#Turbotax 2015 tax software software#

#Turbotax 2015 tax software software#

I think the software should have been designed with a separate questionnaire or form for entry of self-employed health insurance amounts, with one field for exchange-based premiums, and a separate field for вЂњotherвЂќ insurance. Given the long open enrollment period last year, along with inconsistent state rules about extension of grandfathered plans, I think there will be a lot of taxpayers who had insurance all year, but only part-year coverage via an exchange. So if the tax software simply draws from that field, it is not going to reflect the correct totals. So without a subsidy or tax credit, that person would have paid out a total of $6900 for the year, but only $5400 would be reflected on the 1095-A form. For example, letвЂ™s say that a taxpayer had a grandfathered policy with premiums of $500 a month from January through March, and then switched to an exchange-based policy with a premium of $600 a month in April. Richard, one problem with that process is that it would not address the needs of a taxpayer who was only buying an exchange based policy for part of the year. He has taken the initiative to correspond with their support department, and share the information they provide - but so far has not received a satisfactory response from them.ДЄny users of TurboTax out there? Please share вЂ“ I hope I can get enough information to be able to post a report next month as to which, if any, software programs can be relied on to accurately perform the iterative reconciliation which will maximize the benefit to any self-employed tax-payer who qualifies for a credit. Meanwhile - Jay, a contributor at вЂ“ has found TaxAct software to fall short, in that it does appear to be able to handle the situation of a taxpayer who opts for a higher cost plan that the benchmark, second lowest cost silver plan. I called H&R Block customer support and the representative seemed to immediately understand my concern, and said that this problem will be addressed in the next software update, which appears to be scheduled for January 22nd - so I will wait and see. Instead, the program was erroneously calculating the tax credit based on the MAGI with whatever value had been previously entered as the total self-employment premium, without making any adjustments as required by IRS. But when I experimented with the program, I found it didnвЂ™t seem to be making any reconciliation at all. I personally use H&R Block tax prep software and buy the вЂњPremiumвЂќ version which is advertised as best for self-employed.

Unfortunately, this does not appear to be the case. IRS regulations have now given clear guidance, with two methods for calculation, and this should be a fairly easy task to integrate into the program software. After all, as complex as the IRS instructions may be, the actual calculation is simple math. I had assumed, apparently too optimistically, that the major tax prep software programs would be able to easily handle the problem of reconciling the self-employed health insurance deduction (line 29 on form 1040) with the premium tax credit calculation (form 8962).