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

[garamain]

Thank you!! Please give Chris178 an upvote, an award, and 5 years of TurboTax deluxe! Going back and saying "itemize anyway" got me out of the loop of death!

[Mylesperhr]

how did u get to the itemize anyway message prompt?

[jaydon308]

okay so I had this issue as well. I had donated maybe 50-100$ so it really wouldnt affect my return anyway. I went back to the deductions, clicked the charitable contributions, then "itemize anyway'. there was a few boxes it looked like from last year's ta returnn totalling like 4$. I put 4 into the box and it seemed to fix the error. Hope this helps 

[Chris178]

 @  Mylesperhr

Sorry, it won't let me go back to retrace the steps, so I can't give precise instructions.  Basically, I went to the Deductions & Credits tab, filled all that out like normal, then when I clicked the continue (or whatever it says) button at the bottom, it analyzes my deductions and, for me, said the standard was the best, but gave me an option at the bottom to itemize anyway.  I clicked the itemize anyway button, then went to the Charitable donations and that's where I saw that it had some donations that I had not entered.  So I deleted those and ensured that any entries that were there were correct (deleted and re-entered).  That was the only method that worked for me. 

If you can't find it, you might try just clicking through all of the Deductions & Credits like you did the first time--that will eventually get you to that analysis page where you are offered the "itemize anyway" button.

Sorry that I can't provide better instructions. 

[shalex99t]

TurboTax, you have to fix this bug asap, few of my friends just switched to TaxAct, and I am considering the same! Why we pay money for the program that you already admitted there is a known bug?!

[m-che]

So I was also in the loop of death for a while, and after going back and following what other people mentioned (inputting the itemized deductions/adding the charity donations line-by-line in the "Federal" section), it kept bringing me back to the same error page whenever I'd try to submit my taxes. 

SO I made sure that the amount on the itemized deductions page MATCHED the amount I put in on that error page, and it worked! I'm not sure if it'll work for everyone, but maybe as long as the amounts match, it'll work? Just wanted to put that out there in case it helps anyone else!

[regularGuy_3]

Had the same issue. Entering $0 in the charitable contributions box kept bringing me back to the form for a review. I don't know if it's because the bug has been finally fixed or I just got lucky but I clicked on FEDERAL in the left menu within TurboTax and clicked on CREDITS AND TAX BREAKS again. I went through the questions without changing any information I had already filled and kept to the standard deduction option. (Just make sure to select the appropriate numbers in the list that finally leads you to the standard deduction option). Once everything was filled, I kept hitting the CONTINUE button even when it asked me to review and finally gave me the E-CHECK sign. I hope this helps.

[ReneeM7122]

There is a known issue that produces the message, Charitable contributions has an unacceptable value."  Try these steps:

First, clear your cache.

Your browser stores recently visited webpages as temporary files in a cache, which enables the pages to load more quickly when revisited.

However, a full or corrupted cache can cause problems in TurboTax, so sometimes you need to clear your cache (that is, remove these temporary files).

Here are the official instructions for the most popular browsers:

• Google Chrome
• Mozilla Firefox
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 (use the drop-down on the upper right corner of that page for earlier versions)
• Microsoft Edge

Apple's official support site doesn't appear to contain instructions for clearing the cache in Safari. Your best bet is to search the Internet for clear Safari cache or similar search terms.

If your cache isn't the issue, it might be best to delete it and start again.

Next, sign back into TurboTax and try the following:

1. Go to the Deductions and Credits tab
2. Select Review/Edit
3. To the right of Standard Deduction, click Edit
4. ​​Click OK, Sounds Good when you see it.
5. Click Wrap Up Tax Breaks
6. Click Continue

The Charitable Donations question should either not appear at all, or the amount should be zero.  

If this didn't work, and you still experience the same error, try deleting a charitable donation form floating in the background:

1. Go to Tax Tools on the left panel of the screen
2. Click on Tools 
3. Click on Delete a form
4. If you see a form with a charitable donation on it, delete it and take steps 1-5 again. 

@regularGuy_3

[Kwelt200]

Your work around still do not work as 

[ReneeM7122]

This error is happening because of the special CARES Act provision where a charitable deduction can be taken by those using the standard deduction in 2020.   Previously, charitable contributions could only be deducted if taxpayers itemized their deductions.

However, taxpayers who don't itemize deductions may take a charitable deduction of up to $300 for cash contributions made in 2020 to qualifying organizations. For the purposes of this deduction, qualifying organizations are those that are religious, charitable, educational, scientific or literary in purpose. The law changed in this area due to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.  Since the previous suggestion didn't work, please try this instead:

Delete the $300 in the error check. Then go back to Deductions & Credits and enter the contribution there, in the Donations to Charity topic. Then click Done with Donations and proceed through the screens until you get to the screen that tells you that TurboTax has added in the contribution.

The contribution should be back on Form 1040 line 10b, but it won't be flagged as an error. It only gets flagged if you enter it when prompted after you finish Deductions & Credits and the software tells you that you are getting the standard deduction. It will not get flagged if you enter it in Donations to Charity.

@Kwelt200

[e_w_g]

I am still receiving an error message for an unaccepted value. If I make my contributions $0 then I lose money on my return. Tomorrow is the last day of the early bird special -- please notify the community of a fix ASAP so that we can get the $300 deduction and the appropriate return. Can I file with the correct information but an error message??

[Bob T]

I was getting the same error and it would not let me e-file.

What worked for me was to go back to charitable contributions and enter the name of the charity and the $300 contribution under itemized deductions (even though I was still taking the standard deduction). Moving forward from there the error disappeared and I was able to e-file successfully.

[aidanluz]

This is the only helpful reply in this thread. If you're stuck in the loop of death, this comment right here is the way to go. Thanks man, you're better than all of turbo tax customer support combined.

[aficer]

I'm having this same error and the fixes listed are NOT working.  Please help

[e_w_g]

Unfortunately my online version won't let me type in letters, only numbers. Appreciate the assistance, but that doesn't seem to fix it for me.