Charitable contributions if you take the standard deduction 2021

[ohioexempt]

TurboTax is only showing $300 where it should be $600 for married filing jointly.
"Usually taxpayers who take the standard deduction cannot deduct their charitable contributions. The law now permits taxpayers to claim a limited deduction on their 2021 federal income tax returns for cash contributions they made to certain qualifying charitable organizations.

These taxpayers, including married individuals filing separate returns, can claim a deduction of up to $300 for cash contributions to qualifying charities during 2021. The maximum deduction is $600 for married individuals filing joint returns."

[Critter-3]

Much of the 2021 program is not yet functional or updated ... it will be updated by the time the IRS opens efiling  sometime in January ... revisit that section later.  

[ohioexempt]

Thanks for the quick response.

[MarylandRetriever]

I thought it was a $300 per return for a standard deduction, and that the deduction is subsetted for 2021. From this thread, it seems that it continues into 2021 and is raised to $600. Correct?

[DoninGA]

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@MarylandRetriever wrote:

I thought it was a $300 per return for a standard deduction, and that the deduction is subsetted for 2021. From this thread, it seems that it continues into 2021 and is raised to $600. Correct?

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When filing as Married Filing Jointly the $600 is correct.

[spudhugh]

On which line of the 1040-SR form do I enter my charitable contribution if I take the standard deduction?

[DoninGA]

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@spudhugh wrote:

On which line of the 1040-SR form do I enter my charitable contribution if I take the standard deduction?

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Line 12b.  Up to $600 if filing Jointly and up to $300 for all other filing status'.

[denverphoenix]

This is still an issue in TurboTax 2021 Deluxe.  Married Filing Jointly will after running Federal Review and Smart Check show the correct deduction of $600 on Form 1040 /1040 SR on line 12b. However, after completing State Taxes (no errors) and running Analysis line 12b reverts to $300 on Form 1040/1040 SR which results in an Error: "Charitable contributions has an unacceptable value".  You can correct it on the form, however when you run Analysis again it will revert back to $300.  If you skip running Analysis you will not see the error and the 1040 Form will show the correct $600 amount.  You can save all the forms and file them this way however if you go through Analysis again the amount will revert back to $300.  I have tried deleting all of the charitable contributions and then re-entering them and the form shows the correct amount.  However, the minute you run Analysis it will revert Form 1040 line 12b to default $300. 

Pretty sure this is a form/program issue.

[GeorgeM777]

Another work-around you might try is to go back to your federal section, click on Deductions & Credits, then click on "Wrap Up Tax Breaks."  On the page which asks whether you donated to charities in 2021, click "No, I didn't donate charity."  Clicking "No..." will activate the application to inquire about cash donations for the above the line deduction.  Continue through the application and enter the amount of your cash charitable contributions when prompted.  

[denverphoenix]

Thank you for the suggestion, however it didn't exactly do as expected.  It never inquired about cash donations.  It defaulted to each donation previously entered. I went through it again the way you suggested after deleting all of the individual donation and the program exited the donation section assuming I had none.  I then input all of the individual donations again and said no more donations.   I went to Federal Review/ Smartcheck and got one error.  The error this time is different.  It is Form 1040/1040 SR line 12A (the total of charitable contributions) and the error is "Cash Charitable is too large". The total for contributions is correct (+$3000) and line 12b is now $600 which is correct for Married Filing Jointly, but I can't get past the "too large" error.  The total calculated tax Refund/Owed for Federal & State are correct, but now I stuck on Federal error line 12A?

[DoninGA · Accepted solution]

@denverphoenix 

I am running TurboTax Premier for Windows Version 021.000.0415 and only see this error if I entered a Charitable Donation in the Deductions & Credits section and only eligible for the Standard Deduction.

To remove the error I went into Forms mode and deleted the Charitable Organization Worksheet.  Then on the Form 1040 Worksheet for Line 12b removed the $300 amount so Line 12b is now blank (empty).

Going back to Step-by-Step I completed the Deductions & Credits section without entering anything for a charitable donation.  Continuing through the screens until landing on the screen labeled Charitable Cash Contributions under Cares Act, I entered $600.  Continued through Final Review without error.

[denverphoenix]

Thank you for your suggestion.  I went in and deleted each of the Charitable Organization Worksheets and deleted line 12b.  Though I had removed the charitable worksheet(s) line 12a still reflected the total charitable donations I had previously entered, so I deleted the entry in line 12a. I went back to Step-by-Step, bypassed entering any donations and then landed on CARES Act page where I itemized the total deductions, continuing through Final Review and as you said no errors.  Lines 12a and 12b are as they should be.  Looking back at Step-by-Step it shows no charitable deductions which I find strange since that should be populated in order to be included in Schedule A worksheet to help determine Standard vs. Itemized Deductions.  The downside was that the total charitable deductions did not carry over to my State Tax Worksheet for Charitable Deductions.  My state (Colorado) allows you to deduct a portion of your Charitable Contributions even if you don't itemize.  When I entered the charitable donations through Federal Step-by-Step they did carry over to the State, so something is amiss, but no errors.

Thanks to you and the others who contributed suggestions.  Hopefully Intuit will look into this and correct the issue.

[pamlava]

I am having the same issue.  During preparation, TurboTax picked up that the $300 from prior year was an error and cited the new law showing that we could take up to $600 as married individuals. I changed it to $600 and the error went away.  When I run the Federal Review I no longer have any errors and it calculated the $600 credit correctly.  However, when I run the Final Review after the State Tax section, it takes away the $600 and reduces my refund accordingly.  I even input the $600 as an override in the Two-Year Comparison form and the calculation error still occurs when running the Final Review.  I agree it's a programming issue and will wait it out a bit more to see if this issue is ultimately corrected by Intuit.  Very annoying!

[Vollpreuss]

Sigh!  Another year and another annoying issue from TurboTax.  Having the same apparent programming issue.  Each time I run the Analysis the $300 defaults back and I then receive Charitable contributions has an unacceptable value message.  I can simply correct the amount and not run analysis again, but I am not certain of any other impacts at this point.   I really don't feel like trying the other workarounds as TurboTax should really deliver a product that has been fully tested in my opinion.   Hopefully, TurboTax is monitoring this forum and will address the issue shortly.  

[1stunderstand]

Form 1040, 12,  does not accept Standard Deduction for Married, filing jointly.