Charitable donations with standard deduction

[zoso1]

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.

[LindseyLO]

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

[artworksmetal]

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.

[DaveF1006]

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

 :

1.  

[chinga52]

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!

[chinga52]

Thanks Dave!

[chinga52]

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.

[CdBarn]

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. 

[artworksmetal]

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.

[JohnB5677]

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.

[MMcCants]

This is NOT a solution to the Turbo Tax error.  Why does TT think that $600 in an invalid value for MFJ?

[cautery]

All of the "SOLUTIONS" presented in this thread are kludges being put forward to work around an OBVIOUS Intuit TurboTax coding problem.

The software KNOWS that $300 is NOT correct if filing status is MFJ, your charitable contributions EXCEED $600.00, and you are electing to take the Standard Deduction.  I am unwilling to LOSE visibility of the some $5000+ I gave to charity last year (on the Worksheets, et al.)

I should be able to have the REAL total on 12a, and the program should KNOW to put $600 on 12b and leave it the frack alone.

I'm still waiting on a "real" W2 (manually entered from Payroll report), so I will leave this alone and give Intuit a little while to fix this.

This is BROKEN!!!

[JamesG1]

@MMcCants

The solution offered by DoninGA above:

• Removes the charitable contribution from the section Deductions & Credits,
• Allows TurboTax software to confirm that you qualify for the standard deduction because you follow the screen Based on what you just told us, the Standard Deduction is best for you, and 
• allows to you enter the amount of deduction that you qualify for at the screen Charitable Cash Contributions under CARES Act.

[MMcCants]

That is a "workaround" for the TT blunder.  I got that correct answer by merely replacing the $300 that TT said was in error with the correct $600 and then refusing to rerun the error check.  But with 50+ years of computing experience, and 15+ years experience with the IRS VITA program, I am smarter than your average user.

[MMcCants]

Whenever I sign out of the community, I get:

Error

Unexpected System Error

Sorry for the inconvenience. Please contact your administrator for assistance and provide the reference number below to help locate and correct the problem.

Reference#: 2118-4871

Hilarious and sad.