Where do I get credit for a direct contribution from my required minimum distribution sent directly to a charity

TurboTax will not pick up a transfer to your church as a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD).  In order to properly report a QCD in TurboTax, you will need to

1. enter your Form 1099-R.  Your Form  1099-R must have code 7, and the IRA/Simple box must be checked. 
2. In addition, you must be at least age 70 1/2 (according to the date of birth in TurboTax) at the end of the tax year.   
3. You will be asked any of your distribution was transferred to charity. 
4. If you answer yes,the next screen will ask how much you transferred to charity.
5. The next screen will let you know that the amount you transferred to charity is designated as a QCD (if you qualify for a QCD).
6. This is the only place that you will actually see QCD mentioned.

My 1099 downloaded from my 401K shows total gross distributions, including charitable contributions I've made directly from the 401K.  I thus have not included them in contributions.  Should I subtract them from the reported distributions, or is there a place in turbotax to do that?

 

@gwillenbor

 

No, enter your 1099-R as is.

 

After you enter the 1099-R, the next screen will ask you if the IRA was inherited. The screen after that will ask you about RMD (but only if you were 70 1/2 last year). The screen after that will ask you if you gave any of this distribution to charity (again, only if you were 70 1/2 last year). This is where you enter the QCD amount.

 

Note that this "deduction" does not appear on your return, like on Schedule A.

 

Instead, the distribution minus the amount for the QCD is added to line 4b on the 1040. That is, TurboTax will not report the QCD amount as taxable income.