topic Re: Charitable deduction in Deductions & credits

Charitable deduction

tooleyet — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 05:22:20 GMT

I entered $600 as a chartable deduction through the Deductions and Credits page. When I finished that entry and went back to the main page, it shows my Charitable Deduction as ($2,065) If I take my $600 deduction out, it shows as ($2,665). I have no idea where that number is coming from and I can't get rid of it. What's going on?

Re: Charitable deduction

Cynthiad66 — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 19:55:56 GMT

@tooleyet sounds like you are claiming the correct amount if married filing joint. A rejection sometimes occur if the Filing Status does not match the deduction.

Ordinarily, individuals who elect to take the standard deduction cannot claim a deduction for their charitable contributions. The law now permits these individuals to claim a limited deduction on their 2021 federal income tax returns for cash contributions made to certain qualifying charitable organizations. Nearly nine in 10 taxpayers now take the standard deduction and could potentially qualify to claim a limited deduction for cash contributions.

These individuals, including married individuals filing separate returns, can claim a deduction of up to $300 for cash contributions made to qualifying charities during 2021. The maximum deduction is increased to $600 for married individuals filing joint returns.

Now, if you still have this error, please try the following steps:

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

Re: Charitable deduction

tooleyet — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 20:23:15 GMT

I had already deleted the charity (there's nothing in it now) and the line still shows a ($2,665).

Re: Charitable deduction

JohnB5677 — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 21:01:15 GMT

I'm grasping at possibilities here, but by any chance did you have a charitable carryover that came from 2020?

You can check this by going to:

Deductions and Credits.
Scroll to Charitable donations, not Donations to Charity in 2021
Charitable Donations Carryover from 2020

Re: Charitable deduction

tooleyet — Mon, 28 Mar 2022 21:30:58 GMT

John, I don't know if you saw my final post on this issue. There really was a software glitch. The Charitable Deductions smart worksheet was picking up numbers from two K-1s that I had entered. I'd be more than happy to talk to someone about this as it took me several days to finally find the problem. I have some background in interpreting financial requirements so that the IT people can understand what is needed.