I am trying to enter charitable deductions, however turbo premier will not enter them for me. Why not?

Manually enter your charitable donations directly into TurboTax:

1. Open your return in TurboTax.
2. In the search box, search for donations and then select the Jump to link in the search results.
3. Answer No when asked if you have an ItsDeductible account (even if the answer is yes).
4. Answer Yes to Do you want to enter your donations for 2020?
5. Follow the instructions to enter your donations.

If you receive the Standard Deduction the Charitable Donation may not be applied.  

 

However, under the CARES Act, there is the addition of a new charitable deduction up to $300 on your 2020 taxes for your cash donations made to a 501(c)(3) organization even if you don’t itemize your deductions. This will be something for taxpayers to keep in mind since close to 90% of taxpayers now claim the standard deduction instead of itemizing and are no longer able to deduct charitable contributions under tax reform.

For those who use the standard deduction, turbo tax does not allow for the additional $300 charity donation on top of the standard deduction. Why not?

It should.  I recommend following the steps below to ensure you are able to take a $300 adjustment to income for cash donations while taking the standard deduction in 2020.

 

You will make this entry in the Federal interview section of the program.

1. Select Deductions & Credits
2. Scroll down to All Tax Breaks and select Charitable Donations
3. Select Start to the right of Donations to Charity in 2020
4. Proceed to enter the details of your charitable cash contribution by entity as applicable in this section.
5. Once you have completed entering your details, select Done with Charitable Donations

 

Continue through the screens until you see the screen titled Charitable Cash Contributions under Cares Act.  You will be able to confirm the amount of your cash contributions on this screen.

 

 

Your input in both of the sections above will ensure you are either able to take the deduction if you are able to itemize, or will pick up the adjustment if you are taking the standard deduction.