Question

Why did I have to purchase the deluxe edition to file my 2018 tax return?

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
October 24, 2019
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TurboTax Deluxe Online

Employee

Are you asking why you did not qualify for one of the free products? It depends on what all is in your return. I'll tell you about the two free products, and if you think you should have qualified but ended up in Deluxe by mistake, you can speak to TurboTax Support to see if you can work something out.

If you started out in the regular Free Edition (which is free for Federal and State), you may have been forced to upgrade to Deluxe due to a situation in your return that Free Edition cannot handle. Or perhaps you may have started out in Deluxe by mistake.

In any case, the regular Free Edition was more limited this year due to tax law changes. If you needed any of the new Schedules 1-6, for instance, then you couldn't use Free Edition. You can read about the new schedules at the link below. If you click the blue "see schedule" link there, it will show you what each schedule looks like. Did you have any of Schedules 1-6?

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/4511015-what-are-the-new-schedules

Here are some common things that cannot be handled by the regular Free Edition:

     Itemized deductions
     Business or 1099-MISC income
     Sales of stocks/mutual funds/bonds
     Rental property income
     Foreign Earned Income
     HSA
     Credits, deductions and income reported on the new schedules 1–6, such as the Student Loan Interest Deduction

TurboTax also had another free product called the TurboTax Free File Program. It was free for both Federal and State--IF you met just one of the qualifications. It can handle all the usual forms without the limitations of regular Free Edition.

For 2018, you had to meet only ONE of these qualifications:

1) 2018 AGI of $34,000 or less

or

2) Eligible for EIC (earned income credit)

or

3) Active duty military including Reservists/ National Guard with military W-2 and 2018 AGI of $66,000 or less

See this FAQ for more info:
https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1900583-what-is-turbotax-free-file-program

As I mentioned above, if you ended up in a paid edition by mistake, you can speak to Customer Support and see if they will work with you. I don't know what they will say. Hours are 5AM-5PM Pacific (8AM-8PM Eastern) Monday-Friday. Since you used Deluxe, you do have phone privileges.

FAQ: What is the TurboTax phone number?

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/using-turbotax/help/what-is-the-turbotax-phone-number/00/25632