How do I fix my charitable contributions? It says I have an unacceptable value.

[srbrinkman]

Agree with your post!

[JillS56]

The number entered into the charitable contributions must be a number from $1 and up.   Entering a 0 does not work.    If you gave no charitable contributions delete the charitable box from the return.   If deleting the box or enter a $1 does not fix the problem below are some possible work arounds:

There are a few work arounds for when this happens.  This was a known error and now has been corrected.  But sometimes the first set of steps still does not work.

1. Click Deductions and Credits
2. Select Review/Edit
3. Click Edit to the right of Standard Deduction
   ​​Click OK, Sounds Good
4. Click Wrap Up Tax Breaks
5. Click Continue
6. Make sure that $300 is filled in and then click Continue
7. Click Lets Keep Going

If there is still an error, then go through the next work around.

Here is the second work around for claiming the $300 Charity Deduction:

1. In TurboTax select Federal in the panel on the left
2. Select Deductions & Credits at the top of the page
3. Under Your Tax Breaks - Charitable Donations 
4. Click START to the right of Donations to Charity in 2020
5. Click YES
6. Click ADD next to Money
7. Type in the name of the charity that you donated to
8. Type the amount of the donation
9. Select Done with Donation
10. Select Done

Now the $300 will appear on Line 10B and in the Charitable Contributions screen  

[benmcntsh]

The workaround posted by DoninGA  a few pages back worked for me!

[jayb123]

Gosh, you don't seem to be listening. The issue is not addressed nor is it fixed. Do you actually use your own software? You keep focusing on the $300 amount, but I don't believe that is the case for everyone's situation. I'm married and filing jointly - entering $300 in line 10b resulted in an error that would not resolve. I read the IRS note and entered $600. Poof, issue fixed. Turbotax is broken for this corner case as it did not detect the case of married + joint return + standard deduction + charitable contributione -> $600. Instead, Turbotax auto-populated $300. I had to know to manually enter $600 and then life was good.

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/year-end-giving-reminder-special-tax-deduction-helps-most-people-give-u...

Ordinarily, people who choose to take the standard deduction cannot claim a deduction for their charitable contributions. But a temporary law change now permits them to claim a limited deduction on their 2021 federal income tax returns for cash contributions made to qualifying charitable organizations. Nearly nine in 10 taxpayers now take the standard deduction and could potentially qualify.

Under this provision, individual tax filers, including married individuals filing separate returns, can claim a deduction of up to $300 for cash contributions made to qualifying charities during 2021. The maximum deduction is increased to $600 for married individuals filing joint returns.

https://www.aarp.org/money/taxes/info-2021/how-to-deduct-charitable-donations.html

For the 2021 tax year, the charitable deduction is even better, at least for those who file a joint return. For 2020, the charitable limit was $300 per “tax unit” — meaning that those who are married and filing jointly can only get a $300 deduction. For the 2021 tax year, however, those who are married and filing jointly can each take a $300 deduction, for a total of $600.

[Anonymous]

Since I'm using the standard deduction anyway, I went back and deleted all my charitable contributions except for one contribution for $300 (I had over $4,000 originally). That fixed it for me and I was able to file electronically. 

[Anonymous]

This worked for me - Thanks!

[jaybo20]

Line 12b of 1040/1040Sr WKS.  I made changes and none take affect it keeps returning the $300. amount which should be $600 since I am filing jointly?  I downloaded the latest update and still is not fixed?  What am I to do?

Frederick Ford

[Income Tax Sappy]

When it takes you to the form with the error of $300 showing, I replaced that amount with $600. The recheck passed successfully, and the Federal Refund showed the correct amount.

[Jsuya001]

I couldn't  fix it. I opted for deleting the entire contribution  it continued giving me the error, I just clicked " continue" all the way to the end and it accepted eventually the submission. 

I preferred to lost a few dollars than my time searching for a solution to a ridiculous glitch.

[JTappan]

Brilliant. This did it for me. I am married filing jointly. changed it to $600 and there we go, all filed! Thanks so much for clarifying this!

[TheRealTax2]

Changing value back to 600 at the error window and then skipping 2nd check worked. I was able to e-file while maintaining the 600 value on the fed 1040. I would advise that you read your state tax form instructions to be sure you're not required to adjust for the 600 deduction if you take this route. My state didn't mention it, unlike last year where the 300 contribution had to be added back on state return. Good luck guys. 

[eieio1]

I did this a couple of days ago, and it fixed the federal return, but when I ran our state review, it showed an error and the federal return amounts automatically changed back to what they originally were.  Every year, I spend hours trying to fix their problems.

[eieio1]

It's NOT corrected!

[eieio1]

Where is line 10b?  I am on the 1040 worksheet and $300 appears to the left of line 12a and then my contribution is on line 12b.  Thank you.

[TheRealTax2]

I changed mine back to 600 in the box at the top of the error window which comes up after the TT check. If you only have 1 error then it should work. I remember last year TT had a different issue and 3 errors popped up to which I was able to review each one. Fixing the 1 contribution error worked for me and also didn't require me to delete my numerous charitable contributions which carry over to the State forms. You'll want to be sure that your state tax forms don't require the 600 to be adjusted for. Last year they did because the contribution deduction was subtracted before fed AGI was calculated producing a reduced AGI. This year, fed 1040 form has the 600 contribution added to the standard deduction on line 12b which is after AGI is computed.

If you are not comfortable with skipping TT double check screen and doing a manual double check then wait for TT to issue a bug fix.