Charitable contributions

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
March 5, 2021
5 replies
20 views

I made charitable contributions from my IRA directly to the charity (to reduce the amount of RMD and taxable income) in 2020. Should I enter those contributions into TT?

macuser_22

Alumni - Champ

Yes it must be entered to get the credit.

Enter your 1099-R and the QCD question is after the RMD question.

If you do not get it then:

2020 TurboTax presently has a bug the prevents it from asking the necessary question for those with birthdates between July 1, 1949 and June 30, 1950. As a workaround for this, with the CD/download version you can provide the QCD-amount information on the 1099-R in forms mode or in any version of TurboTax you can temporarily change your birthdate in TurboTax to something before July 1, 1949, edit the 1099-R form in TurboTax and answer the question asking how much was transferred to charity, then change your birthdate in TurboTax back to your actual birthdate.

This is due to TurboTax implementing the new IRA RMD age from 70 1/2 to 72, but overlooking that the 70 1/2 age for the QCD did not change. The TurboTax QCD question is tied to the RMD question so if you don't get the RMD question you will not get the QCD question either. This should be fixed in a future update - no telling when, but there is no downside to the workaround as long as the correct DOB is changed back after entering the QCD.

**Disclaimer: This post is for discussion purposes only and is NOT tax advice. The author takes no responsibility for the accuracy of any information in this post.**

wl39Author

Level 2

My 1099-R did not include the contributions made directly to charities in box 1 gross distributions or box 2a taxable amount. It seems that I would be getting double credit for the donations if I included the amounts in TT as charitable contributions -- once for a reduction in 1099-R income and again as a deduction. ???

macuser_22

Alumni - Champ

@wl39 wrote:

My 1099-R did not include the contributions made directly to charities in box 1 gross distributions or box 2a taxable amount. It seems that I would be getting double credit for the donations if I included the amounts in TT as charitable contributions -- once for a reduction in 1099-R income and again as a deduction. ???

The QCD amount must be included in the 1099-R box 1 amount since it is part of the distribution from the It must be a direct trustee of your IRA to the trustee of the charity transfer and you never see the money.

There is nothing on a 1099-R that designates a QCD - you must report that on the 1040 form.

If you are claiming it as a QCD then it reduced the taxable amount of the IRA distribution in the 1040 line 4b.

You CANNOT also enter it as a schedule A charitable donation - one or the other, not both. A QCD is a dollar-to-dollar tax reduction and a Schedule A deduction is not.

**Disclaimer: This post is for discussion purposes only and is NOT tax advice. The author takes no responsibility for the accuracy of any information in this post.**