Does anyone know how to address the message "1040/1040SR Wks: Cash Charitable is too large" referring to Line 10, items 10a and 10b? I have $300 in 10b as directed.

[socialsiege]

In the Lines 8-11 section of my 1040, the "10 Adjustments to income:" section has a paragraph in bold saying "Enter the smaller of these cash contributions made or $300 ($150 if married filing separately) online10b below if you take the standard deduction" referring to 10a and 10b. I am taking the standard deduction so I have 300 in the 10b spot.

Unfortunately, I keep getting the error "Cash Charitable is too large" despite it being $300. There's a field to the left of 10a and 10b that keeps giving me the message and I'm not sure what to change the number to.

Thank you for your help.

[Mike9241]

TT says for the online version you have to enter the cash/money contribution through the contribution worksheet for schedule a. You can not do it through the 1040 worksheet.  

do a Search for charitable contributions and click on the jump-to result. Be sure to indicate that the contribution was “Money” or else TurboTax will not ask about it later.

Then, in the Federal Review at the end of your data entry, TurboTax will realize that you are taking the Standard Deduction and ask you to enter the amount of the charitable contribution that was in cash. 

[socialsiege]

Thank you, Mike! I hope this answer is helpful for other folks experiencing this issue. I ended up getting so frustrated last night that I just erased my cash contribution and it finally let me file my return. 

[Tybomber4]

I found on the IRS page, they were talking about this change to the deduction, it seemed to imply you can either take up to the $300 deduction without itemizing your deductions, or you can itemize. I continued to receive the error if I put any amount in there and even if I left it blank, which I thought was strange. After reading what the IRS said, I went in and removed my itemized deductions and that seemed to clear the error with any amount put in 10a and 10b. It also did not change my refund amount like blanking it would have done. Even though it seems you have solved your problem, I am just leaving this here for others that face the issue.

[Nirvanamike06]

Man thanks so much for this answer. I found several other places they gave answers and this was the only one that worked and got me my full refund! thanks very much owe you $60 bucks. lol 

[davidny]

This isn't working for me.  I'm furious.  Why haven't these morons fixed this bug?

[DaveF1006]

It depends. In the meantime, if you can accept a suggestion from this Turbo Tax moron, it would be greatly appreciated by both of us, I am sure.

1. First of all, if you are taking a standard deduction, remove all of your charitable donations you may have entered in the charitable donation section in the federal>deductions and credits section. 
2. Next go to tax tools>tools>delete a form>look for all forms relating to charitable contributions. If there those forms present, delete them.
3. Now go to federal>deductions and credits and scroll through the entire section.
4. After you reach a screen that informs you are receiving a standard deduction, the next screen will allow you to record an amount up to $300. That is all you have to do to claim that $300 deduction. 

[ThisIsSoTaxing]

I'm having the same problem, but your solution of deleting my charitable contributions will screw up my State tax return.  Even though I am taking the standard deduction for Federal I am itemizing for my State return.  If I delete my Federal contributions they won't flow to my State return like I need them to.

[Tybomber4]

One possible solution to that, and it doesn’t sound like the most convenient option, but you could file directly through your state separately if you wish to itemize on your state form. 

[AmyC]

If you are taking the standard deduction on federal, the charity question would be an amount up to $300 to take on the federal in addition to the standard deduction. Choose a number less than or equal to $300 for that question.

[ThisIsSoTaxing]

I'm not sure what you mean when you say "... for that question".  The way I got to this issue is by running the review after having finished all my entries for federal and state.  It found an issue during the review and told me to check the entry of $300 that I have on line 10b of the 1040/1040SR Worksheet.  It's telling me that "Charitable contributions has an unacceptable value".  There is an instruction on line 10a that says "Enter the smaller of these cash contributions made or $300 ... on line 10b below if you take the standard deduction".  I assume "these cash contributions" refers to the value on line 10a, which is zero so technically the value for 10b should be zero.  If I change the value to zero then there is no longer an error, but I also don't get the $300 that I think I should get for charitable contributions.

[MtnTABS]

All I need to know is: 

 When I wrap up my Federal return (TT DELUXE CD/Download Windows) it tells me the Standard Deduction is best. When it reaches the Charitable Cares Act screen, shaded in the money box is the figure of my total cash Charitable Contributions $1750.00. TT knows this amount because I completed all the Step-by-Steps to itemize in order to decide which would be better for us. SO..... am I supposed to leave the money box as is and hit Continue OR am I supposed to type in $300.00? It really doesn’t explain clearly what step to take. Leave as is with the shaded $1750 or type in $300? Thank you! [Itemization is usually better for my State return so I do not want to delete all my hard work.] 

[AKHedd09]

I am also having this problem and putting nothing in the boxes does lower my return and I did have cash charitable so do atleast want to claim that $300.  Dont know how to fix it and it won't let me efile if it's not fixed.  Anybody get it to work??

[AKHedd09]

the tax tools button all the way down at the left bottom of the page doesn't open anything for me to even try to follow your instructions.  does seem t be some sort of glitch for us not to claim the 300 or I even tried less and still wont proceed.  Im just stuck and TT already processed my Efile payment too.  HELP PLEASE !!

[MtnTABS]

[TurboTax Deluxe CD/Download on my Windows desktop. Federal = Standard Deductions; State = Itemizing.]

I received an answer on another thread that told me that when I get to the screen during Step-by-Step for the Charitable Cares $300, do not enter anything into the box. What I could see in the box was my total cash contributions $$ in shaded gray. I had previously gone through the steps to itemize but ended up taking two Standard Deductions because it was more advantageous. As instructed, I left this box alone and did NOT type in $300. I clicked Continue, finished up the questions and my Federal return was approved by TT. I can see on my 1040 Line 10b that the $300 is in place and reducing my income.

[I have not tried to eFile Federal because now I am finding glitches in my State software. The figures I itemized in Federal are supposed to flow onto the State return but they are not .....even though I can see them on Fed. Schedule A and State Form 2-Pg. 7. ] Always something. :-{