Is Arizona Form 140 Standard Deduction Increase for Charitable Contributions working correctly? It appears that Line C1 is erroneously being carried down to Line C5.

[AlexanderS08]

The amount on C1 should be carried from Line C1 to Line C6, in order to calculate C7. The important part is that C7 carries to Page 2 of Form 140, Line 44.

Is the amount in C7 carrying over to Page 2, Line 44 of the Form 140? If so, you don't need to worry about anything. Also, remember that the deduction is only for 25% of what you contributed. For example, if you contributed $1,000 cash then you could increase your standard deduction only by $250.

[2019taxguy]

I don't believe the above answer is correct. 

line C1 is the charitable contribution amount

line C6 is the result of subtracting the amount claimed as a credit (C5), from the total contribution amount (C4).

It does not make sense that the C1 amount should be carried down to C6, which is what the previous answer stated.

The problem is that currently the C1 amount carries down to C5 (as the previous questioner stated), and this essentially zeroes out the calculated 25% standard deduction increase.

I agree that they key issue is getting C7 to carry over to Form 140, but you don't get the correct value for C7 when C1 carries over to C5, as is presently the case.

Can we get this fixed?

[BillM223]

My test works fine. Can you give me the values you have for lines C1 to C7?

[2019taxguy]

Values for C1 thru C7:

C1   $405 (my entry)

C2   blank (my entry)

C3   blank (my entry)

C4   $405 (calculated by Turbotax)

C5   $405 (entry generated by Turbotax - this is the problem)

C6   $0 (calculated by Turbotax

C7   $0 (calculated by Turbotax)

I believe that the problem on C5 is due to an issue on the Turbotax screen titled “Additional Standard Deduction for Charitable Contributions” in the “State interview” section.  This screen has four entries – cash contributions, other than cash, carryover, and contributions for which you are claiming a credit. 

On this screen, the cash contribution automatically carries over to the “claiming a credit” line, even though the instructions say to leave this line blank if you are not claiming a credit (I am not).  But whatever I put in the cash line automatically goes to the claiming-a-credit line on this screen, and I think it then carries over to C5, causing the error there.

[BillM223]

I am puzzled. This is not the way the software is working for me.

Since you do not want the take the credit, have you tried to enter zero for amount of charitable contributions for which you are taking a credit? Yes, I know the instructions say "leave it blank", but since the program is acting like you entered $405 here at some point in the past and now won't forget it, try entering zero to see if you can get TurboTax to set C5 to zero and allow C6 and C7 to be their correct values.

[2019taxguy]

I think we are getting to the heart of the matter.  On my software, I cannot make an entry in the 4th line of that screen (i.e. the line that says "contributions for which you are taking an Arizona credit"). 

In my software, whatever entry I make on the first line (i.e. gifts by cash or check) automatically gets carried over to the 4th line.  Entries I make on the 2nd or 3rd lines of that screen do not affect the carryover of the line 1 entry to the 4th line; the software just copies the first line entry into the fourth line. 

In addition, the first three lines have boxes to type in the desired value.  In my software, the fourth line does not have a box, the value entered in the first line just appears there, just to the right of the words "Learn More".

To respond directly to your question, I cannot type zero in line 4.  I can get zero to appear in line four by typing zero in line 1, but then I lose the benefit of the Arizona deduction for the charitable contribution ($405 in my case).

It seems like there may be a flaw in the software I'm using?

[BillM223]

"To respond directly to your question, I cannot type zero in line 4. " No, I actually meant line C5 (which has the same amount on your return). However, this may not work for you, because this is the line that asks for "Contributions for which you are claiming an Arizona credit" and it doesn't sound like you want this to be zero. 

What product are you using? Online? Windows? Mac? Are you doing this in the Step by step view (that's all there is for Online, but both Windows and Mac have step-by-step and forms view)

I did my test on Windows, and I had no problem.

I can;t figure out what you are seeing, so you likely need to contact TurboTax support, where an agent can actually see what you are looking at. If you are using a paid version of TurboTax, please see this TurboTax FAQ for the way to get the phone number.

[desertfish]

I'm seeing the exact same behavior using desktop application for Mac OS X 10.13.6, TurboTax Premier 2019 (Application: 2019.r25.040, Build Date: Apr 10, 2020 at 1:53:52 PM). Per Arizona Ind Formset 2019.11495).

In the Forms view, AZ Form 140, Line C5 is calculated. The only User Entered field is C1.

In my case, I need to enter a non-zero amount in line C5 because I am taking the tax credit for one of my gifts. (Edited to remove work-around that didn't work.)

[2019taxguy]

I think the confusion is around the terminology we are each using.  When I say "Line 4", I am referring to the line of data on the screen in the Arizona interview portion of Turbotax titled "Additional Standard Deduction for Charitable Contributions".  There are four lines on that screen, and line 4 says "Contributions for which you are claiming an Arizona credit".  In my software, I cannot make an entry on that line; whatever I enter on the first line ("Gifts by cash or check") appears on line 4.

The data entered on the 1st, 2nd & 3rd lines of that screen ends up on lines C1, C2 and C3 of form AZ140.  In my case, the data that automatically appears on the 4th line of that screen ends up on line C5 of AZ140.  I want the 4th line of the screen (and line C5 of AZ140) to be zero, since I am not claiming a credit for any of the charitable contributions, but I cannot enter zero into the 4th line since it automatically populates with whatever is entered on the first line of the screen (line C1 of AZ140).

I am using the Windows version of Turbotax, from a disc I bought.  I did all my data entry in the step-by-step view.

Interesting to see another user ("desertfish") seems to be having the same problem.