topic Charitable Cash Contributions line 12b glitch? in Get your taxes done using TurboTax

Charitable Cash Contributions line 12b glitch?

m-l-j72 — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 06:29:32 GMT

I ran the review of my taxes and TurboTax found an error with what appears to be the $300 that it wants to enter on line 12b as the charitable contribution when taking the Standard Deduction. It says that since we are filing MFJ, $600 should be entered. It won't accept that either. I have gone to forms view and scrolled through Step by Step. Have I missed something or do I need to wait for a software update?

Re: Charitable Cash Contributions line 12b glitch?

RobertB4444 — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 22:02:06 GMT

@JotikaT2 has the perfect answer for this -

You can correct this by logging back into your TurboTax program and following the steps below.

Click on the Federal Taxes tab.
Select the Deductions & Credits tab.
On the screen titled How do you want to enter your deductions and credits?, select I'll choose what I work on.
Scroll down to Charitable Donations.
Select Update to the right of Donations to Charity in 2021.
You will see a screen titled Review All Your Charities.
To the right of any deductions entered, select Delete to remove any input.
You will then select Done with Charitable Donations.
On the next page (Deductions), scroll down to the bottom and click on Done with Deductions.
Proceed through the following screens until you pass the screen letting you know you are getting the Standard Deduction.
The next screen titled Charitable Cash Contributions under the Care Act will allow you to enter your charitable contributions for 2021. Enter your total cash contributions on this screen and select Continue.

This will correct the issue and allow you to continue with your tax return.

Here's a link to her original answer.

Re: Charitable Cash Contributions line 12b glitch?

m-l-j72 — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 22:35:40 GMT

Thanks for the fast reply. I followed all the steps but when I got to the last step 11, I saw nothing about the CARES stuff. It just went on to "Other Tax Situations." My 2021 Premier program seems to be missing a step!

Re: Charitable Cash Contributions line 12b glitch?

max643 — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 22:36:05 GMT

That might fix line 12b but if it's like my return in TT Basic line 12c will still be blank (it should have the total of the Standard Deduction plus the $600 charitable deduction).

Re: Charitable Cash Contributions line 12b glitch?

m-l-j72 — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 22:47:21 GMT

Re-reading your instructions, I missed that I have to delete ALL my contributions. I'll go do that and see what happens...

Re: Charitable Cash Contributions line 12b glitch?

m-l-j72 — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 23:07:07 GMT

Boom! It worked. Thanks! The $600 has stuck in box 12b without any error squawks from Review/Analysis. Should I go back into the program and re-enter my $1340 in contributions? Since I am getting the Standard Deduction, I don't think it will do anything to the results besides giving my arthritic fingers some exercise.

Re: Charitable Cash Contributions line 12b glitch?

DaveF1006 — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 23:21:26 GMT

No. Do not go back and reenter your deductions. Leave it alone just to save yourself more heartache and save those arthritic fingers for other endeavors.

Re: Charitable Cash Contributions line 12b glitch?

m-l-j72 — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 23:32:15 GMT

Thanks! I won't mess with it anymore.

Re: Charitable Cash Contributions line 12b glitch?

SteamTrain — Wed, 02 Feb 2022 00:08:13 GMT

... @DaveF1006

So those who need to use the actual Charitable Contributions for their state Itemized Deductions, for that states that allow it...have to wait until TTX fixes the software, eh?

Any timeline on that?

_____________

Having to delete all those contribution entries is definitely just a temporary workaround.

Re: Charitable Cash Contributions line 12b glitch?

GeeTX — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 19:41:02 GMT

I will wait to file and see if TT fixes the glitch, but what worked for me was to delete all my charitable contributions and then re-enter only a portion of them to equal $600 (the amount of the federal credit amount if filing a joint return with standard deduction and not itemizing). This removed the error message for me.

Re: Charitable Cash Contributions line 12b glitch?

ronaldcox3883 — Tue, 08 Feb 2022 01:08:50 GMT

This is an unbelievable, unmitigated disaster! I went through this process, deleted all my deductions on the federal side, and it messed up by state return, since the state return picks up the data from the federal part of the software. I went back and reentered the deductions in step mode, which fixed the state amount - and when I ran review line 12b was wrong again!!!!!!!!

Come on, Intuiit! FIX YOUR BUG!@!@! ... or maybe I should just cancel the download and use your competitors? If you can't fix this, what else is wrong? The "updates" used to show where the changes were being made, but this has been deleted. I am flying blind and NOT happy!!

Re: Charitable Cash Contributions line 12b glitch?

ronaldcox3883 — Tue, 08 Feb 2022 01:10:02 GMT

concur! They have a major bug and not doing anything about it

Re: Charitable Cash Contributions line 12b glitch?

ronaldcox3883 — Tue, 08 Feb 2022 01:11:06 GMT

wrong answer! If you do not reenter the data then you state return is messed up. FIX THE BUG

Re: Charitable Cash Contributions line 12b glitch?

TheRealTax2 — Wed, 09 Feb 2022 03:52:58 GMT

Changing value back to 600 at the error window and then skipping 2nd check worked. I was able to e-file while maintaining the 600 value on the fed 1040. I would advise that you read your state tax form instructions to be sure you're not required to adjust for the 600 deduction if you take this route. My state didn't mention it, unlike last year where the 300 contribution had to be added back on state return.

It takes me an hour to enter all my charitable contributions. No way I'm going to delete it. I rechecked manually form by form and line by line. All looks good.. Shame TT has to have issues every year with wild suggested fixes. Good luck guys.

Re: Charitable Cash Contributions line 12b glitch?

ticenogle — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 14:08:45 GMT

I think TT has fixed this error as of the 2/9/2022 update. At least it's working on my version (Premier).

Re: Charitable Cash Contributions line 12b glitch?

ronaldcox3883 — Fri, 11 Feb 2022 02:51:11 GMT

NO! I just updated my Deluxe version, ran "review" and it changed the $600 back to $300! I even tried calling their tech (non)support and wound up going down a rabbit hole of automated nonanswers! I have used this product for years, but next year? Honestly, if I had to choose tonight, the answer is use a competitors!

Re: Charitable Cash Contributions line 12b glitch?

ccdugga — Sun, 13 Feb 2022 17:45:31 GMT

I just updated my TT Deluxe but am still getting the error.

Re: Charitable Cash Contributions line 12b glitch?

AnnetteB6 — Mon, 14 Feb 2022 15:52:12 GMT

For the 2021 tax return using the Married Filing Joint filing status, you are allowed to deduct up to $600 in cash contributions to charity without claiming itemized deductions.

If you are using the Married Filing Joint filing status AND using the standard deduction:

As you go through your Federal return and you have entered your charitable contributions, you will not see any additional questions regarding your inputs. If your state return also allows you to deduct charitable contributions, then the amounts you entered will be taken into account on your state return.

After you have finished your state return and you are getting ready to file, when you run the final Review, you will probably see this message:

1040/1040SR Wks: Charitable Contributions: Charitable contributions has an unacceptable value

You will also see a place at the top of the screen for Charitable contributions with '300' in the box. Below that box, you can see your Form 1040 line 12a which shows the amount of your cash contributions that you already entered.

If your line 12a is greater or equal to $600, enter '600' in the box at the top of the screen.

If your line 12a is less than $600, enter your line 12a amount in the box at the top of the screen.

After changing the input at the top of the screen to the correct value, proceed through any other errors that may pop up and then move forward to file your return. It is very important that you do not revisit any other section of your return before you file or the change may not be retained or able to be changed a second time.

See the screenshot below for reference:

@ronaldcox3883

@ccdugga

Re: Charitable Cash Contributions line 12b glitch?

marbar8 — Tue, 15 Feb 2022 16:05:35 GMT

PLEASE fix the bug for those of us who need the charitable contributions for State Returns. PLEASE!

Re: Charitable Cash Contributions line 12b glitch?

sschokora — Wed, 16 Feb 2022 01:26:57 GMT

Nope, still glitching on my Deluxe version.