Question

Two zeros get added to an entered number (the number gets multiplied by 100) each time I press the Enter key!

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
March 5, 2021
1 reply
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I am reporting a bug that showed up in Turbotax 2018 or 2019, if memory serves, and still persists even in Turbotax 2020.

At some point Turbotax people decided they don't want to deal with cents anymore. Well, that is fine, if the program still allows the user to enter the cents, as in 10.47, and then just round it to 10.00. But in most (if not all) cases, Turbotax just "expects" the user to enter a whole number, without any cents. If I type 10.47 for the value of a field and press the Enter key, the number that Turbotax takes for and shows in the field becomes 1,047.00. Even if I enter 10.00 and press the Enter key, the number for the field becomes 1,000.00. Worse, as long as the current input field is the same, every time I press the Enter key, Turbotax adds two more zeros to the number. So, if I type10.47 and press Enter, it becomes 1,047.00; press Enter again, it changes to 104,700.00; press Enter once more and it turns into 10,470,000.00; etc., until finally Turbotax says something like "this number is too large for this field."

It seems like every time I press the Enter key, Turbotax takes whatever the current field contains (e.g., 1,047.00); ignores any decimal point and/or commas that it may contain; considers the result (i.e., 104700), as a new entry for the field; to which it then adds comma separators and a ".00" at the end (104,700.00); and stuffs it back into the field.

This is clearly a program bug, and it is extremely annoying. In cases where pressing the Enter key jumps from the current field to the next field, this bug multiplies the content of the current field by 100 before it jumps to the next field. Thus, simply visiting previously entered data by pressing Enter to skip over the fields, multiplies them by 100, each time!

This bug has been there for at least 2-3 years, but I see no one else having reported it. I wonder why.

Other

F

fa123Author

I was asked to add screenshots of this problem. As I mentioned, this problem occurs in MOST places where I want to enter dollar amounts, but here, I will demonstrate it in a case of adding a Supporting Detail list.

The following screenshot shows I am about to enter the information in a 1099-INT form for some fictitious bank.

Now I right-click to add a Supporting Detail list for Box 1:

I enter "item 1" as Description and hit Return:

Now I enter 10.47 in the Amount field:

And hit the Return key:

As you see, my $10.47 entry has been changed into $1,047.00 just by hitting the Return key. But it gets worse! Now I enter "item 2" as description for the nest item:

and enter 20.00 for the amount:

And click on the "close" to close the Supporting Details list to get:

So, my original $10.47 amount for "item 1" was changed to $1,047.00 as we saw in earlier screenshots. However, that (incorrect) $1,047.00 amount plus the $20.00 that I entered for "item 2" now adds up to not even (incorrect) $1,067.00 by simple rules of arithmetic, but to a total sum of $304,700.00 by the rules of Turbotax arithmetic!!! Recall that the correct sum of the two amounts that I entered is 10.47 + 20.00 = 30.47.

Now, astonished by having received over $300,000.00 in interest from this bank, I right click again to open the same Supporting Details list. Before anything is opened, I see the total magically increase once again:

And then the same list opens to show:

which at least does make some bizarre sense (in the sense that both my original entries of 10.47 and 20.00 have been consistently multiplied by 100, only).

But, by just hitting the Return key to skip through the list entries, the numbers in the list get multiplied by 100 once more, as you see for the case of the amount on the first line here:

And clicking on "close" to close the list, multiplies the whole (incorrect) sum by 100 one more time:

Once again, this is just an example. This same bug shows up in MOST places where I enter a number, whether it is is a Supporting Detail list or other form entries.

DoninGA

Employee

@fa123 Is your software up to date? The latest TurboTax for Windows version is 020.000.1654. Click on Help and then About TurboTax and the Version.

I have the TurboTax 2020 Premier for Windows edition and do not have the problem you have posted.

If your version is up to date then suggest you do a manual update - https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/updating/help/manually-update-turbotax-for-windows-software-basic-deluxe-premier-home-business/01/26041

F

fa123Author

@DoninGAYes, my software *is* up to date. It is the Windows Delux version.

As I stated in my original post, this bug showed up a few years ago; I had no problem like this before (I have been using Turbotax for a few decades now). I've had to VERY carefully work my way around this bug for at least 3 years now with at least three versions of Turbotax (perhaps more).

I am surprised that no one else seems to have reported this bug.

Perhaps this bugs stems from the fact that I have been using Turbotax for much longer than most people and every year have it transfer my data from my previous year returns. Perhaps there is some incompatibility that was introduced between the internal structures of forms a few years ago and the bug arises out of improper conversion of such internal structures? I have no clue. But the bug is real and it has been there for a couple of years in different versions of Turbotax.