How do you enter a qualified charitable distribution in Turbo Tax? I have looked a prior answers which don't match up with how the 1099-R form works. Please help.

[DaveF1006]

if you are over 70 1/2 and if you selected yes to the question that asks if  some or all of this withdrawal is an RMD, the very next question will ask if there is a Transfer to Charity.  This is where you will enter the information.

[colemanje]

This a beneficiary IRA and it just asks if the person was born before 1947, which they were. It does not give me the option to donate the RMD, so I went to the form and did it there, but it comes up red, which I was expecting, and it does not give me the option to override, so it will come up on the review.

[DMarkM1]

First, yes in the desktop version the QCD question does not come up as in the online version. 

Try this:

In the desktop version delete the 1099R and start over in step-by-step re-entering the 1099-R information.  Be sure you have indicated it is an IRA as well and the distribution is RMD and all RMD. 

Next, in forms mode find the specific form 1099-R in question. Enter the QCD amount in the line that reads "Enter distributions made directly by the trustee to a qualified charitable organization."   

[sscarl39]

The 1099-R shows just the gross distribution portion left that to be taxed.  Shouldn't it show the total gross distribution for the 2019 required to take?

[RobertG]

The Required Minimum Distribution, RMD, is not shown on the 1099-R.

RMD rules apply to all employer-sponsored retirement plans such as pensions, profit-sharing, 401(k), 403(b), and 457(b) plans, as well as Traditional IRAs and IRA-based plans such as SEPs, SARSEPs, and SIMPLE IRAs. However, RMDs aren't required for Roth IRAs while the owner is still alive.

Your 1099-R issuer is required to follow RMD rules and regulations, so if you received a distribution and you're at least 70 1/2 years young, you can be almost certain you received an RMD. Check with your plan administrator if you're still not sure.

[secondtimothy]

Help.  I ran a software update.  My birthday in the profile clearly shows that I am over 70 1/2.  I deleted the 1099R and reentered it.  I ran through all the follow up screens in the interview process.  The last screen asked if I transferred funds to another IRA or "did something else".  The program never asks if I contributed any to charity.  Is there any way to override this so my taxes show that I made a QCD?

[LinaJ2020]

If you are using the desktop version, you could but I would not recommend.  Overrides are only available in the desktop versions, and by doing so revokes the TurboTax accuracy guarantee.  It also prevents e-filing as well. 

To reach to the screen asking about the charity, here are the steps:

In TurboTax online,

• Sign in to your account, follow prompts
• From the upper right menu, select Search and type in 1099r and Enter
• Select the Jump to 1099r
• Follow prompts
• On screen, Tell us if any of these uncommon situations apply, make your selection.  See image
• Follow prompts, next screen, How much did XXX transfer directly to charity? See image 

 

If you are still unable to resolve it, you may want to consider our TurboTaxLive ( Under Real tax experts help 
or do it for you) product line to file your 2020 taxes.  Once you complete your taxes, before you file, you’ll be given the option for a final review of your return by one of our tax professionals.  They should be able to walk you through the process to locate the IRA charity screens.

Here are the details:

https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/6071042 

[Luther56]

I have the same concern as "secondthimothy" about recording QCD amount.  I am using the desktop Window version of TurboTax Premier 2020.  Is the 1099-R screen been updated for 2020 because the state information section calling for boxes 14-16 on my 2020 1099-R from Thrivent Financial  have that information in boxes 12-14.

I turned 70.5 on December 1, 2020, yet I get no question about any by my distribution being made to a qualified charity as part of the entry screens.

I also don't feel the advise to use TurboTax online as acceptable.  I paid for the desktop version and expect it to work properly

[Luther56]

from Luther 56;  please disregard the question about boxes 15-17 being different than my Thrivent Financial 1099-R ( seems like Thrivent has used a different format in other years too)

Question still remains why I don't get the section to enter my QCD this year as I have passed my 70.5 birthday and made the QCD's after that 70.5 date but before the end of 2020.  My birth year was 1950

[secondtimothy]

I think I solved this riddle.  It appears Turbo Tax has tied the QCD screens to the RMD.  If you don't have to take an RMD, they don't ask about QCD.  I discovered this by making Turbotax think I'm older than 72 (I changed my birthday in Turbotax) and Voila! the RMD screen now appears and after it asks about RMD it asks how much of the RMD was sent to a qualified charity.  I still believe this is a programming error in the Turbotax desktop version that they should fix because anyone not up on the tax law can miss this valuable deduction.

Even though the new RMD start age is 72, if you have reached age 70½ by the end of 2020, you can still do a QCD. However, since you won't owe an RMD at this point, you cannot offset any RMD. But you can still do up to $100,000 from the IRA to a charity and not have the distribution included in taxable income.

Get with it Turbotax!

[disabato05]

WE have this exact same problem.  The only way we got it to take the Distribution from the IRA as a QCD was to change the birthdate to over 72.  Then the follow up question for RMD and QCD comes up.  This must be a bug in the Turbo Tax system because the tax law says you can take a QCD at 70 1/2 even though you are not required to take a RMD until 72.  When will Turbo Tax be fixing this bug???

[macuser_22]

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@disabato05 wrote:

WE have this exact same problem.  The only way we got it to take the Distribution from the IRA as a QCD was to change the birthdate to over 72.  Then the follow up question for RMD and QCD comes up.  This must be a bug in the Turbo Tax system because the tax law says you can take a QCD at 70 1/2 even though you are not required to take a RMD until 72.  When will Turbo Tax be fixing this bug???

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I don't know when, but they know about it. 

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.

[CowboyFrankie]

Switching to Forms view and entering the total for QCDs on the associated 1099-R worksheet seems to do the trick, and you don't need to lie about your age.  😉  It still IS a bug, though.

[secondtimothy]

I tried that but it did not work for me.  First after I put in the amount from the 1099R, I could not put 0 in line 4b (taxable amount) without an override and second I found NO way to put the annotation QCD on line 4b as directed by IRS instructions.   However as soon as I changed my age, those lines were filled in properly by Turbotax through the interview process.

Then after I had it entered correctly, I went back and changed my age back.  When I fixed my age to the proper age, the forms remained the same (correct).  So I am not lying about my age to the IRS.  Only briefly to Turbotax to work around their bug.

[CowboyFrankie]

Hmmm, that's odd.  Here's how I did it:

1.  Opened the return in Forms View.

2.  Selected the 1099-R at issue from the left-hand list of forms, which opened the 1099-R form itself.

3.  Scrolled down past the actual 1099-R data fields to what I'm guessing is page 2 of the form, which has separate sections for inherited IRA, insurance, Qualified Charitable Distribution and RMD data.

4.  In the QCD section, I entered the total amount of QCDs for the year as a lump sum in the data block provided.

The software immediately recalculated my federal refund in the window at the top of the page.