thank you for using InstantService. You may now close this window.
Your session has ended. You may now close this window.
From: Notan on 30 Mar 2010 23:49
On 3/30/2010 9:20 PM, dave wrote:
> I know that this is primarily a Quicken Forum, but as TurboTax
> receives some coverage, I thought I might relate my chat for the
> benefit of others.

<snip>

LMAO!

I'm sure that you, more than most, appreciate TT's claim:

"Guides you through your taxes step by step, like a GPS�
with special guidance for first-time users."

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