Regarding the charitable donation deduction related to the Cares Act, the issue is the order of operations. TurboTax is interpreting the entry as an override.
To clear the entry error for the Cares Act above-the-line deduction, leave it blank or do not otherwise adjust the amount in this box. Any donation must be entered in the regular section first or an error may result.
To qualify for the Cares Act above-the-line deduction up to $300 for all taxpayers except married filing separate, who would each have a maximum of $150, for standard deduction filers, the IRS clarifies that the contribution must be:
- a cash contribution;
- made to a qualifying organization;
- made during the calendar year 2020
To enter charitable donations in TurboTax, follow these steps:
- From the left menu, select Federal.
- Four tabs will appear across the top of your program. Select the second tab, Deductions & Credits.
- Scroll to Charitable Donations and select Start to begin.
- Answer Yes to Do you want to enter your donations for 2020?
- For each donation, follow these steps:
- Enter who the donation was to at Let's enter your donations one at a time and indicate what type of item was donated, either an Item, Money, Stock, or Mileage and travel expenses
- Follow the prompts from there, and enter the amount of the donation
- When finished, select Done with This Donation.
Next, run through all the deductions and credits and click Wrap Up Tax Breaks again to trigger the Cares Act Charitable Donation screen so that it will automatically calculate. Leave this cell blank. The information entered in the regular area will be calculated automatically and the maximum allowable deduction will be added.
Do not enter anything more for the amount. If there is an amount prepopulated here, do not adjust it. Proceed through the rest of the interview.
Run the Review again. This should clear the error.
For more information, see IRS Charitable Contributions Deductions.
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