Charitable donation when taking standard deduction shows $300 vs $600 on Form 1040SR line 12b

[Pet123]

Tax yr 2021

Have charitable cash donations of $860

Taking Standard deduction. Filing Jointly.

Form 1040SR line 12 b keeps showing an error.  $300 is shown for a single file vs $600 for Joint.

Have corrected it several times on the forms view but keeps going back to the $300 after I save.

Double checked charitable contribution walk through entry area. All looks OK. (The $860 I entered shows on the 1040SR form.) 

Why won't it correct?  Or something else I'm missing?

[DoninGA]

For the TurboTax desktop editions -

To remove the error I went into Forms mode and deleted the Charitable Organization Worksheet.  Then on the Form 1040 Worksheet for Line 12b removed the $300 amount so Line 12b is now blank (empty).

Going back to Step-by-Step I completed the Deductions & Credits section without entering anything for a charitable donation.  Continuing through the screens until landing on the screen labeled Charitable Cash Contributions under Cares Act, I entered $600.  Continued through Final Review without error.

For the TurboTax online editions -

The problem appears to be that a charitable donation was entered in the Deductions and Credits section of the program when you are only eligible for the Standard Deduction.

Click on Tax Tools on the left side of the online program screen

Click on Tools

Click on Delete a form

Scroll through the all the forms, schedules and worksheets listed and delete all the Charitable Organization forms listed.

When completed with removing forms click on Continue With My Return at the bottom of the list.

Click on Federal on the left side of the screen

Click on Deductions & Credits at the top of the screen

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on Wrap up tax breaks

Continue through the screens.  After the screen showing that you are getting the Standard Deduction the following screen is Charitable Cash Contributions under Cares Act.  Enter $600 if filing Jointly or $300 for all other filing status'.  The federal review and the Final Review should no longer show an error for the charitable donation.

[Pet123]

If I go into step by step charitable and delete info....   won't it delete the $860 I put in so it will not think I had cash contributions?

[DoninGA]

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@Pet123 wrote:

If I go into step by step charitable and delete info....   won't it delete the $860 I put in so it will not think I had cash contributions?

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Yes, it will delete the $860 you entered.  You will then just enter $600 since that is the maximum cash donation you can enter when filing as Married Filing Jointly and are only receiving the Standard Deduction.

[Pet123]

Thanks for help...  Deleted forms but it is pulling in a cash donation to charity from my W2.   Can I just leave that W2 portion blank or will gov. see difference?

[DoninGA]

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@Pet123 wrote:

Thanks for help...  Deleted forms but it is pulling in a cash donation to charity from my W2.   Can I just leave that W2 portion blank or will gov. see difference?

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If the donation is reported in box 14 of the W-2 that can removed without issue.

[FredWayland]

I'm having the same problem.

I can go into forms and fix this, but if I save my return and restart it is changes the charitable donation to $300 instead of $600. This is a bug in Turbotax that needs to be fixed. You should be able to enter charitable contributions and that should flow automatically to the $600 deduction for married filing jointly and not be reduced to $300.

[DaveF1006]

@FredWayland It depends. Are you entering deductions as charitable contributions? If so, you need to get rid of the charitable donations you reported.  

If you are working in Desktop, which I suspect you are first remove all charitable donations by going to federal>deductions and credits>charitable donations>Donations to Charity.

After this is done, perform the following steps while you are working in the deductions and credit section.

1. Scroll to the bottom of the page
2. Select Done with Deductions
3. Let's check your Deductions .. Continue
4. Here are your 2021 Deductions ... Continue
5. The Standard deduction is right for you ... Continue
6. GET A TAX BREAK FOR DONATING CASH TO CHARITY
7. Enter your amount

[brmwiatt]

@DaveF1006  and all other TT employee experts.

This is not an acceptable answer. While it may get your Fed 1040 to pass the reviews it mucks up state returns having charitable contributions tied to the Fed 1040line 12b value.  For example, in my IA return using this hack, Turbo Quacks will not allow me to enter a value on my IA schedule A.

Before giving hack work-arounds, first vet them.

What is need is acknowledgement from Turbo Quacks  of the bug and a "REAL Fix" and a timetable to resolve.

@DaveF1006 

[Anonymous]

Originally I filled out 2021  IRS 1040SR and used the IRS tax tables to determine tax on my taxable income.

I then used the TurboTax Deluxe to verify my results hoping to use it to e-file. All the numbers were okay except for charitable donation of $600 - married file jointly. The end result is that the program did not give me the correct refund. It actually came out higher than what I determined using the IRS printable PDF 1040SR for 2021.

I went through all the comments on this thread and others. I tried the workaround and got rid of the error notice but it still did not correct the tax.

I do not wish to submit false info to the IRS and therefore I will not be using TurboTax. I highly recommend that anyone using it check the actual IRS tax table for your taxable income and compare to what the program say. Good luck!