TIN for tax withheld on a 1099-INT

[jerry]

Lacerte is throwing a critical diagnostic (#54770) if the TIN is not entered on a 1099-INT from a bank, when there is Federal tax withheld.  

I know that a TIN is required for a seller-financed mortgage, but a bank?  Is this a new requirement, or a Lacerte bug?   Seems ridiculous for $6 in withheld tax.

I'm on the latest version for TY 2020, version 41.0129.

[BobKamman]

@jerry  "a 1099-INT from a bank, when there is Federal interest withheld."

I think you mean federal income tax, not federal interest. 

If 100 million taxpayers claim $6 of bogus interest, that's a $600 million hit to the Treasury.  It's nine digits. Just do it.  That's why IRS promotes e-filing; doesn't cost them anything to have tax professionals do their clerical work.  

[George4Tacks]

Lacerte has given us a wonderful new tool to hunt down diagnostic numbers. https://proconnect.intuit.com/community/tkb/choosetemplatepage/board-id/diagnostics/search-before-po...  Simply enter something like 54770 and VOILA! you have a solution. 

There is only one itty bitty problem. ...

Why are you entering as seller financed mortgage? It sounds to me like interest earned on impounds form a bank financed mortgage. Just move entry up one line to where it belongs and  you will be good to go.

[jerry]

George,

It was entered as "Bank, S&L, etc"  interest, not mortgage interest.  Try it.  And when I search that site you gave for 54770 I get "No matching diagnostics found"

Bob, you're correct, tax withheld.  I corrected my original post.

But the point remains, If this is a new IRS requirement, where is it documented?  Entering a 9 digit PIN is a pain.  I seem to remember this being required at the beginning of last season, and then Lacerte backed down.