Charitable Deductions

[sjh518]

Regarding the $300/600 charitable deduction allowed if you take the standard deduction, I noticed that on the 2021 Form 1040 this deduction is AFTER Adjusted Gross Income whereas in 2020 it was BEFORE Adjusted Gross Income.  I realize this has no immediate impact on taxable income, but it does impact the amount of income used to calculate Medicare Premiums in future years.  This deduction started in 2020 under the CARES Act and was extended to 2021 through the Consolidated Appropriations Act.  Every article I read says the deduction is BEFORE AGI.  Does anyone know why it moved to AFTER AGI.  I called the IRS with no explanation and cannot find anything on their website or any GOOGLE search that supports the movement.  Anybody know why?

[BillM223]

There was a discussion last tax year about the location of this deduction (line 10b, before the Adjusted Gross Income in 2020). It was argued that the way that the IRS designed the 1040 was inequitable - see this discussion (starting with the February 11, 2021 post). The discussion (which I was a part of) concluded that TurboTax was doing the 2020 return the way that the IRS coded the forms and the instructions, even if the IRS designs didn't make sense or were "inequitable".

From seeing the 2021 1040 form where, as you note, this charitable deduction has been placed after the Adjusted Gross income, I would venture to say that either the IRS decided that the 2020 layout led to inequities or that the Consolidated Appropriations Act caused it to be moved. 

On the face of it, it does make sense to place the $300/$600 charitable deduction next to Itemed/Standard Deductions (2021), as opposed to 2020 that put the charitable deductible as an adjustment to gross income which the Itemized/Standard Deductions is not...

I don't expect the IRS to make any comment on this...they're rather busy....