Why does it say "Charitable contributions has an unacceptable value" and I have $0 in contributions? Referring to 1040/1040SR WKS

[ReneeM7122]

There is a known issue in the software due to the CARES Act allowing non-itemizers to get a $300 credit for charitable donations in 2020.  The workaround is to delete the $300 in the error check. Then go back to Deductions & Credits and enter the contribution there, in the Donations to Charity topic. Then click Done with Donations and proceed through the screens until you get to the screen that tells you that TurboTax has added in the contribution.

The contribution will be back on Form 1040 line 10b, but it won't be flagged as an error. It only gets flagged if you enter it when prompted after you finish Deductions & Credits and the software tells you that you are getting the standard deduction. It will not get flagged if you enter it in Donations to Charity.

If you are itemizing, the workaround is to make the software stop treating you as an itemizer, which it must in order to get this $300 credit for you.  Here's what to do:

1. Delete the $300 in the error check.
2. Then go back to Deductions & Credits and enter the contribution there, in the Donations to Charity topic.
3. Then click Done with Donations and proceed through the screens until you get to the screen that tells you that TurboTax has added in the contribution.

 The contribution will be back on Form 1040 line 10b, but it won't be flagged as an error. It only gets flagged if you enter it when prompted after you finish Deductions & Credits and the software tells you that you are getting the standard deduction. It will not get flagged if you enter it in Donations to Charity.

 You can also try clearing your cache.

Your browser stores recently visited webpages as temporary files in a cache, which enables the pages to load more quickly when revisited.

However, a full or corrupted cache can cause problems in TurboTax, so sometimes you need to clear your cache (that is, remove these temporary files).

Here are the official instructions for the most popular browsers:

• Google Chrome
• Mozilla Firefox
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 (use the drop-down on the upper right corner of that page for earlier versions)
• Microsoft Edge

Apple's official support site doesn't appear to contain instructions for clearing the cache in Safari. Your best bet is to search the Internet for clear Safari cache or similar search terms.

If your cache isn't the issue, it might be best to delete it and start again.

Next, sign back into TurboTax and try the following:

1. Go to the Deductions and Credits tab
2. Select Review/Edit
3. To the right of Standard Deduction, click Edit
4. ​​Click OK, Sounds Good when you see it.
5. Click Wrap Up Tax Breaks
6. Click Continue

The Charitable Donations question should either not appear at all, or the amount should be zero.  

If this didn't work, and you still experience the same error, try deleting a charitable donation form floating in the background:

1. Go to Tax Tools on the left panel of the screen
2. Click on Tools 
3. Click on Delete a form
4. If you see a form with a charitable donation on it, delete it and take steps 1-5 again. 

Here is a TurboTax article about charitable contributions.