Charitable Contribution Error on California CA(540) and 540

[tyler_delorenzo1]

Thats why they we were told to wait til the 17th (today) to fix the state but clearly it has not been fixed. Ill wait as I dont want to any issues with returns not matching. 

[Moonish821]

this is clearly not enough. As you say we pay for a service that we are not getting and it is actually creating more issues/anxiety/time on our end to try and fix this...which should not be on us. What is the point of paying TT?

[alanmaas]

Problem is still not fixed refiled today 2/17/2022  same error and I don't even have a charitable contribution in my taxes. I don't know if its California or turbo tax, but someone needs to get this working. I have never been rejected and now twice. Customer support was no help at all. Just try again to marrow and mail it in if it does not work.

[Jetfan]

Got rejected this morning (17th). Refiling without changing anything.  When I go on the fix my return page it tells me to come back today (17th) and fix the error.  But doesn't take me to any page to fix error.  I also don't believe there's an error on my part. It's a TT problem.  Don't want to 0 out since my Federal has already been accepted. Using the Online version.

[JBristow1]

Personally - and this is just me speaking for me - I'm not overly worried about the mismatch by entering zero. I say this because the $500 is legitimate and on the Federal Form that was accepted - thus the Federal refund is correct as submitted. What I also observed was that adding zero on the 1040 form for the CA return had zero impact on my CA refund - it was the same amount with or without that amount entered. So, it's a minimal amount; with no impact on my state return anyway - other than they actually accepted it!

Having said that - I'm done with my 2021 taxes - but TurboTax may not be at the top of my list for my 2022 taxes next year with this type of non-service/support.

[MeCurious]

I can't find anywhere in the State tax where to attempt to make the correction to $0 contributions. Can anyone give me step by step directions where I can find the place in the State side to enter this amount?

[tyler_delorenzo1]

Its not on the State side of the return, its transferred over from the Federal. Its at the end of the deductions sections it prompts you to put a dollar amount for "cash" donations which California does not allow. TruboTax is not scrubbing it out when it transfers to the State. 

[Jetfan]

If your standard deduction is larger than your itemized deduction than adjusting your charitable contribution to 0 to fix this error message won't change your current refund totals?

[Jetfan]

@JBristow1 So you added $0 on your CA return and kept $500 on your Federal?  Then refiled your CA return?

[Oxf911]

Where do we $0 on CA? I see no field on CA with an amount populated.

[JBristow1]

@Jetfan No...the CA State Return actually pulls that number off the 1040 apparently - so you have to put zeros on the 1040 and refile just the CA and mine was accepted then. I had to open the 1040 via "Forms" and find the Charitable Contributions and zero that out. Federal was submitted and accepted on 2/15 with it - and as others have said - TurboTax should be handling this on the CA submission - but they aren't. Making it zero did not change my state refund amount - so CA doesn't use that amount anyway.

[anigurophrat]

The only possible issue I see with modifying the Federal return to "fix" this, is that your Federal return is part of the CA state return -- at least if you mail in your documents. If my 1040 is submitted electronically as part of my CA state return, which one does CA get? The one that was e-filed and accepted, or the one which was modified but does not match my actual return...?

I'll be on the phone w/ TurboTax support in about 10 minutes, but clearly this is a widespread issue.

[Jetfan]

@JBristow1 Wonder if that will affect your Federal refund?  My Fed has also been accepted.  I may wait for my Fed refund before messing with the Federal.  Assuming my CA refile keeps getting kicked out. Thanks for your replies.

[anigurophrat]

By the way, there is an official response from TT support here: Re-filing after CA_CharitableContributions-Hold 

But following those instructions didn't help me, it was rejected again. What I'm not sure about is whether they mean to actually delete the current state return and start over.

EDIT: For some reason this forum software is adding "[product key removed]" to my link above. When it opens, removed the bracketed section from the URL. Sigh... today is all about bugs.

[anigurophrat]

Support acknowledged a large number of people encountering this issue and created a ticket. I'll give them a bit more time to work things out before modifying my Federal return. Hope everyone else stays healthy! Tax time is always fun. 🙂