If I donate to california funds on the last page of the state it doesn't reduce federal tax. If I delete those donations and add them to the federal return it works.

[TerryA · Accepted solution]

Sorry, it doesn't work like that. Those are voluntary contributions taken from your Calif refund or added to your tax due and are for tax year 2017. You cannot turn around and take them in your federal return for 2016 because you didn't contribute to them in 2016. If you donate on your 2016 Calif return, your 2017 federal return will pick them up as charitable contributions when you use the year-to-year tax file transfer facility in TurboTax.

The California Sea Otter Fund is my favorite but they're all worthy of consideration.

[mommania]

OK, I understand.  When I make those contributions the dollar amount is removed from my Current Year State Refund and then next year I claim those on both the Federal and State returns.

[skepticbillpayer]

Be sure to double check the thoroughness of TTax year-to-year transfer of these state tax form donations.  I make several donations each year on the CA Form540.  Some don't get transferred properly by TTax. I have notified TTax in the past, but it just keeps happening.  In particular, CA Code 407, the Emergency Food for Families Fund, never transfers at all.  Also, any fund that expires in CA will not transfer to the following years TTax deduction list.  (For example, CA Code 419, Child Victims of Human Trafficking Fund, expired in late 2015; so, eventhough it was a valid deductible contribution in 2015 on my CA tax form for 2014, TTax did not transfer the donation when preparing the 2015 taxes.)