TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

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neurosphere
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TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by neurosphere »

Question: Has anyone successfully prepared a return so far with TaxAct which has non-deductible contributions reported?

Note that I'm not asking about how to report a transaction or prepare the return. That's all working correctly. But some values in some places which should otherwise be ok is causing the program to crash.

I'm using the TaxAct desktop version and my return is crashing in multiple places and I'm not getting timely support yet from TaxAct. In summary, there is some combination of income above which the program crashes (regardless of where I enter the income: W2, 1099-Misc, interest, dividends, etc). But it seem related to non-deductible IRA contributions because the crashes only happen (I think) when I have non-deductible amounts reported.

Another user on BH also reported problems with the online version not loading once he/she reported non-deductible contributions. So I'm wondering if there is some bug in the background.
badger42
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by badger42 »

I'm having the same problem with Online. Decided that the lack of a quick fix, and the lack of weekend phone support, was a sign that I should bite the bullet and switch to TurboTax.

Edit: To be clear, bugs happen. My reason for switching is not the bug, it's the nature of the failure (effectively a crash), the lack of support, and the apparent lack of software introspection / observability on their end (otherwise a fast fix would have happened).
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neurosphere
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by neurosphere »

badger42 wrote: Mon Jan 28, 2019 2:19 pm I'm having the same problem with Online. Decided that the lack of a quick fix, and the lack of weekend phone support, was a sign that I should bite the bullet and switch to TurboTax.

Edit: To be clear, bugs happen. My reason for switching is not the bug, it's the nature of the failure (effectively a crash), the lack of support, and the apparent lack of software introspection / observability on their end (otherwise a fast fix would have happened).
I'm on hold with phone support this time. Can you clarify that you think your problem might have started after entering non-deductible contributions?

Or are you having problems in general? Right now they continue to assume it's related to security/vpn/anti-virus/etc. Despite my saying this happens on 2 computers, and only with very specific entries in certain boxes, no vpn, and only windows defender which has an exception for TaxAct.

In general, I've been happy with TA tech support. I've been using the program for many years.
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by HootingSloth »

I am having what sounds like the exact same problem. Whenever I try to enter in a non-deductible traditional IRA contribution, the software says "Saving..." indefinitely. When I log back in, it is then unable to open my return for a number of hours.
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neurosphere
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by neurosphere »

Jeez, now they are attributing it to a "network compatibility issue" and are going to send me an email which I'm sure has worthless fixes for things on my computer, when clearly this is a bug within the software (or perhaps the imported return which I'm working with) which is highly reproducible.

They were no interested in hearing WHAT I was doing when it crashed, or what series of steps reproduce it.

So far both via email and telephone the tech support has been infuriatingly poor in comparison to prior years.

It HAS to be a bug within the software caused when a certain threshold is reached which then triggers another worksheet or form or calculation which has the problem. How else to explain that I can reproduce the problem by adding $X amount of income ANYWHERE. Very frustrating.
If you have to ask "Is a Target Date fund right for me?", the answer is "Yes" (even in taxable accounts).
Rupert
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by Rupert »

Just FYI: TurboTax reports that Form 8606 will not be available until 1/29/19. Could this be contributing to the problem with TaxAct in anyway?
badger42
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by badger42 »

neurosphere wrote: Mon Jan 28, 2019 2:30 pm
badger42 wrote: Mon Jan 28, 2019 2:19 pm I'm having the same problem with Online. Decided that the lack of a quick fix, and the lack of weekend phone support, was a sign that I should bite the bullet and switch to TurboTax.

Edit: To be clear, bugs happen. My reason for switching is not the bug, it's the nature of the failure (effectively a crash), the lack of support, and the apparent lack of software introspection / observability on their end (otherwise a fast fix would have happened).
I'm on hold with phone support this time. Can you clarify that you think your problem might have started after entering non-deductible contributions?

Or are you having problems in general? Right now they continue to assume it's related to security/vpn/anti-virus/etc. Despite my saying this happens on 2 computers, and only with very specific entries in certain boxes, no vpn, and only windows defender which has an exception for TaxAct.

In general, I've been happy with TA tech support. I've been using the program for many years.
The problem started right after I entered my non-deductible contributions and rollover.

Right now the problem is that, once I enter my information for the backdoor Roth, my return essentially refuses to open - the web backend times out or errors out. I might be able to get back to the form entry (for the 1099-R), but once I do anything - operations time out or give a "try again later" type error.

I even started a 2nd return, was fine through the W-2 and such, and it broke in the same way once I added the non-deductible contribution and rollover.

And I did try multiple browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Edge), and my only A/V is the standard Microsoft one. This is from a normally very trouble-free Windows 10 machine where everything else "just works".
badger42
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by badger42 »

Rupert wrote: Mon Jan 28, 2019 2:50 pm Just FYI: TurboTax reports that Form 8606 will not be available until 1/29/19. Could this be contributing to the problem with TaxAct in anyway?
It could, but TurboTax is handling it correctly - so this is definitely a solvable problem. And "please hold for form availability" is fine if that's the case, silent / hard failures are not.
Rupert
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by Rupert »

badger42 wrote: Mon Jan 28, 2019 2:56 pm
Rupert wrote: Mon Jan 28, 2019 2:50 pm Just FYI: TurboTax reports that Form 8606 will not be available until 1/29/19. Could this be contributing to the problem with TaxAct in anyway?
It could, but TurboTax is handling it correctly - so this is definitely a solvable problem. And "please hold for form availability" is fine if that's the case, silent / hard failures are not.
Yes, TurboTax lets you complete your return but then tells you at the end that you must update the software after 1/29 and run it again. So TaxAct has messed it up.
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HueyLD
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by HueyLD »

If TA keeps up with such lousy products and poor service, it will not be around too much longer. It is unfortunate because we need competition for Intuit.
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by Miguelito »

I'm also having that issue. The moment I put a value for a non-deductible IRA contribution it hangs indefinitely. I gave up on it. I'm buying TurboTax tonight.
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by neurosphere »

I went to the consumer version of TaxAct online (I was using the professional version in the desktop) and started a new return and filled in some dummy info which roughly matched our info. Things were working fine until I entered a non-deductible IRA contribution and hit submit/enter. Now the "saving" graphic just spins and spins.

It HAS to be a problem with 8606 (or related worksheets which feed into this, or perhaps the destination of the values on the 8606).

I don't know whether to give up and switch to Turbo Tax or wait a week or two until the figure it out. I've been using TA for so long, I hate to switch, but...
If you have to ask "Is a Target Date fund right for me?", the answer is "Yes" (even in taxable accounts).
badger42
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by badger42 »

neurosphere wrote: Mon Jan 28, 2019 3:10 pm I went to the consumer version of TaxAct online (I was using the professional version in the desktop) and started a new return and filled in some dummy info which roughly matched our info. Things were working fine until I entered a non-deductible IRA contribution and hit submit/enter. Now the "saving" graphic just spins and spins.

It HAS to be a problem with 8606 (or related worksheets which feed into this, or perhaps the destination of the values on the 8606).

I don't know whether to give up and switch to Turbo Tax or wait a week or two until the figure it out. I've been using TA for so long, I hate to switch, but...
If they can't get this right (and I've had the problem for a couple of weeks, this is not a new issue), what else did they get wrong? What other basic validation are they missing? I've used TaxAct for many years, but unless there are major changes, I'll stick with TurboTax (and all of its toytown nonsense questions that you can't easily bypass) for now.

Also, the simple clean TaxAct UI seems to be mostly gone, in favor of something that's a lot slower and clumsier - might be related (rewrite that didn't go well?)
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by Miguelito »

Agreed. TA used to be great. It used to allow a full view of the tax forms as they were being filled out. It now sucks and pretends I know nothing (and asks poorly written questions). Yet, I have to circumvent its ineptitude and manually check that forms are being properly filled out. That's a massive fail, IMO.
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by SmileyFace »

I use TurboTax but always check the "FinanceBuff" notes on entry which help - looks like he has notes for TaxAct as well:

https://thefinancebuff.com/how-to-backd ... axact.html
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neurosphere
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by neurosphere »

DaftInvestor wrote: Mon Jan 28, 2019 4:06 pm I use TurboTax but always check the "FinanceBuff" notes on entry which help - looks like he has notes for TaxAct as well:

https://thefinancebuff.com/how-to-backd ... axact.html
Thanks! Always a useful link but in this case the problem is a bug in taxact that is preventing reporting non-deductible contributions (crashing the whole program). Not a question about how to report it in the software. :wink:
If you have to ask "Is a Target Date fund right for me?", the answer is "Yes" (even in taxable accounts).
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by SmileyFace »

neurosphere wrote: Mon Jan 28, 2019 4:08 pm
DaftInvestor wrote: Mon Jan 28, 2019 4:06 pm I use TurboTax but always check the "FinanceBuff" notes on entry which help - looks like he has notes for TaxAct as well:

https://thefinancebuff.com/how-to-backd ... axact.html
Thanks! Always a useful link but in this case the problem is a bug in taxact that is preventing reporting non-deductible contributions (crashing the whole program). Not a question about how to report it in the software. :wink:
Sorry - I'm guilty of trying to help with only a glance at your thread. :oops:
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by neurosphere »

DaftInvestor wrote: Mon Jan 28, 2019 4:15 pm Sorry - I'm guilty of trying to help with only a glance at your thread. :oops:
I'm frequently guilty of doing the same. It's that "rushing to help" mentality! It comes from a good place. :D
If you have to ask "Is a Target Date fund right for me?", the answer is "Yes" (even in taxable accounts).
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by neurosphere »

TaxAct Just Tweeted
This is a known issue that we are working on. People can get help for it by calling Product Support at 319.373.3600 and selecting option 4 or by emailing assistance@taxact.com
Hopefully there will be a fix soon!
karwosts
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by karwosts »

Oh thank you, I was having the exact same issue this morning and it was driving me crazy. Enter nondeductible IRA contribution, program hangs at saving forever and locked out.

Have a link to that tweet you cited? Couldn't find it on twitter.
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by HueyLD »

neurosphere wrote: Tue Jan 29, 2019 9:34 am TaxAct Just Tweeted
This is a known issue that we are working on. People can get help for it by calling Product Support at 319.373.3600 and selecting option 4 or by emailing assistance@taxact.com
Hopefully there will be a fix soon!
Hope so. I want TA to be around as a TT competitor.
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by Miguelito »

neurosphere wrote: Tue Jan 29, 2019 9:34 am TaxAct Just Tweeted
This is a known issue that we are working on. People can get help for it by calling Product Support at 319.373.3600 and selecting option 4 or by emailing assistance@taxact.com
Hopefully there will be a fix soon!
Yeah, when I did that yesterday they said there was too much call volume and to try later and hang up on me. I emailed on Sunday about it. Still no response. When I spoke to a person at TA about the lines 6-12 issue and mentioned not being able to access my return, she could care less. "That's not my problem" she said, and offered zero sympathy. Also incredible lack of knowledge on her part about the actual tax issue with the software.

I've moved on. For good. I'm very loyal, but when you burn me, that's it.
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by neurosphere »

karwosts wrote: Tue Jan 29, 2019 9:44 am Oh thank you, I was having the exact same issue this morning and it was driving me crazy. Enter nondeductible IRA contribution, program hangs at saving forever and locked out.

Have a link to that tweet you cited? Couldn't find it on twitter.
I sent you a private message with the link. I see that you are a brand new forum member. Welcome! You can click on "private messages" at the upper right of most forum pages to see your messages.
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neurosphere
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by neurosphere »

It seems they are working on it. From an email:
We are currently aware of the issue regarding Form 8606. Though this may sound unorthodox, as a work-around, you can uncheck the retirement plan box on the W-2 form.

Unfortunately at this time, our Development Team has not provided a date as to when an update to resolve this issue will be released. We will send out an e-mail once this issue has been resolved.
I had told them on the phone that that I think the bug occurs when enough income pushes the deductibility of IRA contributions into or past the “phase-out” range which then requires (potentially) worksheets 1-1 and/or 1-2 from publication 590-A and/or 590-B, as well as some other possible IRA deductibility worksheet I can't recall offhand. My workaround had been to simply leave only enough total income not to get into that range (so that I could keep working on the return for now). I had told them that "there is some combination of income above which it crashes, regardless of where I put the income, and that's somewhere around $100,000". This morning I realized, hmm, that's about the where the phaseout starts for MFJ ($101,000). And then their suggestion to uncheck the employer plan box seals the deal. I'm a bit frustrated they blew me off when I essentially gave them the answer. Regardless, they are working on it, and I'm too lazy to switch to a new product.

[Edit, for the workaround one has to ALSO make sure not to answer "yes" during the Q&A to the question of whether one is covered by an employer plan. Unchecking the box on the W2 is not sufficient.]
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by karwosts »

neurosphere wrote: Tue Jan 29, 2019 11:45 am I sent you a private message with the link. I see that you are a brand new forum member. Welcome! You can click on "private messages" at the upper right of most forum pages to see your messages.
Thanks! I've casually lurked for a while but this was the first thing that infurated me enough that I had to +1 it. I'll be monitoring here to hear if you ever find a resolution.
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by williamskent »

I'm using TaxAct online and am having this same problem when entering my nondeductible TIRA contribution of $5500; the program crashes by going into a perpetual "saving" mode.

Thank you to those who have posted.

I will check back in to share or learn if TaxAct fixes the problem.
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by seed4great »

neurosphere wrote: Mon Jan 28, 2019 4:08 pm
DaftInvestor wrote: Mon Jan 28, 2019 4:06 pm I use TurboTax but always check the "FinanceBuff" notes on entry which help - looks like he has notes for TaxAct as well:
https://thefinancebuff.com/how-to-backd ... axact.html
Thanks! Always a useful link but in this case the problem is a bug in taxact that is preventing reporting non-deductible contributions (crashing the whole program). Not a question about how to report it in the software. :wink:
This is a very useful info. However, at least for TurboTax one important piece is missing. It is not clear where to report "non-deductible contribution to traditional IRA". This caused me a little confusion, until on TurboTax income page I found the tab about deductions, which essentially provide a starting point to report this contribution. Without this part, TurboTax believe Roth contribution is taxable.
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Brian2d
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by Brian2d »

Ran into this same problem after using TaxAct for the past 8 years. Decided to switch to TaxHawk (same as FreeTaxUSA). No problems (so far), better interface, and cheaper as well. Thank you TaxAct for screwing up and saving me some money in the process.
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by pdavi21 »

There's always Free Fillable Forms...or paper.
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Tamales
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by Tamales »

Is Taxact's issue with form 8606 fixed yet?
karwosts
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by karwosts »

Tamales wrote: Sat Feb 02, 2019 6:37 pm Is Taxact's issue with form 8606 fixed yet?
Not for me as of yesterday.
bling
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by bling »

HueyLD wrote: Mon Jan 28, 2019 3:00 pm If TA keeps up with such lousy products and poor service, it will not be around too much longer. It is unfortunate because we need competition for Intuit.
i switched to taxhawk.com (same company as freeusatax.com) last year when taxact decided to triple their price. since taxact was already the "budget friendly" choice, i was not expecting much. i was pleasantly surprised. taxhawk is way more intuitive, much faster, and handled everything i threw at it without a hitch.

anywho, no problems filling out the backdoor portion of my tax return this year with taxhawk.
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by e5116 »

Gah, this was driving me nuts! I'm having the same issue. Totally hangs up on Save forever. I'm actually able to get it to work kind of if I clear cookies/cache at each step. But it's definitely buggy and even worse, it's calculating things WRONG!! Seriously. If I put in a Gross Distribution of $5500 the backdoor Roth doesn't calculate correctly and thinks I owe money on that distribution. Oddly, if I put in $5501 (just increase it by $1), it works fine. So, saying I converted $1 more reduces how much I owe by over $1000. That clearly makes no sense!!! Erg....I didn't want to switch at this point as TaxAct seems easy in that it imports prior year's stuff, but I just may have to.

So, yes, this is still an issue and they apparently have not fixed it. Thanks for starting this thread as I was curious.
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by Tamales »

e5116 wrote: Mon Feb 04, 2019 10:40 pm Gah, this was driving me nuts! I'm having the same issue. Totally hangs up on Save forever. I'm actually able to get it to work kind of if I clear cookies/cache at each step. But it's definitely buggy and even worse, it's calculating things WRONG!! Seriously. If I put in a Gross Distribution of $5500 the backdoor Roth doesn't calculate correctly and thinks I owe money on that distribution. Oddly, if I put in $5501 (just increase it by $1), it works fine. So, saying I converted $1 more reduces how much I owe by over $1000. That clearly makes no sense!!! Erg....I didn't want to switch at this point as TaxAct seems easy in that it imports prior year's stuff, but I just may have to.

So, yes, this is still an issue and they apparently have not fixed it. Thanks for starting this thread as I was curious.
You've probably already tried this, but what if you turn off autosave?

I've already paid for the product, but haven't bothered installing it yet since I won't get all my 1099's until 2/15 or so. Maybe they presume that most people with this issue will also have to wait for 1099's so they haven't expedited it. Either that, or this year's version has so many bugs that this hasn't made it to the top of the fix-it queue yet. Hope not.
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by e5116 »

Tamales wrote: Mon Feb 04, 2019 10:58 pm
e5116 wrote: Mon Feb 04, 2019 10:40 pm Gah, this was driving me nuts! I'm having the same issue. Totally hangs up on Save forever. I'm actually able to get it to work kind of if I clear cookies/cache at each step. But it's definitely buggy and even worse, it's calculating things WRONG!! Seriously. If I put in a Gross Distribution of $5500 the backdoor Roth doesn't calculate correctly and thinks I owe money on that distribution. Oddly, if I put in $5501 (just increase it by $1), it works fine. So, saying I converted $1 more reduces how much I owe by over $1000. That clearly makes no sense!!! Erg....I didn't want to switch at this point as TaxAct seems easy in that it imports prior year's stuff, but I just may have to.

So, yes, this is still an issue and they apparently have not fixed it. Thanks for starting this thread as I was curious.
You've probably already tried this, but what if you turn off autosave?
Not sure as I was able to get it to work by clearing cache and cookies so finally got through it. But I'm more concerned by the $1 difference that should increase my taxes owed by a fraction of a dollar actually decreasing it by over $1000. Essentially, if I tell it that I distributed exactly $5500, it doesn't calculate it as a backdoor Roth (that doesn't impact taxes despite it saying $0 taxable at the bottom). It sees it as a completely taxable rollover for the full amount. But that's not the case if I put that $5501 was distributed and it correctly only sees that $1 as taxable. Something is definitely off.
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by Tamales »

Is there no issue if you just add the non-deductible IRA contribution to form 8606, without the backdoor roth steps?
I think the answer is yes, still an issue, but want to make sure.
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by e5116 »

Tamales wrote: Mon Feb 04, 2019 11:18 pm Is there no issue if you just add the non-deductible IRA contribution to form 8606, without the backdoor roth steps?
I think the answer is yes, still an issue, but want to make sure.
I believe it's still an issue if you do that, but I personally did not do it in that order and don't want to retry.
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celia
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by celia »

OK, folks. Help is at hand, although I haven't attempted to do our taxes yet.

If TaxAct says Form 8606 isn't working yet, then that part is not working. TaxAct users should wait at least a week, then download the updates to the software when they are available.

Everyone should read the bottom of the wiki page for Backdoor Roth which tells where to get help entering the data for Backdoor Roths for various software products. But basically, it also says to enter your data until you come to the 1099-R for the Roth conversion. Instead of entering it, go to the place in your software where you enter the contribution instead and continue until the topic changes. After that is done, return to the place where you were going to report the Roth conversion from the 1099-R.

This makes sense, if you stop to think about it. How would software know how to process the Roth conversion if it doesn't yet know about the contributions that were made? You made the contribution before you converted, so follow that order in the software too.

If you have already entered some data for your contribution and/or conversion, delete all of that and see if the rest of your return looks fine. Save your file. Make a copy and work on the copy (in case you need to come back to this breakpoint again), enter the contribution(s), then the conversion(s).
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neurosphere
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by neurosphere »

TaxAct has acknowledged this problem. The workaround is:

-- to answer the QA to state that you are NOT covered by an employer plan, AND ALSO
-- Do NOT check the box when entering your w2s which state you are covered by a retirement account/plan

This fixed all non-deductible Roth contributions for me. Perhaps there are additional problems with non-deductible contributions and/or 8606. But start with that workaround and report back about what happens.
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by letsgobobby »

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e5116
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by e5116 »

letsgobobby wrote: Tue Feb 05, 2019 4:00 pm
neurosphere wrote: Tue Feb 05, 2019 2:21 am TaxAct has acknowledged this problem. The workaround is:

-- to answer the QA to state that you are NOT covered by an employer plan, AND ALSO
-- Do NOT check the box when entering your w2s which state you are covered by a retirement account/plan

This fixed all non-deductible Roth contributions for me. Perhaps there are additional problems with non-deductible contributions and/or 8606. But start with that workaround and report back about what happens.
Where did you get the info that they acknowledge a problem, as well as the workaround?
Email given to neurosphere:
"We are currently aware of the issue regarding Form 8606. Though this may sound unorthodox, as a work-around, you can uncheck the retirement plan box on the W-2 form.

Unfortunately at this time, our Development Team has not provided a date as to when an update to resolve this issue will be released. We will send out an e-mail once this issue has been resolved."

For me though, I got around the issue of freezing, but the calculation doesn't work when I put in exactly $5500. Anybody else see that or is it just me?? $5501 works fine.
panhead
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by panhead »

Geez, I haven't purchased TA yet but was planning to. I'll be monitoring this thread for the resolution.
letsgobobby
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by letsgobobby »

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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by letsgobobby »

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jambadoc
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by jambadoc »

It appears Taxact has fixed the glitch. I'm not sure if anyone else has been able to do it, and it didn't work for me yesterday, but it seems to be working again today. :D
e5116
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by e5116 »

jambadoc wrote: Wed Feb 06, 2019 8:52 am It appears Taxact has fixed the glitch. I'm not sure if anyone else has been able to do it, and it didn't work for me yesterday, but it seems to be working again today. :D
Awesome! I can also confirm that putting in exactly $5500 now doesn't mess up the calculation like it did before.
karwosts
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by karwosts »

jambadoc wrote: Wed Feb 06, 2019 8:52 am It appears Taxact has fixed the glitch. I'm not sure if anyone else has been able to do it, and it didn't work for me yesterday, but it seems to be working again today. :D
+1 confirmed for me too. 8606 looks about right, didn't have to check or uncheck any boxes extraordinarily on my w2.

One thing about BD Roth that wanted to check, I don't think TaxAct ever asked me anything about the total value of my traditional IRAs for Pro-Rata calculation. My total tIRA is 0, but just a little confused that it never asked that, nor are there any values filled out on lines 6-12 on 8606, just $5500 on lines 1, 3, 5, 13, 16.

Does TA not do Pro-Rata calculation? Not that I need it, just wondering if I missed a checkbox somewhere...
3dream3
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by 3dream3 »

Just checked and it's working for me too. I actually used freetaxusa since I got fed up with taxact hanging and can verify that the numbers match between the two programs. I will go with freetaxusa... still cheaper with the same end result. Taxact just confirms things with freetaxusa for me! Just got my last 1099 today too that I'm expecting so will be filing later today.

Edit - in case anyone was wondering, it's looking like the total for me filing with freetaxusa (after googling coupon code that another BH mentioned) = $11.65 (Fed = Free/State $12.95 less 10%). With taxact, the total would be $74.90 (Fed $34.95/State $39.95).
e5116
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by e5116 »

karwosts wrote: Wed Feb 06, 2019 9:18 am
jambadoc wrote: Wed Feb 06, 2019 8:52 am It appears Taxact has fixed the glitch. I'm not sure if anyone else has been able to do it, and it didn't work for me yesterday, but it seems to be working again today. :D
+1 confirmed for me too. 8606 looks about right, didn't have to check or uncheck any boxes extraordinarily on my w2.

One thing about BD Roth that wanted to check, I don't think TaxAct ever asked me anything about the total value of my traditional IRAs for Pro-Rata calculation. My total tIRA is 0, but just a little confused that it never asked that, nor are there any values filled out on lines 6-12 on 8606, just $5500 on lines 1, 3, 5, 13, 16.

Does TA not do Pro-Rata calculation? Not that I need it, just wondering if I missed a checkbox somewhere...
It asked me on a subsequent screen. Not sure why it didn't for you. It was a quick checkbox as I recall to confirm tIRA is 0.
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neurosphere
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Re: TaxAct problems? Anyone have success with a return which includes "backdoor" Roth reporting?

Post by neurosphere »

karwosts wrote: Wed Feb 06, 2019 9:18 am...nor are there any values filled out on lines 6-12 on 8606, just $5500 on lines 1, 3, 5, 13, 16.
The method used by TaxAct and probably most software skips 6-12, which is a valid method, but does seem "weird" or "wrong" if one just reads the instructions printed on the form itself (but ignore the printed instructions to "see instructions" for the 8606 and the publications which reference/refer to 8606 such as Pub 590-A/B and at least one more). :D

Somewhere there is a recent thread discussing this. But I'm too lazy to search/link right now. :wink:
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