Charitable contributions deduction problems/errors

Further to this message, it appears that Turbotax has changed how carryforward amounts are displayed on Schedule A from showing the total amount of the carryforward from prior years to just the amount of the carryforward used in the current year.  

But what still seems odd is that when I designate a portion of my cash donations in 2021 for 100% deduction, the software allows use of a portion of the current year appreciated securities donations, along with a portion of the carryforward for appreciated securities from prior years. 

This seems odd; I'm not expert, but does anyone know if this is correct?  

Turbotax team, can you respond?  Wondering if there is a software calculation issue involving the of use of carryforwards and the interplay with the 100% deduction opportunity.

Further to my two messages above, I'm wondering if the problem is with the data calculated as presented in the "Charitable Deduction Limits Worksheet for Carryover Contributions."

Simply put, Turbotax is allowing me to deduct a partial deduction from current year appreciated securities donations as well as the same amount from carry forwards of the same type of donation.

Turbotax team?

I think to best diagnose your issue, I'd like to see the inputs on your tax return. You can send us a “diagnostic” file that has your “numbers” but not your personal information.  If you would like to do this, here are the instructions: 

Go to the black panel on the left side of your program and select Tax Tools. 

1. Then select Tools below Tax Tools. 
2. A window will pop up which says Tools Center.  
3. On this screen, select Share my file with Agent. 
4. You will see a message explaining what the diagnostic copy is.  Click okay through this screen and then you will get a Token number. 
5. Reply to this thread with your Token number. This will allow us to open a copy of your return without seeing any personal information.  

We will then be able to see exactly what you are seeing and we can determine what exactly is going on in your return and provide you with a resolution. 

Thanks - I already provided this as part of INV #18814.

It appears to me that there is an error in how the use of prior year carryforwards is computed. 

I received the note below and then followed up by calling again saying that the error wasn't fixed (and I wasn't sure what this note really meant in terms of next steps):

Hello,

Thanks for letting us know about your issue with your charity contributions carryover. We apologize for any inconvenience this caused.

We appreciate your patience while we looked into your issue. After investigating the issue, we found that this information is pulled from the 2020 Carryover Worksheet.

If you’re still having trouble or there’s something else we can help you with, feel free to give us a call.

Thank you,

The TurboTax Help Team

All charitable contributions from the current year must be deducted within the same category before using any carryover contributions from prior years. When I put in some test numbers in TurboTax, it calculated correctly. 

Did your charitable deduction seems to be drawing partially from prior-year contributions of capital gains before deducting the entire current year's capital gains donation? If so, maybe if you delete the prior-year ones and put them back in, it will calculate correctly. 

The system is allowing a partial current appreciated security donation (which appears correct) and a partial use of a prior year carry forward for appreciated securities donations in the exact same amount (which seems erroneous).  I already tried deleting and reentering all charitable donation data.  I am guessing based on reviewing the worksheet for prior carry forward donations that something is incorrect with the calculation of the use of prior year carry forwards.  See previous note from TurboTax team.

Can you find an item in your charitable contribution carryover worksheet that seems to be miscalculating?

Mine is correctly using the entire charitable contribution in 2021 of $34,000 of 30% AGI limit prior to using any of the carryover from 2020. 

If my entries are different than yours, please let me know so that I can re-create the error. 

It looks to me that there are errors in lines 24 and 26, but hard to know where exactly the problem is without auditing the entire schedule/process of determining using prior year carryforwards.  What I do know is that I don't think I should able to use ANY prior years apprec. sec. carry forwards, and my current apprec.security deductions should be limited.  

The current year amounts seem correct; the error I think is that the system is allowing use of a prior year carryforward when it shouldn't.  It is exactly the same amount as the partial current year appreciated security deduction.

If you look at my return, I think the combination of cash and appreciated sec deductions should be limited to 50% of AGI plus any cash deductions elected for 100% deduction.  The return currently exceeds this amount by the amount of the use of the calculated allowable prior year carryforward for appreciated securities.

So, I know what item I think is incorrect but not where in Turbotax it is being calculated.  Someone who really understands the "Charitable Deduction Limits Worksheet for Carryover Contributions" should be able to identify this.

Were you able to see the protected copy of my return data previously provided?

I am having a similar problem. My actual charitable contributions are about 75% of my AGI. That is being capped at 50% of AGI on Schedule A Line 11, then another equal amount of 50% of AGI (from 2017) is listed as carryover on Line 13. That puts my charitable donation deduction at 100% of AGI, but I also have property taxes of $10,000, so TurboTax is burning $10,000 of my charitable deductions carryover plus killing the effect of a foreign tax credit from some mutual fund dividends I have. How do I reduce the carryover amount? I cannot override it on Schedule A and there is no discernible way to do it in the Easy Step. Turbo Tax Team?

I am also having similar problems with the Charitable Deduction Limits Worksheet for Carryover Contributions.

I have determined that there is an error on line 39; this is line 53 on the IRS worksheet.  This throws off all the following calculations.

TT experts:  shall I open another case, so that we do not confuse the topic with the one under discussion with Mike S2?

There are additional problems in the forms, with the use of carryover from previous years.

TT experts: do you prefer to have a separate case for additional issues?

Yes, please open up a case if there are problems in the forms with use of carryover from previous years.

Thanks you,

Susan JR

I am searching for how to do that!  Please help!

Thanks for the additional comments/insight.  After several phone calls trying to get help, I did speak yesterday with a Turbotax tax expert (Marty) and he understands my specific issues noted above.  I am expecting to hear back from him.  

It sounds like a comprehensive review of the Turbotax charitable deduction carryover worksheets/process is in order.

Turbotax team, please make sure Marty (re: INV 18814) is informed of the additional comments noted above.  Thanks.

@SusanJR 

How can I open a case?

@mike s2 
Mike,

How did you open this case?

I would like to open a similar, parallel case.

While logged in to Turbotax, I entered questions into the ? tab at the upper right corner.  Eventually if you say "that didn't help" to enough questions an option should appear for someone to call you back.  I did this a few times but have to say spent at least a few hours in total talking to people who tried to be helpful but didn't understand the topic.  They may want to share screens and look at your input which is useless in solving the issue and they can't see a return file if you pull it up.  

I would strongly suggest that you simply say that there is a similar case outstanding (INV 18814) and insist on speaking with Marty (last name not provided) a tax expert working on that investigation.  That's the best advise I can offer.  Maybe someone else has a different suggestion.

Thanks, Mike, for the advice and tips on how to get help with these issues.

After getting in to the details, I have also found errors were in the 2020 return that I did not notice last year.

Thanks for starting your thread.

I have started a second thread (Error in Calculation of Charitable Deduction Limits Worksheet) and am investigating even another problem which may lead to a third one.

Thanks for your help.

@RaifH 

This may be due to another case I opened last night (Error in Calculation of Charitable Deduction Limits Worksheet) where the current year deduction is not calculated properly if there is certain carry over data.

@RaifH 

Thanks for sharing these instructions, but they see to apply only to the online version.

Could you send the instructions on how to share from the downloaded version?

Thank you.

David

Is anyone other than Mike and me watching this thread?

Its been over two weeks with no attention to these issues.

Re: Charitable contributions deduction problems/errors 

Mike, 

I have continued studying this, since I am desperate and not getting any answers from TT :(

I believe the whole TT worksheet (Charitable Deduction Limits Worksheet for Carryover Contributions" which you displayed is incorrect, in that

(1) it does not match the IRS worksheet format and calculation in Pub 526.

(2) Pub 526 clearly states that this work sheet is NOT for use with carryover amounts from the prior year, as stated on page 17: "You can't use this worksheet if you have a carryover of a charitable contribution from an earlier year."  That worksheet is only for current year.  TT puts prior year numbers into the worksheet.

(3) TT seems to be calculating carryover to next year somewhere internally, and it is claiming too many deductions in my case, so that some are wasted and not deductible, since they exceed income.

Note that the order for use of carryover contributions is also clear in Pub 526, page 19: "For each category of contributions, you deduct carryover contributions only after deducting all allowable contributions in that category for the current year. If you have carryovers from 2 or more prior years, use the carryover from the earlier year first.

I am having a similar problem.

TurboTax 2020 overcalculated the amount of allowable noncash charitable contributions on my 2020 return.  It gave me a much higher deduction than is allowed by IRS, so now I must file a 1040x to make the correction.  The program is not allowing it.

Can someone contact me to get this fixed.  I have uploaded the return information and it can be found under Token # 973439.  I don't have a lot of time to blog about this so a call would be prefered.  [phone number removed].

Thank you.

@medsmrc1 

That is exactly r ight and the same issue I am facing. It has been hard to get any attention. But I now have an open case on this topic. I will let you know

  Did you subscribe to the  audit coverage. If you did your chances are better in getting a response. I am relying on the 100% Accurate Guarantee and they are not highly responsive yet.