Charitable Donations

[kmc9575]

Late to game, I apologize.  Finishing up taxes today and not quite understanding the charitable donations part.  Are we limited on the amount we can donate this year? It said at the end of our scan for errors, we had 1 error and it sent me back to line 10a & 10b of the 1040.  It is asking me to put in an amount in line 10b.  It is showing our grand total from the itemized donations on 10a, but now telling me I need an amount entered in 10b.  $300 or less.  So, do I leave our grand total on line 10a and put $300 in 10b and subtract that from our grand itemized total.  Not quite understanding.  Thank you all for any help, much appreciated.

[BillM223]

Line 10a is the subtotal from line 22 on Schedule 1 (1040), not your itemized deductions.

Line 10b is a place to enter up to $300 in CASH donations that you made during the year (assuming you entered any such donations in the charitable contribution section).

For taxpayers who are taking the standard deduction, Congress is allowing you in 2020 to take up to $300 in an adjustment to income, even if you are not itemizing.

So if (1) you made cash (Money) charitable contributions when you entered them on Schedule A, and (2) you end up taking the standard deduction anyway, on line 10b, enter the amount of cash contributions you made, but not more than $300. Note that this question is in the Review, not in a normal interview (this confuses a lot of taxpayers).

It's a small tax benefit that Congress added this year.