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Level 2

Question

Charitable Cash Contribution Too Large

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
February 4, 2021
6 replies
0 views

I have itemized deductions. Contributions are significantly less than my AGI. But I'm still getting the error that the cash contributions are too large. No single contribution was larger than $250.

tparmaAuthor

Level 2

To clarify, I had deleted the $300 standard deduction and the contributions are approximately 5% of my AGI. Message still appears.

Cynthiad66

Level 14

Please ensure that you entered the cash contribution while claiming the Standard Deduction not under the Itemized Deduction.

Please follow these steps to enter the charitable cash contribution for 10b :

Login to your TurboTax Account
Click "Federal" from the left side of your screen
Click “Deductions &Credits” on the top
Scroll all the way down and click the "Wrap up tax breaks" button
Continue until the "Charitable Cash Contributions under Cares Act" screen
Enter your charitable cash contributions.

For this year, even if you don’t itemize, you may take a charitable deduction of up to $300 for cash contributions made in 2020 to qualified organizations.

You're not allowed to deduct cash or property given directly to another person, family, or group that isn't a qualified organization.

[edited 2/8/21 | 3:41 pst]

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tparmaAuthor

Level 2

Cynthia, thank you for the response, but it doesn't answer my question.

I am using TurboTax Deluxe 2020 on a Mac and just updated it. I have entered all of my information and qualify for itemized deductions. Line 10b on my 1040 is blank. The entry on Line 12 of the 1040 is just over $36K. My Schedule A Line 11 shows $15K+ and Line 12 shows $1K.

When I run the error check, I still get the message, "Check This Entry - 1040/1040SR Wks: Cash Charitable is too large. Cash Charitable = 15,255." I don't understand why it's giving me this message.

upsetclient

Level 2

Same thing happened to me...I was unable to proceed with e-filing because of the glitch, so I had to enter ZERO, which changed my refund amount. thanks Turbo Tax!!!

kaukabhishek

Level 2

Looks like once you enter a non-zero value, you cannot revert it back to any other value.

I constantly get this error which I cannot make it go away.

Turbotax, please fix this ASAP. Otherwise, you will lose me.

Thanks.

ReneeM7122

Level 9

The workaround is to delete the non-zero value in the error check. Then go back to Deductions & Credits and enter the zero there, in the Donations to Charity topic. Then click Done with Donations.

The contribution will not appear on Form 1040 line 10b. The error you saw should only get 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 should not get flagged if you enter it in Donations to Charity.

@kaukabhishek

kaukabhishek

Level 2

When I follow your instructions I get the following information on the Donations page (please see below). No matter what I do this bug is bugging me every time. I also had an agent on the phone for over 2 hours to fix it but no luck. Can't believe Turbo Tax still ignores to fix this issue.

You may not need to enter donations. We'll ask you about this later.

Earlier you told us you had less than $5,000 of charitable donations in 2020.

You're already getting your biggest deduction with the $24,800 Standard Deduction, which is more than all of your estimated itemized deductions, including this one.

This year, you can also take a deduction of up to $300 for certain cash donations in addition to the Standard Deduction. We'll ask you about these kinds of donations later. For now, we'll take you back to Deductions & Credits so you can get all of the deductions you deserve.

lindasue-net

Level 2

After trying every possibility and google search, this is what finally worked for me:

There are a few work arounds for when this happens. This was a known error and now has been corrected. But sometimes the first set of steps still does not work.

Click Deductions and Credits
Select Review/Edit
Click Edit to the right of Standard Deduction
Click OK, Sounds Good
Click Wrap Up Tax Breaks
Click Continue
Make sure that $300 is filled in and then click Continue
Click Lets Keep Going

Jojoclick

Level 2

No matter what I do I still get the "Charitable Cash Contribution Too Large" error. I went under "Deductions and Credits" but could not find the "Review/edit" to click on. When I click on just "review" or "federal review" I keep getting the same error. PLEASE TT...fix this. It's really annoying. None of the work arounds worked for me.

KrisD15

Level 15

To edit the number on line 10, please follow these steps:

TurboTax ONLINE

Click Tax Tools on the left side bar

Click Tools from the drop-down

Click the "Topic Search" box on the screen

Type or scroll down to standard deduction and exemptions

Click GO

The next screen gives you an option to change your selection from Standard to Itemized and back. You do not need to change your selection

Scroll down to the bottom of that screen and click CONTINUE

The next screen is the Charitable Cash Contributions under Cares Act screen

IF YOU ARE CLAIMING STANDARD DEDUCTION enter the amount of cash contributions you made, up to 300

IF YOU ARE ITEMIZING DEDUCTIONS enter 0

Scroll down and click Continue

Click Continue on the next screen

DESKTOP

Go to Step-By-Step input (top right corner)

Click Federal

Click Deductions & Credits along the top

Click “I’ll choose what I work on”

Edit or Update Donations to Charity in 2020 if needed, up to 300 for Standard Deduction filers, 0 for Itemized Deduction,

then click “Done with Charitable Donations”

Scroll down the “Your 2020 Deductions & Credits” screen and click “Done with Deductions”

Click Continue on the “Let’s Check Your Deductions and Credits” screen

Continue through the following interview questions until you get to the “Here Are Your 2020 Deductions & Credits” screen

Click Continue

If the next screen says “The Standard deduction is Right for You!” click Continue

ON THE NEXT SCREEN enter the cash contribution made in 2020 up to 300 and click Continue

(if Itemizing, enter 0)

Your 1040 should update

“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.) “

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heatherj1

Level 2

If this is a "known software issue" over a month ago - why hasn't it been fixed yet? Neither the solution nor the workaround are working for me; in any case, a workaround shouldn't be necessary, since your entire job is making taxes easy with this software, isn't it?

JamesG1

Level 15

@heathernjob

Perhaps this will be helpful.

If you are in TurboTax Online, the screen Charitable Cash Contributions under CARES Act appears as the end of Deductions & Credits. First you have to pass the screen Based on what you told us, the standard deduction is best for you at the end of Deductions & Credits.

But you have to qualify for the standard deduction before the screen appears. So you may want to change the value of one or more itemized deductions to $1 so that you qualify for the standard deduction.

Follow these steps:

At the top of the screen, click on Deductions & Credits.
Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on Wrap up tax breaks.
Continue through several screens.
At the screen Based on what you told us, the standard deduction is best for you, click Continue.
At the screen Any Charitable Cash Contributions? delete the dollar amount.
Continue through Federal Review to make sure that things look correct.
Then restore your itemized deductions dollar amounts.

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Blackstar22

Level 2

welp I have now wasted about 2 hours trying to get the god forsaken Charitable cash contribution fixed and am now giving up. It has cost me about $60-$70. Shocking this has been a known bug and not fixed. Seeing red and likely will not be back to Turbotax next year after years of loyalty (&*!@^%!R@(*!

Cynthiad66

Level 14

Yes. There is an issue with the contributions deduction and TurboTax is working to fix it. We do not have an estimated date of correction, at this time. I suggest you check back often to see if the correction has been made.

There is a problem with the Contributions section of the Itemized deductions and also the above the line $300.00 deduction. Because of the many changes due to the CARES Act, IRS is still developing the forms and publications on this issue. Last update was January 13th where everything is still in draft. Once IRS finalizes the forms, we will be able to update TurboTax to accurately reflect your Contributions deduction.

Here are some of the changes due to the CARES ACT

The new legislation allows tax deductions on two types of charitable gifts. First, it allows up to $300 given to a qualified charity to be claimed as an above-the-line deduction. After the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which went into effect in 2018, increased the standard deduction, many taxpayers had less incentive to donate to charities. Instead, they took the standard deduction and stopped itemizing.

For taxpayers who will itemize deductions, the CARES Act effectively suspends the limit on deductions for cash contributions to public charities for 2020. “That allows individuals to completely wipe out their AGI, and their tax liability, with a charitable contribution.

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YgodY

Level 2

Thanks for copying and pasting the same useless response once a month while the number of days remaining until Tax Day continues to dwindle. Your colleagues have been working on a solution for 4 months and still haven't found it and still can't estimate when they might. What happens if it isn't fixed by 5/17?