topic $300 charitable deduction showing even though I itemized in Get your taxes done using TurboTax

$300 charitable deduction showing even though I itemized

cazimmer1 — Sat, 30 Jan 2021 22:24:43 GMT

I am itemizing and not taking the standard deduction. Why is the $300 charitable contribution showing as a deduction on 1040 line10b?

Re: $300 charitable deduction showing even though I itemized

KrisD15 — Sun, 31 Jan 2021 04:33:13 GMT

It should be on line 10b but not be added nor carried to 10c.

The total amount of contributions should show on your Schedule A.

The new "up to $300 above the line cash charity donation" is available for tax year 2020. This allows a Taxpayer to claim up to a $300 credit which is subtracted from income on the 1040 line 10c if the Taxpayer is claiming the Standard Deduction. (If you Itemize Deductions, all your donations will be listed on Schedule A.)

Re: $300 charitable deduction showing even though I itemized

georgeJ1 — Thu, 18 Feb 2021 22:46:13 GMT

My 1040 shows $300 in 10b and 10c, even though I itemized. Schedule A's total (which includes $5K in cash charitable contributions) is shown on 1040 line 12. So it seems that TT knows I am itemizing and yet is giving me another $300 deduction.

Re: $300 charitable deduction showing even though I itemized

cazimmer1 — Thu, 18 Feb 2021 23:25:48 GMT

I had the same issue. The $300 was also carried to another sheet (maybe the Social Security worksheet? but I can't remember which sheet for sure). I literally went in and manually removed the $300 and it removed it from the other sheet as well. I never did find a way to have Turbotax programmatically remove it.

Re: $300 charitable deduction showing even though I itemized

georgeJ1 — Fri, 19 Feb 2021 01:05:27 GMT

Interesting, thanks ... haven't edited a form before but I'll give it a try.

Seems like a bug in the software ... do you know how to report bugs to Intuit?

There's going to be a lot of faulty returns this year if this isn't fixed ...

Re: $300 charitable deduction showing even though I itemized

DawnC — Fri, 19 Feb 2021 01:39:30 GMT

The entry will go away on your Form 1040 once you finish the Deductions & Credits section and click on Done or Wrap Up Tax Breaks depending on what platform you are using. After clicking on Done, TurboTax will show you a list of your itemized deductions and on the next screen, you will confirm that you are taking itemized deductions. Once you confirm this, Form 1040 will update. It won't be on Line 10b of Form 1040. But if you look at the Form 1040 worksheet, you will still see it on 10b, but that amount won't be included in the total on 10c. If you attempted to file with the amount still in both places, you would receive an error, so rest assured that your tax return can't get filed with the contributions in both places... 😉

On the main Deductions and Credits page, scroll all the way down to the bottom and click on either Done or Wrap Up Tax Breaks to be taken to the deduction confirmation pages.

Since you are itemizing, you should see the cash contributions only on Schedule A. @georgeJ1

Reminder - For cash donations under $250, you'll either need a bank record (like a canceled check or bank statement) or a written acknowledgment from the charity which includes the date and amount of your contribution. Bank records are insufficient for cash donations of $250 or more. Instead, you'll need something in writing from the charity which includes the date and amount of your donation.

Re: $300 charitable deduction showing even though I itemized

georgeJ1 — Fri, 19 Feb 2021 17:04:28 GMT

Thanks @DawnC , I got it to work with your help.

I'm using the download version ... after pressing the button to check the return for errors it then put up the 1040 highlighting the $300 and said it should be blank. I changed it to 0, reran and it had the same complaint ... so I blanked it out and that worked.

I would still call this a bug since it is requiring me to delete something it put in there (!) but am relieved it got to the right place in the end.