At the top of the Social Security worksheet, where you enter the amounts, there are boxes to check if taxpayer resides in certain listed countries.  A gremlin must have checked that box when you weren't looking. 

Say what you will about paper returns, but preparing them correctly is easier for me if I have something in front of me that I can review, like in the good old days, to check if it passes "the smell test."  Does the return itself show Social Security amount received on Line 6a?  What is the AGI?  If I see $30,000 Social Security with 0 taxable and $50,000 AGI anyway, it's going to jump out at me.  Maybe it would, looking at a screen too, but I'm an old dog not good at learning new tricks. 

Another feature that might have avoided this is to use the "two year comparison."  Were these new clients?  I don't have any new clients.  I should always check the two-year comparison, but sometimes I don't until I have printed out the paper return.

Thank you my friend, yes indeed that box was checked!  I have been doing returns for over 40 years and I have never checked that box but I don't think the 'gremlin' did it either!!  Ha!  Something tells me I'll be paying particular attention to that little box from here on out.  Again, many thanks for pointing that out to me.

Thanks for pointing out one more way the software is our friend, except when it becomes our enemy.  

I had that same Gremlin on one return this year - no idea how that box got checked as it never was before. A reminder to always check what comes over from the prior year. AND I do always check the 2-year comparison. 

That 2 year comparison worksheet is my best friend ---------------- even a better friend than Google.  I feel lost when I am doing a return for a new client and there is no 2 year comparison available for me to do a quick and dirty review.

@IRonMaN - If you are not swamped and wanted to use the 2-year comparison on a new client you can manually input the info off the prior year hard copy you are reviewing anyway. I might do that if I'm not swamped and I'm feeling very energetic lol 

This way when the client presentation prints it does give them a comparison rather than just showing blanks for prior year. 

When I don't have the 2 year comparison, I do things the old fashioned way - I just compare the actual returns against each other.  I don't bother giving my clients the client presentation.  Only a small minority of my clients actually look at the return, let alone look at any bonus sheets I give them. 😬

If you accidentally hit the Space bar when your cursor was on that line (if you TAB through the input lines you can land there inadvertently) it will check that box.  I rarely use TAB, but Im sure its quicker than mousing around the screen.