Minnesota Property Tax - Auto Fill % of Home Office/Business Useage

[gthienes1]

As it stands right now in preparing the M1PR for Minnesota Property Tax Return in order to account for Schedule C - Business Use of Home you first need to Open the Form M1PR scroll to Line 19 Worksheets, "Check this box to activate Worksheet 2". Then the Poroperty ID and Property Address will populate. Next you need to collect a percentage from the Form 8829 of the Federal 1040 line 3 to put in column C for "percent of home used for business". 

It would be extremely helpful if the percentage of taxpayer use of home for business would automatically activate and  flow thru to Worksheet 2 "Homeowners Who Rented Part of Their Home to Others or Used it for Business".  As we often times are preparing the property tax returns at a time other than when we are preparing the clients federal and state returns it would be extremely efficient and more accurate if this were an auto calculation. 

[gthienes]

Would like to see this change take place - would be extremely helpful!

[TaxGuyBill]

While I agree it seems really handy, I suspect it is too problematic.

• What if the 8829 is from a secondary, non-homesteaded home?
• What would it do if you use the Simplified Method for the home office?
• What if the taxpayer moved and there is more than one 8829?
• What if there are multiple offices in a home, each with different square footage?
• What if a room was also rented ... the M1PR wouldn't pick up on that.

Even if a tax professional were to review these items and correct things, ProSeries is based on the same programming as TurboTax, and the DIY-ers using TurboTax wouldn't know to correct wrong numbers that flow.  

[sjrcpa]

And, as many problems as there have been with Intuit and MN and vice versa, I think I would just be glad that ProSeries does the M1PR. Imagine what they would muck up if they tried to program this.

[TaxGuyBill]

Personally, I thought it was awesome when the Minnesota Department of Revenue told everybody not to use an Intuit tax product.  😂

I don't even remember what the problem was, but that announcement from the State got Intuit to fix it ASAP.  😀

[IRonMaN]

"Personally, I thought it was awesome when the Minnesota Department of Revenue told everybody not to use an Intuit tax product"

Evidently when it comes to complaining, the State of Minnesota has a little more luck catching Intuit's attention.

Google is still my friend.  I couldn't remember exactly what the issues were, but Google remembered for me:

The Minnesota Department of Revenue has a warning for anyone who uses a popular brand of software to file their taxes.

Over the last week, the department has found numerous problems with Intuit Products like TurboTax, Lacerte and ProSeries. According to the Minnesota Department of Revenue, the issues range from calculation errors to misdirected political donations.

Tax time has never been difficult for Erin Darsow. A longtime customer of TurboTax, she likes its do-it-yourself approach.

"Being able to do something on my own is convenient," Darsow said.

Like any taxpayer, she knows some years don't always end with a refund.

"It ruined my day. It really put a damper on my afternoon," she said.

Not long after that Erin realized she would have to pay in, she also learned Intuit - the company that runs TurboTax - was having errors of its system.

"That just made my stress level go even higher, knowing something could be wrong in the calculations," she said.

The Minn. Department of Revenue got wind of the issues last Thursday from a complaint. It discovered $5 political donations were being sent to the wrong party. Intuit said they were aware of that issue and were already making corrections.

On Monday, the Department learned some tax returns calculated the wrong number of claimed dependents.

And then Friday afternoon, the Department said they've learned of property tax miscalculations, returns coming by mail when direct deposit was requested, and more.

Terri Steenblock of the Department of Revenue says the issues with Intuit products are unacceptable. She says Intuit doesn't know the source of the problem, but if it's not fixed quickly, Minnesota taxpayers will need to look elsewhere.

"We have advised them if they are not corrected immediately, we will stop processing their returns," Steenblock said.

Erin plans to follow the advice to call the company to double check her return, but her concern is that she'll ultimately have to pay more.

"I just need to know because otherwise it will bother me," Darsow said.

Steenblock says tens of thousands of Minnesotans rely on TurboTax or other Intuit products. The Department recommends you file your return electronically, which makes it easier to track. A return by mail makes it more difficult to alert the tax payer of any problems.

Julie Miller of Intuit says the company is aware of the issues with their products, and they're working to resolve the problems. She said the source of the issue is a coding problem.

"We have been working with the state to identify and resolve a number of issues," Miller said. "We apologize for any inconvenience or anxiety this has caused."

Intuit says they will contact anyone who's been affected by the problem.

Miller reiterated that no personal information has been compromised due to the coding issues.