Importing income on Turbotax

[lucky penny]

Do you import income on Turbotax or enter it directly? Have you ever had issues when you import the information?

I usually enter the info directly since I'm impatient to get started & some of the info that can be imported (e.g. from ETrade) isn't available till mid-February.

I wonder why Treasury Direct information can't be imported. That would make things a lot easier, especially as to the amounts on the 1099-B and 1099-OID forms.

 

[audreyh1]

We just import data from our brokerage accounts. The rest we enter manually.

 

[zesty]

I import it when possible but then always verify against the one they sent me.

 

[cathy63]

I import everything. I had a problem once, but it was my own fault. I imported a W-2, but when I looked at the paper one, I realized that the employer had not put the code for "retirement plan" in the box with my 401K contributions. I asked them for a corrected W-2, but in the meantime I edited the data so it would have the right code in that box and I could keep working on the taxes. When the new W-2 came, I looked at it and verified it had the right code, but never noticed that the numbers had also changed. I ended up filing with the wrong numbers, and got a letter from the IRS.

It turns out that if you make a numeric error they will examine your entire return and all the documents they have about you. In our case they knew we had taken a withdrawal from a 529 account, but we didn't report any education expenses (not eligible for the education credits, so no place to report them) and they wanted us to pay taxes and penalties on the withdrawal. I ended up doing a 1040X to fix the W-2 problem and sending them a letter and a copy of DD's 1098-T showing that the qualified education expenses for our dependent were greater than the amount we took from the 529. I never heard from them again, so apparently that was sufficient.

Moral of the story: if you get a corrected form, reimport it and double check the amounts.

 

[Midpack]

I’ve imported from Vanguard, and it worked perfectly when I have. However I get the 1099’s weeks before the info is available to download, so some years I’ve just entered it all manually. Obviously you need to be careful when entering manually to avoid any typos, one reason the download may be safer.

And one year I entered all my 1099-DIV info manually, but didn’t file right away. A few weeks later when the Vanguard download data was available, I did the download assuming it would just overwrite my manual entries and correct any errors. It did not. I had a complete set of duplicate entries, so I had to delete all the duplicates. My assumption was silly in retrospect.

So either enter manual, or wait for the download. Don’t mix for a given institution/1099.

 

[MrsHaloFIRE]

[QUOTE

So either enter manual, or wait for the download. Don’t mix for a given institution/1099.[/QUOTE]

THIS!

 

[Sunset]

I always enter manually, my concern which maybe not true is I don't want to give access to my accounts to others.

The advantage of entering manually is I get to study, review, think about each entry as I do it.

 

[RunningBum]

Yep, I had the same problem with duplicate entries. I don't remember if I downloaded twice for some reason or did it manually first. If may have been the year I switched to the VG brokerage and there were two sets.

 

[frank2009]

I download from Vanguard, verify that everything looks OK. Then change my Vanguard password.

 

[RobbieB]

I enter manually.

 

[CardsFan]

We just import data from our brokerage accounts. The rest we enter manually.

This is what I do. The brokerage statement is a little more complex to input. But I just manually enter the 1099's.

 

[RE2Boys]

I always enter manually, my concern which maybe not true is I don't want to give access to my accounts to others.

The advantage of entering manually is I get to study, review, think about each entry as I do it.

Same for me. And several years ago I had to completely re-do the 1099B imported from T Rowe Price. Easier to address once rather than correcting a bad import.

 

[SecondCor521]

In our case they knew we had taken a withdrawal from a 529 account, but we didn't report any education expenses (not eligible for the education credits, so no place to report them) and they wanted us to pay taxes and penalties on the withdrawal. I ended up doing a 1040X to fix the W-2 problem and sending them a letter and a copy of DD's 1098-T showing that the qualified education expenses for our dependent were greater than the amount we took from the 529. I never heard from them again, so apparently that was sufficient.

I'm kind of surprised they can't/didn't/won't figure out that in many cases 1098-T billed amount >= 529 withdrawal = OK. Obviously there are cases where that filter isn't true, but it would work most of the time.

I learned in my tax training class that they're switching 1098-T's from amounts billed during the year to amounts paid during the year. Maybe that's why they did what they did. (Just because they billed you for something, if you didn't pay it you wouldn't be entitled to the education benefit - 529 withdrawal or education credit or whatever.)

 

[audreyh1]

I download from Vanguard, verify that everything looks OK. Then change my Vanguard password.

Exactly - we change our password, download from Fidelity and then change it back.

 

[gerntz]

I do them manually to help better understand where the numbers come from & what they mean.

 

[cathy63]

I'm kind of surprised they can't/didn't/won't figure out that in many cases 1098-T billed amount >= 529 withdrawal = OK. Obviously there are cases where that filter isn't true, but it would work most of the time.

I learned in my tax training class that they're switching 1098-T's from amounts billed during the year to amounts paid during the year. Maybe that's why they did what they did. (Just because they billed you for something, if you didn't pay it you wouldn't be entitled to the education benefit - 529 withdrawal or education credit or whatever.)

I don't know, I thought at the time that it was probably because the 529 custodian reported my SSN as the owner of the withdrawal and the 1098-T had DD's SSN and somehow they didn't get matched up correctly. They didn't question it in any of the other years we had 529 withdrawals, so I'm guessing it's something that only comes up if a human has to look at the return due to some other issue.

 

[N02L84ER]

I do them manually to help better understand where the numbers come from & what they mean.

+1

 

[audreyh1]

I do them manually to help better understand where the numbers come from & what they mean.

Our main Fidelity brokerage download is so large and complex, that entering it manually is a major burden, chances of data entry error is high, and being able to import it is a huge blessing.

However, before filing we each do a thorough review where we manually check every entry in every tax form and worksheet to be sure they match the 1099s and track the flow to the main 1040, so we do know where every number has come from and what they mean as well as the resulting calculations.

 

[pb4uski]

I import it when possible but then always verify against the one they sent me.

+1

 

[Jerry1]

I just enter it. My life isn’t complex enough to make downloading it worth it. One year I had a lot of stock transactions but I just put in the gains and losses as summary amounts and mailed in the detail. That seemed easy enough.

 

[rk911]

Do you import income on Turbotax or enter it directly? Have you ever had issues when you import the information?

I usually enter the info directly since I'm impatient to get started & some of the info that can be imported (e.g. from ETrade) isn't available till mid-February.

I wonder why Treasury Direct information can't be imported. That would make things a lot easier, especially as to the amounts on the 1099-B and 1099-OID forms.

i enter manually as i receive the 1099’s.

 

[grasshopper]

I have had Schedule D manually in TT since I bought it in November. I use Vanguards dividend information from the end of year. When available I download from Vanguard, review everything and delete or keep as needed.

 

[Bir48die]

This is what I do. The brokerage statement is a little more complex to input. But I just manually enter the 1099's.

+1

I do however get "corrected" statements a couple of times after the initial download

 

[GalaxyBoy]

We just import data from our brokerage accounts. The rest we enter manually.

Me too. I use HR Block's software, but I assume OP meant "turbo tax" generically.

A few years ago I inherited a brokerage account that had no more than 5% in any single security. Since I prefer simplicity and indexing as opposed to buying and selling whatever the full-service broker told dear old departed Dad to do (bless his soul), I sold all of that junk except one Vanguard ETF. So I had a huge number of sales to report and I don't think I would have ever gotten them all correct if it wasn't for downloading the 1099 into tax software.

But now that I'm on cruise control it really isn't necessary. I've been entering my 1099s as they come in this year; none are yet available for download. [edit to add: the pdf's are available for download, but they are not yet ready to import into tax software.]