24 Using the Site ③ Entering by Topic — Income, Deductions, Foreign Accounts, Asset Sales
Question for this chapter. How do I enter wages, possible itemized deductions, foreign accounts and overseas asset sales on the site, and what should I do when I don't know an amount?
Answer. The site splits the input step into one screen per topic, and every box carries a marker that shows whether the value was typed in by you, estimated from an average, or still unknown. When you lack a figure, you choose the option the screen offers instead of leaving the box empty. The foreign accounts screen and the household facts that decide eligibility have no average option, so those stay open until you can answer them.
What to check
- On the income screen, pick the income types that match the documents you actually received, with your wage statement beside you.
- On the deductions screen, use None only when nothing was spent, and use Not yet when you are still gathering receipts.
- For each foreign account, enter the highest balance during the year and the year-end balance in their own separate boxes, in U.S. dollars.
- Before opening the results, read the input summary and note how many boxes still show an average assumption or an unsure answer.
- Remember that the country-of-origin screen only shows reference summaries and calculates nothing.
What to confirm. Confirm that each answer on every screen matches your own documents and that you chose a real status, such as None or Not yet, rather than leaving a box blank.
One-line summary. Work through the topic screens one at a time, match each answer to your papers, and use the offered options for anything you cannot yet pin down.
The full chapter is in the book. The web shows only each chapter's question, answer, checkpoints and one-line summary.