How do I indicate a Charitable Contribution from an IRA? Brokerage firms do not show Charitable Contributions on their 1099-R or exclude them from the 1099-R.

[S-MCDUCK]

On TurboTax there is no opportunity to indicate an IRA Charitable Contribution.  I did find options for indicating Health Savings Accounts, Hurricane or Wildfire Distributions.

[mesquitebean]

There is a way to do it with TurboTax.  I'm going to ask one of the SuperUsers quite familiar with that section to assist you in this forum later today.

@dmertz Are you able to assist in this thread when you are next in the forum?    Thanks.

[dmertz · Accepted solution]

For reporting a Qualified Charitable Distribution, you should have been presented with the Transfer to Charity? page in the follow-up to entering the Form 1099-R, presented immediately prior to the page for indicating an HSA Funding Distribution.  Simply indicate the amount that was transferred from the IRA directly to the charity.

Tax only asks the charity question if the distribution is from a traditional IRA and you were age 70½ or over.  For other types of accounts or if you were under age 70½ you'll need to report the distribution as a regular charitable contribution deduction on Schedule A.

[S-MCDUCK]

This answer was exactly what I needed to know.  To avoid confusion, TurboTax should include this information with those under age 70 1/2 along with the options for indicating Health Savings Accounts, Hurricane or Wildfire Distributions.

[jdo]

Agree with you completely!! Turbo Tax is really behind the times here with their software. Question their commitment to us users/

[robertd959]

My wife meets all the qualifications like over 70 1/2 ( she's 71 as of 12/31/2020) etc but Turbo Tax for 2020 does not direct me to the Transfer to Charity page follow up when entering the Form 1099-R. Why is this?

[dmertz]

For those with a birthdate between July 1, 1949 and June 30, 1950, 2020 TurboTax presently (now version R15) has a bug the prevents it from asking the necessary question regard transfer of the distribution to charity. 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 wife's 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 wife's birthdate back in TurboTax back to your wife's actual birthdate.

[robertd959]

Do you think Turbo Tax will correct this in their online version at some time?

[LinaJ2020]

TurboTax Free Edition online does not support the IRA charity situation.  You will need to upgrade to the Deluxe or above edition.  It will show under the Uncommon situations screen. See image

We will submit it to request for the fix.  Thank you for your patience.

[robertd959]

Thanks for your response. I am using the Premier edition. I see the screen shot you sent when I change my year born back one year, but then it now thinks that I've been making an RMD last year which is now incorrect for the correct year I was born. Hope they find a way to correct this problem before the rest of my forms are available.

[dmertz]

 Nothing about any other year's RMD appears on your current year's tax return.  TurboTax does not calculate RMDs, it only reports what you tell it.  Simply change your year of birth, enter the QCD, then change your year of birth back.  Doing so allows you to report the distribution as a QCD and nothing else on your tax return is affected.  If by "last year" you mean 2020, if TurboTax asks how much of the distribution was RMD, answer None.  If you encounter TurboTax's page that asks if you completed your RMD for the year, simply answer that you did.

[joelpitt]

I have seen the answers about the charitable deduction in you Q&A section, but what is being said is incorrect.  No further question comes up after putting in the IRA distribution 1099.  I have the Home and Business edition.  Does this need to be fixed in an update by you?

[macuser_22]

Yes.  Read the answers above your question.

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.

[vicalitb]

I am working on my 2020 return with Turbotax DeLuxe Version.  I was born before 1949 so the bug does not apply to me.  I have followed your instructions to enter the QCD amounts from my traditional IRA accounts in the "Transfer to Charity?" page and Turbotax  acknowledged that the amounts will be considered as non-taxable.  However, at the end of the Income section, Turbotax shows that  Line 4a of form 1040 IRA Distributions and Line 4b Taxable amount are identical though the word QCD is printed next to Line 4b,  In other words the non-taxable QCDs have not be entered by the software.  How may I correct this?

[macuser_22]

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@vicalitb wrote:

I am working on my 2020 return with Turbotax DeLuxe Version.  I was born before 1949 so the bug does not apply to me.  I have followed your instructions to enter the QCD amounts from my traditional IRA accounts in the "Transfer to Charity?" page and Turbotax  acknowledged that the amounts will be considered as non-taxable.  However, at the end of the Income section, Turbotax shows that  Line 4a of form 1040 IRA Distributions and Line 4b Taxable amount are identical though the word QCD is printed next to Line 4b,  In other words the non-taxable QCDs have not be entered by the software.  How may I correct this?

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Do yiu have more than one 1099-R.   Try deleting the 1099-R and view the 1040 to be sure line 4 is blank.  Then re-enter.    The QCD amount should not be on line 4b - I know of no problems in this area.