Charitable donations with standard deduction

Using the TurboTax desktop editions -

To remove the error I went into Forms mode and deleted the Charitable Organization Worksheets.  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 and click on Done with Deductions.  Continuing through the screens until landing on the screen labeled Charitable Cash Contributions under Cares Act, I entered $300.  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

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.

THANK YOU!

I read your reply - thanks!

I followed the steps you mention - I deleted the donation worksheets - then on step by step I didn't enter any donations I made - clicking through all the questions I never encounter the Charitable Contributions Under the Cares Act.

Where is that located?

For 2021 TY, you can claim an "above-the-line" cash donation of

up to $300 for singles and $600 if married for cash donations made to charity.

In Turbo Tax, the amount of cash donation will be posted only if you have not entered the cash donation in the “charity” section and only if you use the “standard deduction”.

You must click the “Wrap up tax breaks” at the bottom right of the Deductions & Credits page.

You will be asked the question 

1. Let’s Check for Charitable Donations

2. Did you donate to charity?

3. Answer NO … Continue through the interview

4. Get a tax break for donating cash to charity

5. Post $300 or $600 as appropriate

I'm not seeing the Wrap up tax breaks at the bottom right. What am I missing?

@zoso1 The Wrap up tax breaks is shown on TurboTax online edition only.  Using the TurboTax desktop editions click on Done with Deductions.

Use the Forms mode in the Download/CD version of TurboTax to enter your "above the line" charitable deductions @zoso1,

1.  Click on Forms in the upper right corner (next to Flags and Notifications)
2. Once you are in Forms, select 1040/1040SR Wks (the top choice in the left column)
3. The form will open in the big window on the right
4. Scroll down to lines 12a and 12b and enter $400 in each box
5. Click on Step-by-Step in the upper right where Forms used to be to get back to the interview mode

I'm using a SINGLE taxpayer in the screenshot

In 2021, I donated over $2000. TurboTax -for Standard deduction: deducted $300 .

Should it be $600.00

Also, Hawaii State Deduction: I get an error  on Worksheet A-3 for Mortgage .The amount I entered in TurboTax from 1098 Mortgage is 641.58 .  How do I address this error

The answers provided do not address my situation. My charitable contributions exceed the standard deduction. If I answer NO to the question "Did you donate to charity?" then I lose some significant deductions.

12b. only asks you for charitable contributions if you take the standard deduction. I am taking the Itemized deduction (as recommended by TurboTax). This makes no sense.

Thanks

@arvi @wbvogel @chinga52 @ErnieS0 @DoninGA   Tax year 2021. I'm having a similar problem, and the posted solutions (up to Jan. 29) don't work for me. I'm using 2021 Desktop TT Premier, CD-ROM.  I'm filing MFJ, taking the standard deduction. I donated $750 cash to charity, and so I'm entitled to a $600 deduction on line 12b of form 1040.  My problem is that TurboTax keeps overriding my $600 entry and changing it to $300.  I've double-checked that I've checked the MFJ box, and that I'm taking the standard deduction, and that my charitable donation entries show they are cash donations. (TT seems to call them "money," not "cash."

In tax year 2020, the limit for MFJ was $300. Could TT have overlooked this change in the law for tax year 2021 that raised the limit to $600 for MFJ?

What should I do next?

DoninGA's response was spot on!

I took my Donation out of the Worksheet and let the Step-by-Step resolve it for me.

I think Intuit should have flagged it when I was manually adding Charitable Donations.

True  - made changes to include charitable donation of $600.00  for Married + Standard Deduction.

However, after doing TurbTax Federal Tax  check, Turbo Tax changes it back to $300.00 and flags Error.

TurboTax needs to flag this Federal Charitable Tax donation and update Federal Tax software

Don't know what else to do?

True  - made changes to include charitable donation of $600.00  for Married + Standard Deduction.

However, after doing TurbTax Federal Tax  check, Turbo Tax changes it back to $300.00 and flags Error.

TurboTax needs to flag this Federal Charitable Tax donation and update Federal Tax software

Don't know what else to do?

I just had this issue and a turbo tax person told me to delete the donation under deductions/credits screen and then enter the donation amount under the ACA donation screen. I did this and it fixed it BUT this in turn lowered my State refund by over $100. 

So I went back and re-entered my cash donation and got the same error. Next when I ran an error check the software pulled up the 1040 form Line 12(b) and I changed the $300 to $600 and it corrected it, no errors and I now have the proper refund amounts for fed/state. 

After reviewing the many messages here about this donation credit,  instead of offering work-arounds why doesn't TT just correct the software?

I did get my taxes to reflect the $600 but, I'm not really sure how I did it.

Thank you for your feedback. This is a new provision, and your concerns and observations will definitely be forwarded. 

I am using the online version. It's very confusing-the standard deduction claims to include things like charitable deductions, then claims it will ask about them later if you try to add them. Married filing jointly, our 1040 came up with 240 as the deduction. I have no idea where it got that from.

I couldn't even tell what that number was until it occurred to me to print the 1040.

I tried all the tricks that I could find on this forum. I deleted to charitable contribution forms that apparently it had imported from last year (which makes no sense to me). At no time  has it taken me to the "

Charitable Cash Contributions under Cares Act" screen.

I have now spent almost 2 hours trying to figure out what's going on here and how to fix the problem. it's the only thing left that's holding up my filing.

A very frustrating faux pas on the part of Intuit.

It depends. To clarify, are you able to take itemized deductions this year, which includes charitable deductions? If you are unable to itemize, then follow these instructions to claim the $600 Charitable Cash Contributions under Cares Act. You can claim this amount if you are unable to itemize your deductions in 2021. You resolve this by first clearing out all donations in the deductions and credits section of your Turbo Tax return. 

1. If working in the online version go to federal>deductions and Credits>charitable donations
2. Go to Donations to Charity in 2021 and remove all charitable donations from this section.
3. Now Scroll to the very bottom
4. Select Wrap up Tax Breaks (Online)
5. Continue through the interview until you reach a message informing you that the Standard Deduction is Right for you.
6. The very next screen will say "Charitable Cash Contributions under Cares Act"
7. Enter your donation.

If you are working in Desktop first remove all charitable donations as described above. 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

 :

Dave F1006

1.  Federal Return : Standard deduction (married) - your procedure to remove charible deduction under the Deduction section  and Add  600.00  to Cares Act worked.

2. However, For State of Hawaii Tax: By deleting charitable deduction under "Charitable deduction section", I lose this deduction on Hawaii State Tax.   This decreases my state refund by $200.00

    To correct lost of charitable deduction on Hawaii State Tax return ;  Went toForms - Hawaii Individual / Itemize Deduction work sheet A-4 and added donation  " Gift to Charity".

So far looks okay..........Is this a viable method!

This is a very roundabout way for getting Federal  and Hawaii State Charity deduction! Not very user friendly irt Charitable contributes between Federal and State tax returns.

I believe earlier another person had this issue.

3. Another Error on Hawaii State Tax : deduction and compution of Income Tax. My Mortage interest is higelighted Red. When I do a review and check entries: Message says "N-11 Interest Expenses Calculations have not been completed.  Check back after 19 January 2022".

Is TurboTax working on this error!

Thanks Dave!

Jason707

I deleted charitable contribution "Under Charitable Deduction", then after "done with deduction" entered under cares Act 600.  This seems to correct issue with Federal.

To take advatage of Charitable deduction on  State Return....I went to forms and under state entered charitable deduction......This seem to correct State return!

Looks like it works.... Federal and State Tax returns.

Going to wait before I file.

This worked for me. Thank you @DoninGA 

This was frustrating. I would also agree with some later posts that this issue seems (in my humble opinion) to be a TT issue. I'm using the Desktop version and it kept changing the amount on the worksheet and seems to cap at $300 for charitable contributions even though in 2021 this was raised to $600 if 'married filing jointly' and taking the federal standard deduction. 

Follow @DoninGA steps and continue through the screens as mentioned. Eventually you'll get to the "Charitable Cash Contributions under Care Act" and submit the amount you contributed. I got no errors during review by following these steps. 

OK, I found the bug in the ointment.

First, to clarify, this entire thread is about charitable donations and the standard deduction.

The problem turned out to be that my wife had $240 charitable cash donation on line 14 of her W-2. This does not show up under Donations to Charity in the Deductions & Credits section. But it lingers in the shadows and prevents me from seeing the CCCuCA page.

I had to delete it from the form. That just seems wrong. but then I could enter $600 on the Cares Act page.

Now here's the glitchy part:

If I go back and add it back in to the W-2, it flags my charitable contributions as too large during the Federal review (see image).  But it doesn't actually add the number to line 12b, so everything still looks correct. It also does not appear to let me correct it.

Wait, you say. Why not just enter $360 and let TT  add the $240  in. Unfortunately, that doesn't work

In summary, in order to correctly file my federal taxes, I must file an incorrect W-2 form.

You're welcome, Intuit.

No, you are not filing an incorrect  W-2, you are simply allocating the cash deduction to the correct place.  Provided you maintain copies of the documentation, the IRS will not have a problem with it.  The hard copy of the W-2 is the documentation.

To qualify for the (Married) $600 cash deduction, you must clear the cash donations from the Schedule A information sheet.  That is where the W-2 was trying to put it.

Once that is cleared, the directions from @DoninGA  will guide you through the posting process.